Are you a food rebel?

[Anonymous]

This is probably controversial, but I decided that I'm going to be a food rebel. I have eaten sushi every week at least 2-3 times a week for the last 20-25 years. I'm planning on cutting back a bit, but not completely. Japanese women don't stop eating sushi when they get pregnant. In fact, it's considered vital to healthy nutrition. I probably won't eat tuna or salmon as much but that's more because I don't want to support unsustainable fishing and farming practices and species scarcity rather than a fear of mercury-poisoning.

In addition, I'm eating soft cheeses, just not anything that has mold (i.e. blue cheeses) or made with raw milk (alas no Sera for me right now). I have a hard time believing that Cheese Whiz or Velveeta (which are made by Kraft, which also owns Nabisco which had the E-coli Toll house cookie dough recall) are better and safer food choices than goat cheese. I believe that if you eat foods which are closer to their natural, unaltered states, then your body functions better. Eating that low-fat dairy products full of Splenda or aspartame or who -knows what chemical cannot be good for the kid or you.

Since I've become pregnant, I'm amazed at how powerless people try to make you feel ("Oh, you can't be exercising like you used to, right?" or "You're really going to eat that, are you?." ) Women's bodies are designed to be pregnant. The myriad of food restrictions is just another way that U.S. society tries to keep pregnant women in the "vulnerable female" role.

I think it would be great to have a group of pregnant women go out to a restaurant and order a table full of sashimi or go to a cheese shop like Cowgirl Creamery and drink red wine and eat soft cheeses.

So are there any other food rebels out there?

[Anonymous]

I ate no fish while pregnant because of mercury. I also ate very healthy. If that included unpasteurized soft cheese, then so be it. I did not get weird about those. But fish, I was militant about because we've got autism in our family. I may not be able to control genes, but I can do my best to control environment.

[Anonymous]

I stayed away from raw milk cheese (even french women abstain during pregnancy) but enjoyed sushi, red wine, and even deli meat from a reputable deli in moderation. I also had my daily morning cup of coffee and (horror of horrors) the occasional second cup! I did wait until the second trimester to start with the sushi and the red wine, though, on recommendation of my ob.

I also wholeheartedly agree that processed foods are complete nutritional junk and I did my best to stay away from "boxed" dinners. I did have an entire pint of ben and jerry's (rbgh free!) for dinner once or twice but by and large, tried not to freak myself out too much when it came to the food prohibitions.

Oh, and I had a full term healthy baby!

[Anonymous]

I stuck with my doctor's advice which was that most things I ate while not pregnant and which didn't make me sick (like soft cheese) would be OK, but not to get too adventurous with new things or items from sources I wasn't familiar with. So plenty of soft cheese for me (and the occasional glass of wine) while I've been pregnant. And lots of fish, but cooked (mainly a taste preference while pregnant; didn't want sushi like I do when I'm not pregnant) and stayed away from high-mercury fish. Overall we eat pretty fresh, non-processed food and I tried to keep to that throughout. I hear you on the judgment with pregnant women and what they consume, so I tried to think of these choices as rational, and not rebellious.

[Anonymous]

I ate soft cheese. I think most of it was pasteurized anyway. I didn't drink any alcohol, but I still drank Diet Coke. I love it. It made me happy, damn the aspartame and caffeine. I cut back, but did not give it up. I ate deli meat and a LOT of peanut butter. A lot. And plenty of sushi. I stuck with the cooked variety. I ate tuna and salmon (knowing I wasn't going to eat enough to run the risk of mercury poisoning, probably).

I had an enormous, perfectly healthy baby who is still, knock on wood, enormous and perfect. I think common sense is the key. The only real food advice my doctor gave me was, when I was heading to a cookout once, "Don't eat any potato salad that's been sitting out in the sun." Ha!

[Anonymous]

I at as normal with my first and do the same with my second now. that includes sushi and any kind of cheese/lunchmeat my heart desires. I already drink raw milk (yes that means UNpasturized) daily. I drink coffee and have the occasional glass of wine. I subscribe to a whole foods/Westin price diet, which is much better than the processed foods most everyone else eats in this country.

The pregnancy food hysteria is very odd. I can't imagine how nervous and anxiouos these same people become as parents while thinking nothing of running through the McDonalds drive through.

[Anonymous]

I ate whatever I wanted while pregnant and I let my babies sleep on their tummies (next to me or near me while I checked on them a lot). They are both big for their ages and ahead or on time for milestones. I think people worry too much.

[Anonymous]

I'm on board (well, sort of). I don't really like cheese so that one isn't an issue, but I drink wine (sometimes a few glasses a week- horror!) and love my Subway sandwiches. I have kept my exercise routine as is, albeit a little slower now that I've hit 39 weeks.

I don't take food precautions other than the normal ones. For example, my husband was taking steak off the grill last night and went to use the same plate as he had used for the raw meat-- had to scold him on that one, I thought everyone knew not to do that!

[Anonymous]

OP here: So glad that there are other people out there who are not living in food fear as well! Enjoy the summer and your pregnancies~

[Anonymous]

I was NOT a food rebel!

But, I am also somewhat of a food snob so I think that may have more to do with it than the vulnerability, but I do think that has something to do it.

I have a background in nutrition and it has always been a big interest of mine, so I tend to eat whole, real, fresh foods - but of course I do splurge.

I stayed away from raw fish - I'm a sushi lover, but I got violently ill off raw tuna 10 years ago and after spending the night at the Georgetown University Hospital emergency room, decided I didn't want to deal with that possibility when I was pregnant, however rare. Also, my brother lived in Japan for a few years and became a huge sushi lover, but also ended up getting very sick when he had bad sushi upon moving to NYC. So since I had 2 stories in my head, I just couldn't do it.

I definitely drank coffee/chai tea in moderation - but I did avoid soft cheeses; though I'm not a big cheese fan anyway. I have avoided sprouts for years before I became pregnant (they are the biggest source of e.coli) so I obviously kept avoiding them.

For exercise, I walked a ton and did modified strength training/weights throughout my pregnancy, as well as prenatal yoga. I didn't run because I really didn't feel like I needed to and I didn't do pilates.

It's really funny to hear what people did and didn't do. My friend enjoyed soft cheese and wine (though she cut back) but was horrified I was considering getting a dental x-ray in my second trimester! I researched the x-ray extensively and finally it was decided since the risk of preterm birth for gum disease is bigger than the risk of any x-ray I should do it.

I ended up with a healthy full term baby! I think it just depends on your comfort level. But, I do think women today are much better about pregnancy than years ago.

[Anonymous]

Rationalization is the new black. Best of luck to all of your kids.

[Anonymous]

Just came back from France. Didn't ask about the cheeses, had raw oysters, had a glass of wine (one) every night and one small coffee. I think in the end people freak out waaaayyy too much.

[Anonymous]

Sushi is fine! Everything I hear is that they've changed the way they process fish for sushi... they now freeze it for long enough that bad things in it would die. So most sushi is just fine. The only sushi I'd stay away from is grocery store sushi, as who knows where it's come from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rationalization is the new black. Best of luck to all of your kids.

I think axiety is the new black, best luck to those kids with such nervous parents.

[Anonymous]

"Women's bodies are designed to be pregnant. The myriad of food restrictions is just another way that U.S. society tries to keep pregnant women in the "vulnerable female" role"

Hmm... I'm not buying that the food restrictions have anything to do with women's rights. In pregnancy your immune system is much weaker so food borne illnesses that would never create a problem or that you would never realize you even had become more of an issue. Listeria is very common and in the non pregnant population simply causes indigestion. Listeria in pregnany women can cause serious complications and stillbirth. Alcohol can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome. Smoking can lead to low birth weight.

IMO its only 9 months and I don't find studies that show a causation reaction to be politically motived. When you compare cultures think through all the differences. I would question how fresh sushi is in the US with all the shipping, handling, and storage over Japan where it is primarily fresh.

A risk is risk, take it or choose not to take it but as with all risks it is not only about whether you think the likely is low but whether you could deal with the consequences if the worst did happen to you.