The nine months period of pregnancy is one of the crucial and of course, the beautiful time of a woman’s life. Lots of precautions and care must be taken during this time to ensure the health of the new born baby. Well, every woman ascertains this! However, due to lack of proper knowledge most of them consume food without considering the merits and demerits.

No doubt, food is necessary for our health but, at such point of time some foods affect the immune system of both, the mother and the baby badly. So, it is important to avoid eating such foods during pregnancy. Following is the list of a few, take a look.

•    Salmonella bacteria in eggs can prove harmful at times. Therefore, you should avoid having undercooked or raw egg. If you feel like eating, make sure to cook it until the yolk and white become hard. Since most of the ice creams and mousse contain raw egg, you should avoid taking these as well during pregnancy.

•      Fresh meat is always fine but liver isn’t. So, avoid consuming it for at least nine months. In case you wish to eat meat, make sure it is cooked uniformly and no pink bits are left in the center. Juices that run out of meat should also be very clear. While preparing meat on a barbecue, be careful and cook it completely and uniformly. Also, avoid eating cured meat and pate as they may contain listeria bacteria which is said to be harmful for your baby.

•     Though oily fish is good, both for the mother and the baby but the environmental pollutants sometimes, make it unfit for consumption. So, it is better to have a bit or avoid if suspected to be brought from the extra polluted water body. Other sea foods such as crabs, turbot, dogfish may also contain similar pollutants and dioxins so it is good to limit their consumption for a limited time period.

•     Mercury is also not good for a pregnant woman. High levels of mercury are found in shark, tuna and swordfish, so it is important to limit their consumption. Or if you feel the urge to have one, make sure you do not eat more than four-medium sized cans. Sea foods can also lead to food poisoning therefore, you should be very careful while getting it for yourself.

•    Infection listeriosis, said to be caused by listeria bacteria is the most common one during pregnancy. Therefore, you should stay clear of unpasteurised cheese and milk for these nine months. Also, raw milk contain bacteria that causes diarrhoea, tuberculosis, etc. so, avoid consuming these whenever and wherever possible.

•     Avoid drinking lots of caffeine during pregnancy for it is over-consumption is found to be the major reasons for miscarriages and low birth weight. Along with caffeine, stop drinking alcohol as it also affects the health of the mother and the child in a number of ways.

If you do not remove any other item from the list of food that you have been consuming, make sure you cut the aforementioned list of foods for, they actually affect the immune system of both. As every mother wishes to see a healthy baby, it is important to avoid harmful foods.