Have you ever had the chance to sit down with a grandmother or older aunt and talk about pregnancy foods that were suggested to them when they were younger? Some of them seem shocking in the light of new discoveries about nutrition and how it affects growing fetuses.
Others just seem old fashioned and resulted from simple misinformation.
Here are 5 of my favorite old pregnancy foods that are no longer recommended.
Alcohol Today we recognize the danger in a mother drinking during pregnancy, and while it is usually a matter of how much, when and what, alcohol is essentially banned for the entire gestation.
That wasn't always the case.
In the 18th and 19th centuries alcohol was routinely offered as a cure for morning sickness.
Beer was often recommended to help mothers lactate.
On the other hand, this was the same time in history when spicy foods were discouraged as pregnancy foods because it was feared they might cause the baby to be bad tempered.
Food in General That's right; high protein, low fat diets were also strongly encouraged around the same time.
The idea was that if the mother didn't gain much weight it would result in a smaller baby which would be easier to deliver.
Unfortunately, this didn't take into account the increased risks associated with smaller babies.
Wild Animal Soup In India many foods were prohibited during pregnancy, but there were others that were encouraged; among them are many milk products and soups made from wild animals.
This was usually offered in the last couple of months to ensure that the woman was strong, vigorous and energetic for delivery.
Electuaries Electuaries are, effectively, a variety of powdered medicines that women in the middle Ages routinely received during their pregnancies.
These powders of undetermined ingredients were said to do everything from relieve nausea to making deliveries easier.
Of course today we know that many of the ingredients used in medicine during this period were just as likely to be harmful as helpful.
Combined Foods Especially in the Arab world women were discouraged from eating a combination of foods at one time.
It was best, doctors thought, to eat simply, preferably only one food at a time, and to eat frequent, small meals--something we know is accurate.
It was felt that eating mixed foods could affect the "humors" --a situation to be avoided at all costs.
Eat What You Want - Within Reason With better hygiene, improved nutrition and availability and the remarkable number of cuisines we have available to us today, pregnant women have a nearly endless selection of healthy foods from which to choose.
Today, basic nutritional guidelines are well established, weight gain recommendations standardized and medical care much more reliable.
Good Food--Bad Food Clearly there are better choices in any nutritional regimen.
Whole foods that are as close to their original state are always preferred.
Organics are better than conventionally grown items.
Wild fish are more nutritious than farmed fish and grass fed meats are healthier, and leaner, than lot raised cattle.
So, go ahead and combine foods, skip the alcohol, drink plenty of water and eat spicy foods if they don't give you indigestion.
Pass on those homemade remedies.
Make sure that your doctor knows you are pregnant if anything is being prescribed, and stick to the pregnancy foods of today instead of yesterday, and you should be just fine!
Others just seem old fashioned and resulted from simple misinformation.
Here are 5 of my favorite old pregnancy foods that are no longer recommended.
Alcohol Today we recognize the danger in a mother drinking during pregnancy, and while it is usually a matter of how much, when and what, alcohol is essentially banned for the entire gestation.
That wasn't always the case.
In the 18th and 19th centuries alcohol was routinely offered as a cure for morning sickness.
Beer was often recommended to help mothers lactate.
On the other hand, this was the same time in history when spicy foods were discouraged as pregnancy foods because it was feared they might cause the baby to be bad tempered.
Food in General That's right; high protein, low fat diets were also strongly encouraged around the same time.
The idea was that if the mother didn't gain much weight it would result in a smaller baby which would be easier to deliver.
Unfortunately, this didn't take into account the increased risks associated with smaller babies.
Wild Animal Soup In India many foods were prohibited during pregnancy, but there were others that were encouraged; among them are many milk products and soups made from wild animals.
This was usually offered in the last couple of months to ensure that the woman was strong, vigorous and energetic for delivery.
Electuaries Electuaries are, effectively, a variety of powdered medicines that women in the middle Ages routinely received during their pregnancies.
These powders of undetermined ingredients were said to do everything from relieve nausea to making deliveries easier.
Of course today we know that many of the ingredients used in medicine during this period were just as likely to be harmful as helpful.
Combined Foods Especially in the Arab world women were discouraged from eating a combination of foods at one time.
It was best, doctors thought, to eat simply, preferably only one food at a time, and to eat frequent, small meals--something we know is accurate.
It was felt that eating mixed foods could affect the "humors" --a situation to be avoided at all costs.
Eat What You Want - Within Reason With better hygiene, improved nutrition and availability and the remarkable number of cuisines we have available to us today, pregnant women have a nearly endless selection of healthy foods from which to choose.
Today, basic nutritional guidelines are well established, weight gain recommendations standardized and medical care much more reliable.
Good Food--Bad Food Clearly there are better choices in any nutritional regimen.
Whole foods that are as close to their original state are always preferred.
Organics are better than conventionally grown items.
Wild fish are more nutritious than farmed fish and grass fed meats are healthier, and leaner, than lot raised cattle.
So, go ahead and combine foods, skip the alcohol, drink plenty of water and eat spicy foods if they don't give you indigestion.
Pass on those homemade remedies.
Make sure that your doctor knows you are pregnant if anything is being prescribed, and stick to the pregnancy foods of today instead of yesterday, and you should be just fine!