Are you ready to enjoy the best moment of your life? Yes, you are pregnant now, and this is a wonderful phase which you will remember forever. This phase also comes with different changes in your lifestyle habits. If you are a foodie, you have to be more cautious to eat healthy food for your unborn baby’s sake.
Eating a balanced
diet is always necessary, but you should know which foods are suitable to eat now and which foods are dangerous. Often there is some extra food which you could not finish eating last night, so you tend to store it – let us see if it is good to eat stale food during pregnancy.
Can I Eat Stale Food during Pregnancy?
It is advisable to avoid stale food and eat fresh food during
pregnancy. But, still if you are way too much hungry and not having the energy to cook fresh food, you can still rely on shelf-stable food and pasteurized foods or pasteurized milk. These are not healthy options, but are not harmful as well during pregnancy and it is ok to consume such food once in a blue moon. Regular consumption of such food must be avoided at all costs.
Harmful Effects of Stale Food during Pregnancy
Stale foods are likely to be contaminated. Leftover foods, unpasteurized milk and unpasteurized milk products, refrigerated food, ready-to-eat meats, dairy, seafood, and poultry products, etc. – all these kinds of stale foods have a high risk to carry Listeria bacteria. The bacteria may cross the placenta and cause serious infection to the foetus.
Listeria bacteria cause listeriosis, which may lead to
miscarriage during
first trimester or birth defects and premature labour during second and third trimester. Eating stale food can also cause food poisoning – common signs include frequent vomiting, cramping in the stomach area,
dizziness, dehydration, fever, and diarrhea.
Check the Expiry Dates
Even when you have cut off the refrigerated foods from your daily diet during pregnancy, you have to keep an eye on the expiry date of the usual foods you buy which are not refrigerated. The expiry date means the last date you can have the food before it turns bad. It is always better to consume the food much before the last date so that you can enjoy the nutritional benefits of the food on you. When the food becomes stale, it loses its nutritional value, and can go to a potentially dangerous condition.
Look for Moulds or Fungus
Leftovers and unpasteurized foods are considered stale, and also you can easily identify stale foods by checking if it has got moulds or fungus. Growth of moulds of fungus is an obvious sign of food turned bad. Mould produces toxic chemicals, which may cause nausea, headache, dizziness, and itchiness, and are severely harmful to consume during pregnancy.
Type of Stale Food to Avoid Completely
Stored foods like deli meats, hot dogs, and luncheon meats are a sure no-no to eat. They are harmful during your pregnancy as there is a higher chance to get exposed to Listeria bacteria through these meats. Soft cheese is usually made through unpasteurized milk – avoid these stale options. Unpasteurized milk contains bacteria that are harmful for your unborn baby, so you should not even store milk in fridge which is not pasteurized. Even refrigerated meat spreads are prone to cause listeriosis, so it is strongly advised to avoid them.
You may enjoy having leftovers the next day – stale bread stored for multiple days in fridge, having parathas cooked a day ago, having chicken curry cooked a night ago to enjoy the dense curry, etc. – all these seem enjoyable. But now when you are pregnant, it is best to avoid any type of stale food. Cook fresh food and eat fresh food to avoid any chances of infection. Having freshly prepared and safe food is the best way to enjoy safe pregnancy.
