Your Diet During Pregnancy - Is Seafood Safe?
Once you begin to alter your diet during pregnancy, you discover an entire world of nutritional dos and don'ts designed to help your baby develop and grow healthily and to keep you healthy as well.
Some nutritional choices are obvious, such as lowering the amount of caffeine you consume, and swearing off alcohol and cigarettes during pregnancy.
Others are more murky, such as eliminating sugar from your die--is it really necessary? What if I have cravings? But perhaps no other food causes the same challenge to the pregnant woman's diet as seafood, because no other food offers the same mix of the good (Omega-3 fatty acids in a lean protein source) with the bad (possibly high levels of mercury).
So you may ask, "May I eat shrimp while pregnant?" Or even "Can I have the occasional tuna salad sandwich when pregnant?" The answer to these questions is determined by the amount of mercury in your chosen dish.
Fish with High Mercury Levels There are certain kinds of fish which have highly elevated levels of mercury and should be eliminated from your diet completely during pregnancy.
These fish include: grouper, marlin, orange roughy, tilefish, swordfish, shark, and king mackerel.
Other types of fish that may have a high level of mercury include: saltwater bass, croaker, halibut, canned white albacore tuna, fresh bluefin ahi tuna, sea trout, bluefish, and American/Maine lobster.
The fish in this category must be limited to three 6 ounce servings per month.
Fish with Moderate Mercury Levels Some types of seafood have moderate mercury levels, which means you can safely enjoy up to six 6 ounce servings per month when pregnant.
These types of fish include: carp, Mahi Mahi, Dungeness crab, snapper, blue crab, herring, snow crab, monkfish, freshwater perch, skate, cod, canned chunk-light tuna, and fresh Pacific albacore tuna.
So if you crave tuna while you are pregnant, limit your intake to chunk light or fresh Pacific albacore and indulge only twice per month.
Fish with Low Mercury Levels Other types of fish contain low levels of mercury, and can be enjoyed as two 6 ounce servings per week.
These fish include: anchovies, butterfish, calamari (also known as squid), farmed caviar, king crab, Pollock, catfish, whitefish, ocean perch, scallops, flounder, and haddock.
Other types of seafood in this category include: hake, lobster (spiny or rock), shad, sole, crawfish (also known as crayfish), salmon, shrimp, clams, tilapia, oysters, and sardines.
You can eat shrimp up to two times per week during pregnancy.
Getting Your Omega-3s During Pregnancy Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial to the development of your baby and also prevent a host of pregnancy-induced problems for mothers-to-be as well.
In your developing fetus, Omega-3s help to build your baby's brain, form her retinas, and develop her nervous system.
Adequate Omega-3 consumption also helps to prevent preeclampsia, pre-term labor, and postpartum depression.
It is generally advisable to take 250mg of Omega-3 fatty acids per day.
Most pregnant women supplement their diets with an Omega-3 fish oil capsule to ensure enough fatty acid consumption.
However, you can also increase your consumption of fish that contain fatty acids and happen to be low in mercury.
The fish that give the most Omega-3s with the lowest amount of mercury include salmon, sardines, and anchovies, which can be consumed twice weekly.
You can also eat herring to increase your Omega-3 consumption, but it is higher in mercury and should be limited to two servings per month.
Other non-seafood sources of Omega-3s include organic eggs, dark green vegetables, flaxseed oils, and walnuts.
Upping your intake of all of these foods should help increase your consumption of Omega-3s, leading to a healthier pregnancy.
This is beneficial not only to your baby, but to you as well.
Some nutritional choices are obvious, such as lowering the amount of caffeine you consume, and swearing off alcohol and cigarettes during pregnancy.
Others are more murky, such as eliminating sugar from your die--is it really necessary? What if I have cravings? But perhaps no other food causes the same challenge to the pregnant woman's diet as seafood, because no other food offers the same mix of the good (Omega-3 fatty acids in a lean protein source) with the bad (possibly high levels of mercury).
So you may ask, "May I eat shrimp while pregnant?" Or even "Can I have the occasional tuna salad sandwich when pregnant?" The answer to these questions is determined by the amount of mercury in your chosen dish.
Fish with High Mercury Levels There are certain kinds of fish which have highly elevated levels of mercury and should be eliminated from your diet completely during pregnancy.
These fish include: grouper, marlin, orange roughy, tilefish, swordfish, shark, and king mackerel.
Other types of fish that may have a high level of mercury include: saltwater bass, croaker, halibut, canned white albacore tuna, fresh bluefin ahi tuna, sea trout, bluefish, and American/Maine lobster.
The fish in this category must be limited to three 6 ounce servings per month.
Fish with Moderate Mercury Levels Some types of seafood have moderate mercury levels, which means you can safely enjoy up to six 6 ounce servings per month when pregnant.
These types of fish include: carp, Mahi Mahi, Dungeness crab, snapper, blue crab, herring, snow crab, monkfish, freshwater perch, skate, cod, canned chunk-light tuna, and fresh Pacific albacore tuna.
So if you crave tuna while you are pregnant, limit your intake to chunk light or fresh Pacific albacore and indulge only twice per month.
Fish with Low Mercury Levels Other types of fish contain low levels of mercury, and can be enjoyed as two 6 ounce servings per week.
These fish include: anchovies, butterfish, calamari (also known as squid), farmed caviar, king crab, Pollock, catfish, whitefish, ocean perch, scallops, flounder, and haddock.
Other types of seafood in this category include: hake, lobster (spiny or rock), shad, sole, crawfish (also known as crayfish), salmon, shrimp, clams, tilapia, oysters, and sardines.
You can eat shrimp up to two times per week during pregnancy.
Getting Your Omega-3s During Pregnancy Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial to the development of your baby and also prevent a host of pregnancy-induced problems for mothers-to-be as well.
In your developing fetus, Omega-3s help to build your baby's brain, form her retinas, and develop her nervous system.
Adequate Omega-3 consumption also helps to prevent preeclampsia, pre-term labor, and postpartum depression.
It is generally advisable to take 250mg of Omega-3 fatty acids per day.
Most pregnant women supplement their diets with an Omega-3 fish oil capsule to ensure enough fatty acid consumption.
However, you can also increase your consumption of fish that contain fatty acids and happen to be low in mercury.
The fish that give the most Omega-3s with the lowest amount of mercury include salmon, sardines, and anchovies, which can be consumed twice weekly.
You can also eat herring to increase your Omega-3 consumption, but it is higher in mercury and should be limited to two servings per month.
Other non-seafood sources of Omega-3s include organic eggs, dark green vegetables, flaxseed oils, and walnuts.
Upping your intake of all of these foods should help increase your consumption of Omega-3s, leading to a healthier pregnancy.
This is beneficial not only to your baby, but to you as well.
