What are the dietary taboos during pregnancy?

Unpasteurized raw milk and related products, raw or undercooked meat/eggs/aquatic products, any alcoholic drinks, clearly spoiled food, the rest of the so-called "taboos" are mostly based on your own body constitution and controlled intake. There is no need to be overly anxious. This is also the conclusion that I have repeatedly confirmed with my prenatal doctor after having two children.

When I was just pregnant with my eldest son, my family also made a page full of fasting lists. Crabs, hawthorns, iced drinks, and coffee were all on it. I was nagged for half an hour if I wanted to drink a cup of fruit tea with ice. Later, I couldn't help but secretly drink half a cup of iced Americano. I was so scared that I read science all night. I went to the prenatal doctor the next day to ask, and I realized that it was not that exaggerated at all. Pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria and Salmonella are not afraid of low temperatures. If you eat contaminated raw cheese or soft-boiled eggs that are not suitable for raw consumption, ordinary people may have diarrhea for two days. If a pregnant mother is infected, it may affect the fetus, so these are really not allowed to be touched even in the mouth. Most others are not that serious.

There was a pregnant mother in the same clinic at that time. She ate two bunches of candied haws the day before and saw a short video saying that hawthorn can cause miscarriage. She was so frightened that she came to the emergency room all night. The doctor was dumbfounded and said that if she really could induce labor by eating hawthorn, why would the obstetrics department use medical abortion to induce labor? You have to eat two or three kilograms of fresh hawthorns at one time to achieve the amount to stimulate uterine contractions. If your two bunches combined don't even have three fresh hawthorns, nothing will happen.

The most controversial issue now is whether you can drink coffee during pregnancy. Many conservative views believe that caffeine may increase the risk of miscarriage and premature birth, and it is best to abstain from it throughout pregnancy. However, the latest "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" also clearly gives a safety threshold: daily caffeine intake should not exceed 200m g is safe. When converted, it is about one medium cup of regular American coffee, or two small cups of espresso. If you have the habit of drinking coffee, and quitting it will make you irritable and unable to sleep, you can drink a small cup of it every day to relieve your addiction. If you drink coffee and you get flustered and insomnia, of course there is no need to join in the fun.

As for crabs and crayfish, which are often blacklisted foods, as long as you are not allergic to them and steam them thoroughly, there is no problem in eating one and a half crabs to satisfy your cravings. When I was pregnant with my second child, I steamed hairy crabs at home during the Mid-Autumn Festival. I ate a whole female crab and there was no problem at all during the prenatal checkup. On the contrary, if you eat raw pickled or drunk seafood, or you are allergic to seafood, you must strictly avoid it. The risk of parasitic infection and allergic shock is no joke.

There are also those old sayings that have been passed down for decades, that eating rabbit meat will lead to harelips, and eating mutton will cause epilepsy. They are purely homophonic rumors without scientific basis. My best friend is from Inner Mongolia. She eats some hand meat every time during pregnancy. The baby is born white, fat and healthy. Harelips are a problem of chromosomes and embryonic development, and have nothing to do with eating rabbit meat for half a dime.

In fact, if you think about it, the purpose of eating during pregnancy is to make the pregnant mother feel comfortable and nutritious. It is like adding a soft fence to your usual eating habits. It only blocks those things that are clearly risky. It does not lock you in and cannot touch anything. Occasionally, if you are craving for a so-called "taboo food", you don't have to blame yourself as long as you don't feel uncomfortable after eating. The pregnant mother will be in a good mood, which is more beneficial to the baby than taking two more so-called "supplements".