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Interesting, thanks for posting.

Great article. I feel like so much of pregnancy and even infant advice is "if it has a .001% of possibly being harmful, avoid it" without having a whole lot of backing.

I kinda wish she'd done some research on the sushi issue so I could show DH....

I loved her comment about it being better to avoid cantaloupe!

Maybe I'll print this out and carry it around with me for the few people who decide to comment on food choices.

@prettylizy: I've mentioned that but he's still not a fan. I know they also flash freeze the sushi when it gets transported, so that kills the majority of bacteria that might be an issue. I'm sure the places I go to would be fine, but out of deference to his opinions (since it's his baby too!) I don't eat sushi or drink any alcohol. Both of which I don't think would be fine in moderation. Luckily he doesn't give me a problem over the every day eating of deli meat and my unbreakable diet coke habit.

@locavore_mama: fair point! lol! I've neither been to Japan nor like sushi so I have no grounds for judgement! lol!
@MrsCB: Good for you for keeping him involved. I know a lot of people pull the "My body my choice" when it comes to things like that, but I agree with you, it's his baby too. While I would be comfortable with a few sips of wine here and there, DH is not so I abstain for him.

@prettylizy: haha I've never been to Japan either but I'm a bit of sushi snob. I refuse to eat grocery store sushi! And I've had GREAT stuff from chefs trained in Japan. Yum.

@MrsCB: I agree!!

In pregnancy I just followed the long list because it wasn't difficult. Except I had froyo 1x.

Great article! I definitely had the listeria fear when I was pregnant but apart from that I didn't worry too much. Like the author, I have found the differences in the approach to pregnancy and pregnant women in the US pretty different to elsewhere - there is lots of hand wringing from the public at large about every move you make so I think a lot of women are trained to feel uncomfortable about every little thing in pregnancy and beyond.

@locavore_mama: @prettylizy: Thanks :). That's the way we roll as a couple, but everyone's different :).

Oh, and most stuff that has a .001% chance of harming the baby I'm not comfortable with either, mostly because if anything happened I couldn't live with myself. But I feel like a lot of stuff out there doesn't give a lot of info on *how* dangerous it is. Like in the article how she calculated the miniscule difference in odds if she did or did not eat ham. We're just told it's bad, end of story. I'd like to be able to make more informed decisions, like she was able to. But even though I have some experience with statistical studies, I'm not that good!

@locavore_mama: no, no you've never been pushy about stuff on here. There are people who are obnoxious about other people's choices, unfortunately. I received several FB inbox messages from a couple of my husband's friend's wives (who I had never met) about my/our choices to have sushi while pregnant and about having a c-section! People be crazy!!

@locavore_mama: I totally agree on the sushi issue! I am fortunate that NYC has some high quality sushi places, so i am personally comfortable having an occasional raw sushi roll during my pregnancy (and my doctor and DH are both comfortable as well ) but i do realize that my risk is still higher than if i lived in Japan. but i would never touch grocery store sushi or even a lot of the run of the mill places in NYC while pregnant...there are only 2 places i will eat raw fish from while pregnant it's a personal decision that every couple needs to make together.

also, great article!

What an interesting article. Honestly, I am originally from the UK so being preg in the US was a weird experience for me because I had never heard of so many of the recommendations before. I took most of them with a pinch of salt and did what I felt was right. I just feel like when one looks at the infant mortality rates etc in both countries there is nothing to suggest that me following an uber restrictive diet was going to help. If anything, I didn't need that stress in my life.

I don't eat soft serve, grocery store sushi or for the most part deli meat in real life so it was pretty easy to do.

@Mrs. Jacks: My OB was awesome about this. She was pregnant at the same time as I was and was about a month ahead. She talked me through some of the recommendations, told ,e what she herself was doing personally and told me that I had to decide for myself what I was comfortable with but whatever I did, be sure to relax a bunch.

Ah, a woman after my heart! I am a number cruncher as well and agree with every point made in the article! I do just want to point out though that unfortunately, Australia as a whole is not more lax than the US. Our pregnancy rules are just as crazy....and just like the author, I have made my own informed decisions, based on extensive research, and am comfortable with the decisions I make during pregnancy.

I will say though, I don't like lying or feeling shamed for my choices, but unfortunately, it is what I do here. My GP knows I have the occasional small glass of wine (maybe twice per month) and is fine with it, but for my antenatal clinic, I have declared myself to be an abstainer. Why? Because if I admit to having less than a glass per week, I get thrown into a high risk category and have to jump through a million extra hoops when frankly, I am a highly educated, well read woman who is completely confident my occasional sip of wine is not going to harm my baby. I don't like being untruthful and it makes me sad that I can't be trusted to make an educated decision (especially when there is no compelling argument proving what I'm doing is harmful) but it is what it is I guess.

I really haven't followed any of the pregnancy rules because I really do think they are stupid. You are so much more likely to get sick from produce than you are from lunch meat. My doctor only had a few rules. He told me no rare meat, no raw fish, and I needed to limit large, warm water fish to once a month,, and no cheese from Mexico. Now, I like my meat medium rare to medium and since I live in the midwest I don't eat a ton of sushi or large, warm water fish (I'm a stickler for freshness). I also don't smoke or use drugs but I didn't do that before getting pregnant so I don't know why that would change. I have continued to drink pop and tea, I have had the occasional sip of hard liquor, and I eat lunch meat daily. I firmly believe that all of the pregnancy food restrictions and rules out there now are completely ridiculous and blown way out of proportion.