Mixed Messages

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Added: Fri Oct 5th 6:03pm
Posted in: Family

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As some of you may know, I am expecting my first child. Like any first-time mom-to-be, I'm filled with excitement, nervousness, sheer joy and of course, questions. Everyone in the world has an opinion about what I "absolutely should" and "absolutely should not" be doing. And that advice covers everything from exercise, food, products to buy and ways to decorate.

But the one area that really confuses the heck out of me is what I should and should not put in my mouth. I admit it -- I'm not a health food nut. I'm probably one of the .01 percent of the population that loathes lettuce. Like, I'm talking gag reflexes from the stuff. It's been a problem my whole life. So, it makes consuming my daily onslaught of "required" veggies during pregnancy a bit tougher. And as much as I've read about what I should be eating, the list of things I should not be eating grows longer and more convoluted every day.

This week, a panel of "experts" is now telling me to eat at least 12 ounces of fish each week. That's contrary to the old advice, which told me to eat NO MORE than 12 ounces a week. Huh? I had already learned to avoid the "predator" fish, like shark, swordfish, mackerel, etc. because of higher mercury levels. But now I'm apparently supposed to eat more salmon, tuna, sardines (gross!) or else I'll have a dumb child. Great. Something else to make me feel guilty.

I just don't know where these rules come from. I know for a fact that when my mother was carrying me, she drank egg nog every day. I think I turned out OK -- well, other than being a rather chubby newborn. But egg nog is one of the cardinal sins these days. Something about unpasteurized/uncooked eggs (mmmm, raw eggs).

You would not believe the things a pregnant person can't eat. I had no idea. I knew the big ones -- like alcohol, cigarettes (not that I smoked anyway) and sushi -- but I was not prepared to give up lunch meat. Given my aforementioned aversion to greens, turkey sandwiches are pretty much my standard for lunch. Well, since there's a much greater risk of pregnant women being infected with listeria, unless you can microwave your lunch meat to "steaming hot", lunch meat is out.

So now that I'm officially half-way through my pregnancy, I think I've learned most of the rules for eating. Now if I could just keep the experts from revising those rules for the next 4 months, I'll be in good shape.