Obstetrics and gynecology expert Doctor Shieva Ghofrany talks about what you give up when you're pregnant. In this video, you'll learn the things you definitely need to stop eating and wearing, and what you can slack on a little. To avoid listeriosis, you should stay away from unpasteurized cheese and cold cuts. You can still consume a moderate amount of caffeine, and a little tuna. Some people are afraid of cats because of toxoplasmosis, but simply washing your hands can keep your baby safe.
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00:00♪♪♪
00:11Just a few more months.
00:13♪♪♪
00:20All right, Dr. Shiva, so now let's get into it.
00:22What are some things that we should avoid while pregnant?
00:26There's a long list, but the truth is,
00:28I tell patients frequently, you're not sick,
00:30you're only pregnant.
00:31So you want to use your sense.
00:32In general, if you do something once,
00:34the likelihood is it's not going to cause harm.
00:36So the bottom line is don't freak out too much.
00:38But there's the obvious things, right?
00:40We shouldn't be smoking, ideally.
00:41We shouldn't be doing drugs, ideally.
00:43We shouldn't be drinking during pregnancy.
00:45Food tends to be one that freaks people out a lot,
00:47and I'm glad in a way because I can give people
00:49very concrete lists of things that they need to modify.
00:54So American College of OB-GYN, which is our governing body,
00:57has a great do's and don'ts list.
00:59So if people haven't looked at that,
01:00I actually encourage them to look at it
01:02because it really goes through the data
01:03and what has been proven and not.
01:05So the food things that I like to remind patients
01:07to kind of either avoid or just modulate
01:09is the things that can cause listeria
01:11that nobody wants to get exposed to.
01:13But when pregnant women get exposed to it,
01:15it can lead to more harm than if unpregnant women
01:17get exposed to it.
01:18So the places where listeria could be found
01:20would be unpasteurized things.
01:22So often people hear about unpasteurized cheese.
01:25But usually you're going to the regular restaurant,
01:27the regular grocery store, right?
01:28Yeah.
01:29Those places are typically going to sell you
01:31cheese that is pasteurized because unpasteurized cheeses
01:33tend to be far more expensive.
01:35So if you're in a fancy restaurant
01:37and they have a cheese board from a local farm,
01:39you might need to ask them if it's pasteurized or not.
01:41But you should make sure it's pasteurized,
01:43if it's cheeses, pasteurized with things like apple cider,
01:46which people forget about.
01:47So if you go to a local farm for a harvest fair,
01:49also from cold cuts.
01:51So if you go buy a deli sandwich,
01:53you need to worry a little bit that
01:55even though there's a lot of preservatives
01:56in that deli meat,
01:57bacteria like listeria can grow.
01:59You're supposed to heat it up to steaming,
02:01which sounds terrible to patients.
02:02So I usually say make it a panini,
02:04microwave it maybe for 30 seconds.
02:06The other two big ones are caffeine.
02:08So caffeine is okay.
02:10Patients call me freaked out,
02:11I have to give up my caffeine,
02:12now I have a headache.
02:13You can safely have caffeine,
02:14and they've actually measured that
02:16you should have no more than 300 milligrams a day,
02:18which is like, I won't say which store,
02:21but a grande from one of those good stores.
02:23And then the fourth one is fish.
02:25So fish is also very confusing,
02:27but fish has mercury in it.
02:29Mercury, for my brain,
02:30is not great if I have too much of it,
02:32but in your case,
02:33you have two brains that you're worried about.
02:34But they've defined the level.
02:35The more common fish,
02:36you can have two or three times a week.
02:38If it's a higher mercury fish
02:39that is not completely off the list,
02:41for example, tuna,
02:42you can have it once a week and that's fine.
02:44Oh, you can have tuna.
02:45You can.
02:46Once a week, we say.
02:47I joke, when you eat sushi,
02:48I think people tend to look at you
02:50like you're smoking a cigarette in pregnancy,
02:51but they're wrong.
02:52As long as you're having sushi-grade fish,
02:54not raw fish that was meant to be cooked,
02:56but sushi-grade fish,
02:57which most restaurants would be serving
02:59if they're serving sushi,
03:00you are fine because those are very unlikely
03:02to have parasites or bacteria
03:04that are dangerous for the pregnancy.
03:05Talk to me about cats.
03:07So toxoplasmosis, again,
03:09incites a ridiculous amount of anxiety.
03:11Patients will call freaking out,
03:12I have a cat and I changed my kitty litter.
03:15And I will joke,
03:16did you then lick your hands
03:18without washing them?
03:20So indoor cats who have not been outside
03:22are not going to get exposed to it.
03:23But what if I have a cat who goes outside
03:25and then runs inside
03:26and then poops in my kitty litter?
03:28The answer is great.
03:29Change the kitty litter,
03:30wash your hands
03:31before you then make a salad with your bare hands.
03:33So you see how, once again,
03:35most of these things
03:36have a little bit of a basis in truth
03:38but have been overblown to the point of anxiety,
03:41where women really feel like
03:42every single thing I'm doing
03:43might impact this tiny little infant.
03:46And the truth is that
03:47the pregnancy is a lot smarter
03:48than we think it is.
03:49So I think while we have to be smart
03:50about the choices we pick,
03:51we also have to remind ourselves
03:52that this little infant inside
03:54is going to be pretty well protected
03:56and it's not going to necessarily,
03:57you know, want to stop itself
03:59from growing too easily.
04:01I'm really happy that I had the chance
04:03to talk to Dr. Shiva
04:04because she's so smart
04:05and so knowledgeable.
04:07But I know that there's more to pregnancy
04:09than just giving up turkey sandwiches.
04:13One of the biggest things
04:15that was hard for me
04:17to give up was deli turkey,
04:19which sounds really silly.
04:21I know, it sounds so silly.
04:23And it just ended up being
04:25such a huge problem for me
04:28that I couldn't...
04:29It was.
04:30And as soon as I had the baby,
04:32I was like,
04:33I want a turkey sandwich.
04:34And I had two turkey sandwiches
04:35in the one day, right?
04:36Yeah, in the hospital.
04:37In the hospital, that's what I had.
04:38I had two turkey sandwiches.
04:39If I can add something to your list
04:41that I think was challenging for you
04:44was your clothes fitting.
04:46And I think that for...
04:49I mean, deli turkey was a big deal.
04:51But being a masculine of center
04:55presenting woman,
04:56especially in a professional environment,
04:58and pregnancy clothing,
05:00there's a lot of ruching in weird places.
05:03There's a lot of wrap dresses.
05:05I usually wear pressed pants
05:07and a button down that I tuck in.
05:09Well, not tucking in anything.
05:11Yeah.
05:12It was impossible.
05:13So I had to really come to terms
05:15with what my presentation was,
05:17particularly at work,
05:18and how people would react to that.
05:21So kind of giving up
05:22what I had maintained
05:24as kind of my uniform
05:26as part of my identity
05:28was really, really, really difficult.
05:30Suddenly you're making choices
05:32that are not just for you.
05:34But they can be such an inconvenience
05:36and it really can be
05:38a constant reminder
05:40that you are never going to be alone
05:42ever again.
05:43Oh!