You probably can’t wait to indulge in your favourite Chinese New Year snacks for your upcoming family reunion. But while it may be a tradition to enjoy such delicious goodies, there are a few drinks and foods to avoid during pregnancy.
It’s expected that there are various foods that are not safe to consume when you’re pregnant. Among these are some of the delights you would normally eat during Lunar New Year.
To ensure that you and your arriving baby are safe during this year’s festivities, here are Chinese New Year goodies pregnant women should be cautious of.
9 CNY Drinks And Foods To Avoid During Pregnancy
1. Lohei Yu Sheng
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The raw fish in lohei yu sheng makes it too risky for pregnant women to eat. Since uncooked foods can cause listeria infection, these could be dangerous for unborn babies and may result in miscarriages and stillbirth.
While it’s all part of the festivities to toss slices of raw fish with shredded vegetables during Chinese New Year, it may be best to skip on it for this year, mummy-to-be.
A serving of yu sheng contains approximately around 561kcal and 42g fat.
2. Hotpot
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You might have gotten used to enjoying dunking meats and other goodies inside a hotpot for Chinese New Year. But this delicacy is best to avoid during pregnancy.
Not only is sliced pork belly high on fat, the other processed food you dip it with such as fishballs, crabsticks, and meatballs are also high on sodium. Which is why these are best avoided when pregnant.
This also has too much salt, which pushed your blood pressure to rise, and could affect overall health.
A 130 gram serving of hot pot approximately has 223kcal and 87g worth of fat.
3. Bak Kwa
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Even when cut in small pieces, too much bak kwa intake is not good for you while you’re pregnant.
It may be best to avoid over-indulging on this particular Chinese New Year snack as not only is it high on calories, but also extremely high on sodium, sugar and fat.
All of these are all a big no-no for pregnant women as it could lead to hypertension and even pre-eclampsia.
A piece of bak kwa approximately has 370kcal.
4. Nian Gao
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While it may be low on fat, nian gao is still very much high on calories and carbohydrates. This sticky sweet treat may be delicious enough to enjoy during family reunions, but if you’ve got a baby on the way, it’s safe to avoid.
Especially since it’s primarily made of glutinous flour and sugar. Definitely one of the foods to avoid during pregnancy, we’d say!
A 100 gram serving of this treat is said to have about 245 calories and 61g worth of carbs.
5. Soft Drinks
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It’s no secret that soft drinks are loaded with sugar and therefore, unhealthy for you during pregnant. Such high quantity of sugar, if consumed in abnormal quantities, can lead to gestational diabetes. This can in turn out your growing baby’s life at risk.
According to the USDA, an amount of 100 grams of a soft drink contains 11g of sugar.
6. Oolong Tea
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Oolong tea is meant to ‘wash’ down your body from all the oily food you’ve eaten during your festive feast. But it is found to be unsafe to drink during pregnancy.
This is because of the amount of caffeine it has which could potentially harm you and your baby. Too much intake of caffeine could also lead to complications such as premature birth, stillbirth and low birth weight.
MediceNet says that a cup of tea already has about 200mg of caffeine.
7. Alcoholic Drinks
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You may not be able to toast with a glass of an alcoholic drink this Chinese New Year, as alcoholic drinks can put your developing baby at risk.
In fact, your drinking habits may result in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), as warned by CDC. It was even found that limiting to only one alcoholic beverage a day can still increase the risk of infant growth retardation.
Since it could greatly affect the growth of your unborn child, best to ease down on the alcohol this year around.
8. Melon Seeds
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Melon seeds are often a popular choice of snacks during Chinese New Year. But these little things could actually bring harm to you and your baby. They are high on magnesium, iron, and polyunsaturated as well as monounsaturated fat– all things bad for your growing bub.
A cup serving size of 54g has 199.8kcal, according to Eat This Much.
9. Roast Pork Belly
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As this is clearly high on fat, roast pork belly should be avoided while you’re pregnant. Too much-saturated fat can increase your bad cholesterol levels.f
Since your cholesterol levels can naturally rise during pregnancy, it could especially be harmful to you to consume food that could worsen your situation. This is definitely one of the foods to avoid during pregnancy.
100g two slices of roast pork belly is found to have 320kcal and 24g fat.
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