When we’re pregnant, cravings can get out of control, and one of the biggest culprits is bacon. The faintest smell can cause massive pangs of yearning for this yummy meat, but deep down you know it can’t be good for your baby.
Bacon is often used by fast food restaurants to boost sales, mostly due to it’s highly addictive nature. All that is required to make a cheeseburger sell more is to make it a bacon cheeseburger.
Everyone knows that it’s bad for you, but people still eat it every day because, well, it’s just that darn tasty. But while you’re pregnant you have to put the welfare of your unborn baby first, and you have to do things, or not do things, that are in their best interest.
Unfortunately, not having bacon is one of them.
Can I Eat Bacon While Pregnant? Answer: Not Recommended
Bacon is not a food that provides any health benefits to your or your baby while you’re pregnant. It’s high in the bad fats, loaded with sodium, contains nitrates, and has no vitamins or nutrients to speak of. Yes, it does taste very good, but going 9 months without it is a sacrifice that you can make for your baby’s health.
A Note on Nitrates
Bacon also contains nitrates, which got a lot of negative press in recent years and has been linked to causing cancer. You should definitely limit your intake of nitrate-containing foods while you’re pregnant, and in general even when you’re not.
Cured Foods = Salty Foods
It’s not just that bacon is fatty, but that it’s loaded with sodium. During the curing process large amounts of highly concentrated salts are injected into the meat in order to preserve it as it ages. These salts remain in the meats, and that’s why bacon, ham, and other pork products are so salty. Eating foods that are high in sodium while you’re pregnant is not a good idea. It’s not good for your own health, and anything that’s not good for you will not be good for your developing baby. High sodium intake can even cause complications in your pregnancy, and could be a contributing factor to a high-risk pregnancy.
Bacon and Your Baby
Even if it doesn’t seem like it, what you eat during your pregnancy is having a direct correlation to the types of foods your child is going to like as they grow up, and even into adulthood. If your diet consists of things like bacon and other greasy, fatty foods, you could be setting your baby up for trouble as they get older and have a problem with their weight.
This shouldn’t make you panic and overreact and question everything you’re eating, but it should make the question of eating bacon somewhat easier. One tip if you do end up indulging in some pork products, do it at a restuarant and don’t buy an entire pack of bacon, cooking it at home. What this will do is guarantee that you will have multiple meals that include bacon, plus the smell will permeate through the house, and linger on, setting you up for another craving.
When In Doubt, Trust Your Instincts
If you’ve got a mad craving for some bacon, and you can’t see a way to avoid having it, try to curb the damage to your body by eating turkey bacon if you can, and not gorging on any type of bacon, but allowing yourself to have some for the taste of it.
If you have an addictive personality, it’s best to just go cold turkey on bacon until after you’re done breastfeeding. Having a taste of bacon may lead to a compulsion to have it again, and again. By avoiding the first dose, you can also avoid subsequent feedings.
Then again, if you know that you lack the willpower to make it for 9 months or more without a sniff of bacon, then you should put yourself on a plan to strategically have a small portion of it at regular intervals so that you don’t end up crashing and burning and eating an entire package in one sitting. That would be far worse than having smaller sized portions at regular intervals.
