Northern California Babies
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Eating sushi while pregnant?
What are your thoughts?
I tried to do a clicky poll, but my computer is being difficult.
- No Way, No How.
- In Moderation
- Why not, what do you think they eat in Japan?
- Special Snowflake
I'm just curious what the general consensus is....
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Eating sushi while pregnant?
In moderation (and FWIW, since I know you know my OB - she said she ate it in moderation through her pregnancies, and not to be worried).
My only sushi "no way" was raw ahi tuna. But I ate Unagi and had rolls with Tobiko (despite a waitress at Arigato's who told me, "you can't have that! My sister didn't have that when SHE was pregnant!!") lol.
tough one! I normally say 'things in moderation' but John wouldn't let me near a sushi place while i was pregnant (but please, people, don't start assuming he is a controlling husband... just protective)
anyway, i got these roasted wasabi seaweed snacks at TJs, and although i didn't LOVE them, as I ate them, I thought "if i'm ever pregnant again, these would be a great way to satisfy a sushi craving" they have the sea taste, plus wasabi.
and, as usual... i would ask my OB, because I trust her and her opinions. I would probably ask her if she ever ate sushi while pg. and, i would avoid high mercury fish.
~~ married 8.11.07
~~ DD1 1.16.11 ~~ DD2 1.3.14 ~~
~~ BFP3 12.22.15 MMC 2.29.16 @ 13 weeks ~~
~~ 2 D&Cs (3.1.16 and 3.10.16) for MMC
~~ BFP4 10.27.16 MMC 1.23.17 @ 16 weeks ~~ D&E 1.26.17 ~~
DD2: February 2014
I was pretty lax about the food restrictions during pregnancy. I ate deli meat, drank a cup of coffee a day etc.. But I did avoid sushi. The only reason being is that I had a good friend get sick from a parasite that she contracted from eating sushi at a very upscale restaurant. The worm basically burrowed through her intestines and died (I know-TMI!) She was hospitalized and had to have emergency surgery.
This was a super rare occurrence and I happily eat sushi while not pregnant but, based on her experience, I decided it wasn't worth the risk during pregnancy. That said, I bet the risk eating contaminated deli meat is probably higher but the fear of listeria didn't bother me.
I had sushi. I didn't have tuna, cooked or raw... and I didn't have any other fish that is known to have high levels of mercury. But it had to be a place that I knew and trusted.
Although I'm not pregnant I am immuno-suppressed and I am not allowed to eat any raw food due to the risk of bacteria. This is the reason behind the no-sushi rule when you're pregnant because you too are immuno-suppressed. So, I wouldn't do it because your body can't fight off infections as easily.
Also, FWIW My doctor doesn't care if I eat deli meat or soft cheeses-they just need to be pasteruized cheeses. He'd never even heard of the deli meat thing.
ETA: I mean only raw sushi....The d/f shrimp would be ok-I think Unagi is cooked too??
I eat what I'm craving - I figure my body knows what it needs. Mostly unagi (and by that I mean the sauce) and rainbow rolls.
Im not concerned about mercury because I would have to eat more than a bite every few months to get anything more than a trace amount. I also only go to a couple of reputable places.
And now I need unagi
Right...I'm only talking about the raw stuff too. Shrimp, crab and eel (unagi) are all cooked. Thanks for your response!
I was a high risk patient at Lucile Packard. On my first intake visit, the nurse told me no sushi, no way, even if it's cooked fish inside the sushi.
Her reasoning was that if the restaurant had an infected sushi roll, used a knife to cut it, and then used that same knife to cut my cooked sushi roll that the bacteria could be transferred.
It seemed a little paranoid to me, and I did enjoy sushi with cooked fish (shrimp, etc.) a few times in my pregnancy when I was really craving it.
Yep pasteurized only-I know a ton of people who avoid all soft cheeses when pregnant because I think they misunderstand the message, or the doctors don't explain it well enough.
So then other than a little bit of the Tobiko, I was eating all "safe" stuff...although, I do think some people take what PP mentioned about the knife that touched the raw stuff touching the cooked stuff into account.
Speaking of listeria...am I the only one who didn't realize that many pg women (well, bumpies are my "pool" here) don't eat soft serve ice cream b/c of the listeria risk? I had no idea (not that it stopped me from indulging my Jack in the Box milkshake cravings...though I am sure wishing now that it would have
).
I don't have soft serve often, but when I do want my McDonald's sundae I'm having it... it seems like not many people have heard of this one. I only did recently.
I would vote no way, no how BUT thats because I don't like raw sushi.
I'm a california/shrimp tempura roll kind of girl.
This is also coming from a girl who sometimes has a bite of raw cookie dough while pregnant.
Thankfully for the sake of my cravings with every baby, my OB is Japanese, so Sushi has never been forbidden! She does tell her patients to limit our intake to one 4oz serving of fish per week but 4 oz of thin sliced fish goes a long way.
(I also studied microbiology, bacteriology, immunology and parasitology in depth at school and surprisingly none of that had scared me away from eating sushi!)
Thank you everyone for all of your responses....this has been great. So many well thought out knowledgeable thoughts.
I didn't even think about soft serve....what about frozen yogurt in general? How many pregnant women LIVE off of froyo...hmmm. Well, I can say that I definitely have had a ff milkshake since getting pregnant...now I'm going to feel guilty about that, lol. Can't win, can we?
I've definitely heard the "knife" or "chopping board" theory at sushi places and I see the point. However, I think that this issue would then transcend to ALL restaurants. If you are nervous about bacteria on a knife or counter and your food then touching it. I know quite a few people who say, no lemon, in their water at restaurants for this exact reason. I know once the food is cooked it should be fine, but what about getting a salad that they just prepped something infected with? You could drive yourself bonkers. Just thinking outloud.
Thank you so much for your response...definitely more food for thought.
I just ate a caprese salad.
Tomatoes, olive oil, and basil? Yay! But then: fresh mozarella (listeria!) and balsamic vinegar (sulfites!)
and I'm drinking a coke.
word.
LOL...you're cracking me up.
I love it! We should start a weekly post of the "rules" that confuse us and the "rules" we break.
Just like everything else that is a risk, it doesn't mean you will get sick, it just means you could possibly get very sick. So lots of people play the odds, eat it and don't get sick, but if you are one of the unlucky ones, you lose.
In moderation, sometimes, etc, just depends on how often you are willing to play to the odds. I have said before that the whole "I did it and I was fine" argument doesn't mean that there is not a risk involved. Just like lots of babies sleep on their tummies and don't die of SIDS, but some do. How much risk are you willing to take? That's the question.
Cooked Sushi is fine, like Unagi or Spider roll and of course California roll which has fake crab.
I'm game.