How bad are these foods during pregnancy?

[amberskyfire]

I eat almost entirely healthy, fresh and organic foods, but some I have questions about. I know I'm supposed to avoid raw fish, deli meats and soft cheeses. I'm not sure about the following, however:

-nuts and dried fruits from the bulk bin at natural food store

-Laughing cow cheeses (I like the wedges that come in the wheel

-store-made hummus. There are NO homemade recipes I find palatable. I only like the recipe from our local natural food store which they make there. Is it safe for me to eat?

-goat cheese from the farmer's market. I'm assuming no and that it falls under the title of "soft cheeses"

-Malt-O-Meal. It's been a comfort food for me since I was little and I get it free with WIC. I'd rather choose that than all the nasty, sugary, chemical-filled cereals they offer. Is it horrible?

Mahalo!

[LiLStar]

I wouldn't give any of those a second thought. 

[RosieL]

I wouldn't either, but DH would have a fit if I ate goat cheese without checking whether it's pasteurized first. I'm not sure if it's state-by-state law, or US law, but cheese in the US are almost always pasteurized. All the farmer's markets here sell cheese that has been pasteurized, much to my dismay. So you could ask the farmer/producer about their process for the goat's cheese. 

Otherwise, I have never heard any warnings against the rest. (I'm sure Laughing Cow is pasteurized.)

I think food handling is probably the most important safety issue for purchased foods, and of course, we can't be sure of anything when it comes to that. But at a farmer's market you're much closer to the source, and thus I'd be more likely to trust their produce. 

[1love4ever]

I eat raw milk cheese and drink raw milk all the time.  Just be sure the animals are on the pasture and not cooped up in a small pen or barn and fed grain all the time.  This makes bacteria multiply which increases the chance of it being in your food.  I dont see the problem with any of the other things you mentioned either.

[RosieL]

Originally Posted by 1love4ever 

I eat raw milk cheese and drink raw milk all the time.  Just be sure the animals are on the pasture and not cooped up in a small pen or barn and fed grain all the time.  This makes bacteria multiply which increases the chance of it being in your food.  I dont see the problem with any of the other things you mentioned either.

I'm :jealous:! We don't really have a way to source raw milk such that we can know the conditions of the animals. 

[1love4ever]

Originally Posted by RosieL 

I'm :jealous:! We don't really have a way to source raw milk such that we can know the conditions of the animals. 

You can always ask to come out for a visit to the farm.  The farmers IME are honest about the conditions if you ask as well.  My excuse is "can I come out and show DD the cows(or goats)?  She just loves animals!"  Lol

[birdhappy85]

Originally Posted by LiLStar 

I wouldn't give any of those a second thought. 

I'm with her!

I paid attention to some of the food rules in my first trimester but stopped caring during the rest of my pregnancy. I still avoid deli meats unless they're nitrate-free and organic, but other than that, I think a lot of the guidelines are overly cautious... I even eat sushi from time to time. My husband is part Japanese and it's just kind of unreasonable to us that Americans would be advised against sushi but in Japan they eat it plentifully while pregnant. I also eat goat cheeses since I'm allergic to cow dairy. I would've drank raw goat milk but I had trouble digesting it early in pregnancy so I just kind of stopped drinking it for the time being. I'll still eat raw cheeses, though. I feel that keeping up with such rigid guidelines during pregnancy makes the process more miserable than it's worth. I'd still be cautious about who is preparing my food and the quality of it, but I wouldn't count it all out automatically like we're told to. I went crazy paranoid in my first trimester trying to follow the rules and don't want to feel like that again!