food during pregnancy. what's your guilty secret?

[DTHY]

Actually, I really craved sushi when I was pregnant with my first child. I have a Japanese lady friend and I asked her specifically if Japanese women eat raw fish while pregnant. She said Japanese women avoid eating raw fish while pregnant and even when they are breast feeding their babies...

Also, I really missed my bubbly drinks, so instead of having a coke or cream soda, I mixed Perrier/carbonated water with juice - I used to mix calcium added Tropicana OJ with carbonated water.

 

[Matty]

I was pretty strict at the beginning of pregnancy and avoided everything! By the time I got to my 3rd trimester I started to relax a little.
Unfortunatley, on a trip to Paris, I started to indulge in afew things that I had missed, snails, cheese ( in very tiny quantities ).
I'm not sure what it was that made me sick, but I spent a whole night on the floor of the bathroom throwing my heart up, and terrified that I'd done something really stupid.

Pretty scary being in a foreign city wondering where the nearest hospital is, and convinced that you'd hurt your baby for a few pieces of food.

My baby was fine, thankfully.

I admit towards the end of pregnancy I couldn't get enough junk food. I needed chocolate and coke once a day!

 

[esque]

yeah, I was pretty relaxed until I got a shocking case of food poisoning in early pregnancy from eating vietnamese delivery with seafood in it... Of course, it could have happened with the most cautious choices, but after that I wanted to stay on the safe side.

 

[ELT]

seems like a lot of us crave for raw fish... any idea why?

 

[Matty]

Probably crave raw fish for the Omega 3.

 

[MeowMeow]

Lemon Coke, never drank with first pregnancy..this time, about 1-2 cans per week...I've always like spicy food, i cut it last time..but this time i'm still eating..yummy

interesting that most of us crave for sushi, but i'm still holding off on them

 

[ctrbabe1]

I haven't been "avoiding" foods in particular. I never eat sushi anyway (don't really care for it), and I don't drink alcohol or caffeine anyway either. So that hasn't been hard for me. Once in awhile I do crave a good sandwhich w/ deli meats and cheeses, but it's a rare occurance, so I don't think it's a big deal. Last night we went out to a big Chinese dinner for dh's grandma's birthday and they served shark fin soup. I've sworn off it for other reasons but when everyone asked why I wasn't eating it, dh played the pregnancy card.

As for other snacks, though, (chips, cookies, chocolate, ice cream etc), I need to do better. I'm still doing ok w/ weight gain, though I'm very surprised because I've been eating so much junk. (Hello, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Chinese New Year... I never get a break! lol) The last week or so I've really been trying to cut back the sweets and eat more veggies.

As for the cravings, I haven't had the "text book" cravings, I guess. W/ my dd I craved salty and sweet, and this time around I'm finding the same thing. Some days all I want is a big bag of doritos, and some days all I want is a bunch of chocolate or ice cream. (we don't know the gender this time around.)

 

[ElaineCharlize]

Hihi, may I know why pregnant woman cannot take softcheese? I only know that pregnant woman can't take crab, spicy food, mutton, watermelon, mango etc

 

[carang]

why not "crab, spicy food, mutton, watermelon, mango "?

i ate loads of watermelon and spicy food when i was preggers!
granted by the end of the pregnancy, the indigestion was so bad, i couldn't eat anything spicy. but i ate it right up to about 7 months! if i liked mutton, i would have eaten that too... just can't stand it though...same for mango.

as for the soft cheeses, it's because of a bacteria that can grow on them and cause problems for pregnant ladies. but again, that said, i still ate my feta cheese!


i think that the difference is cultural. i know taht according to chinese, there are loads of things you shouldn't eat during pregnancy that dont necessarily have a medical reason behind them. most things westerners don't eat have medical reasons behind them.

 

[SoLong]

I just feel like eating all that my mother cooked when I was little. I guess that is comfort food for me these days. Just love junk food as well (though I try to eat less of it). Have been craving butter chiken a lot. I have always liked it, but these days when I think of chicken I think butter chicken. I guess my body needs more protein.

A question......why is it not ok to eat papaya? It is wonderful source of vitamins and keeps you regular as well. I hear some ladies saying that they had it during their pregnancy, some say only during a part of their pregnancy and some don't have it at all.