Can You Eat Lobster While Pregnant?
Decoding the consumption of lobsters for pregnant ladies. Check out how exotic seafood fares are on the recommendation list.
Can You Eat Lobster While Pregnant?
A lot of questions grow in people’s minds about the changes in eating habits and lifestyle during pregnancy.
From dying or highlighting your hair to riding a motorcycle bike to eating meats and seafood, there are some temporary changes required for safety while pregnant.
This is a truth specifically when the thought bothers about what food item to choose for your dinner while you are carrying your little one inside you.
Well, Lobster is the ultimate exotic food and is a popular item in luxury eating, so you might think it doesn’t permit you to eat this exotic seafood alongside soft cheeses, deli meats, and wine.
Although this mouth-watering seafood is completely safe to eat while pregnant, even dietitians and healthcare providers encourage you to eat delicious lobster as long as you follow the safety precautions.
Now, if you are wondering about questions like why doctors and dietitians allow eating lobster but not jerky, wine, or soft cheesy foods during pregnancy, whether it is safe for baby or not, whether it benefits you as well as your baby, and if it does then what are those benefits – then this article is exactly what you are looking for.
Eating Lobster During Pregnancy
Christine Naze, a Registered Dietitian(RD), Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), and a clinical dietitian from Oregon Health Sciences University Center for Women’s Health in Portland Oregon, United States suggested that additionally being a mouth-watering appetizing food, lobster contains a lot of nutrients that gynecologists and dietitians often recommend for prenatal diets.
Lobster contains low mercury which you can choose as a safe seafood option.
Naze recommended that the first and main safety concern is to confirm or check that you have properly stored it in a cool place to keep it fresh before cooking and later prepared the lobster as well as cooked it well.
However, not all pregnancies are the same. Everyone’s health doesn’t respond equally as well.
So, please make sure to consult with your dietitian or healthcare expert about the circumstances of your health and clear all your queries related to eating lobster during your pregnancy.
Is Lobster Safe For Your Baby During Your Pregnancy?
According to the advice of Diana E. Ramos (an Obstetrics and Gynaecology expert and an adjunct associate professor at Keck School Medicine of the University of South Carolina, Los Angeles, California), fully cooked lobster are safe and secure to eat for you as well as your little one throughout your pregnancy.
What Are The Benefits Of Eating Lobster While Pregnant?
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington (ACOG) authorizes that consuming seafood while pregnant is completely safe as it’s nutritious.
Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration in the United States enlisted Lobster specifically as one of the “Best Choices” for seafood eating throughout pregnancy as it contains low levels of mercury and provides nutritious facilities.
Generally, shellfish and fish are fine and positive sources of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, and protein. In addition to this, lobster contains phosphorus, selenium zinc, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin E, copper, vitamin B12, and iron.
So as a result, consuming lobster benefits you greatly to keep you and your baby healthy and safe.
And you can eat it without any worries as most healthcare institutes and experts recommend eating this nutritious, delicious, and luxurious seafood.
So, what are you waiting for? Go grab a fork and enjoy devouring the exotic taste of lobster.
Safety Precautions To be Followed
Well, you can enjoy lobster with pleasure while pregnant but there are certain safety precautions or guidelines you have to follow to lessen the possibilities of environmental hazards and illness.
Food Handling
We always need to follow some simple safety preparation rules while consuming any kind of seafood. According to Dr. Ramos, the basic precaution is to make sure of the appropriate storage and check on the expiring date.
Other food safety guidelines include ensuring that you cook the lobster to 145 degrees of internal temperature. In addition, while cooking and preparing the lobster, you should avoid cross contagion or pollution and before consuming it, make sure to store it at a proper and safe temperature (Mostly in the freezer or in a cool place at around 40 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sellers often sell lobsters alive because they spoil very fast. So, it should last or endure until we cook it to make sure of the freshness.
However, cooking the lobsters the day you purchase them is a perfect idea. Well, an alive and active lobster is always fresher as well as tastier, and healthier to consume than the sluggish lethargic one.
Also, we should purchase lobsters containing smooth not cracked, mossy, off-smelling, and slimy ones because eating mossy and off-smelling lobsters can cause the risk of food poisoning, vomiting, and stomachaches and it can affect your baby’s health as well.
Once you cook the lobster, the meat inside the shell should be firm and white (not slimy and slushy) and contain the smell of freshness rather than fishy.
Either cooked or precooked, we can store the lobster in the freezer but we will not get the same quality, nutrients, and taste especially after preserving it for a long time in the freezer.
Quantity
Another safety guideline to consume lobster during pregnancy is to eat it as per instructions of seafood recommendations.
You should prepare the lobster until the meat flesh turns white or pearly and smeared. And the overall suggestion to consume seafood is 8 to 12 ounces per week.
Environmental Hazards
Before buying the lobster, make sure to find out or check where it came from. Dr. Ramon suggested understanding local fish advisories because the water may contain pollutants or harmful particles that can affect your and your child’s health.
Most importantly, it’s the safest option to ensure that the water from where the harvesting process of your lobster or any other seafood you are consuming is completely safe and free of harmful pollutants.
Well, you can discover this by doing a quick research online by yourself or asking in restaurants or a fishmonger.
Keep it in mind that seafood containing high levels of mercury can pose the risks of birth defects but luckily lobsters contain very low amounts of mercury so the chances of posing a risk of health problems in the case of lobster are also very low.
Conclusion
Lobster is tasty and amazing food you can enjoy safely and with pleasure while pregnant. As we mentioned above, there are a lot of concerns involving the avoidance of high-mercury seafood but at least it doesn’t worry or bother you when it comes to lobster.
Thus, as long as you fully cook it, there are a lot of benefits and a little risk to consuming this mouth-watering exotic seafood while pregnant.
But in the end, we always recommend you consult with healthcare providers, dieticians, or gynecologists about your circumstances, so that you can make choices of eating without any worries to keep your baby and yourself safe and healthy.
Hope this article was very helpful and made you learn new things about eating lobster safely and following the safety precautions during your pregnancy.
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