Can I Eat Sushi While Pregnant?

If you get a craving for sushi while you’re pregnant it may be hard to resist it. But common sense is probably telling you that it might not be a good idea. Consuming raw meat, including fish, comes with its risks.

Even sushi chefs know this, that’s why they serve it with things like wasabi and ginger to try to minimize how much bacteria is absorbed by the body.

There are many different types of sushi and sashimi and each of them carries they’re own risk because of the different ingredients used. If you are eating salmon sashimi you run the risk of too much mercury being consumed. If you go with a roll that doesn’t contain any raw fish, you should be relatively safe.

Can I Eat Sushi While Pregnant? Answer: Not Recommended

It’s not that you can’t eat sushi, and in fact if you do you might not notice any ill effects. Just because something is potentially harmful doesn’t mean that it will produce negative effects every time. When you’re pregnant you can’t be too careful will what you consume. Anything that poses a threat should be avoided.

It can be hard to leave sushi alone for the entire time that you’re pregnant, but it’s the best thing to do in the interest of your baby. Here are some tips to get you by so that you don’t miss it too much.

California Rolls
You should be able to eat most California Rolls, just ask that they don’t include the crab meat so that you are just getting some rice, avocado and cucumber. This can help to pacify your sushi craving, while playing it safe. It can come in handy when you’re out to lunch or dinner with friends and someone says let’s get something Japanese. It allows you to be social and enjoy yourself without worrying about eating the raw thing. One note of concern though is that some places garnish their California Rolls with fish eggs, and it’s probably best to avoid these too, so just ask them to hold it.

Make Your Own Sushi
When you control what goes into the sushi rolls you get to be quality control. This way you can cook the fish before you put it into the roll and you can be sure that all of your ingredients are clean and ready to eat. This can be a fun thing to do with the man in your life, the two of you can learn to make sushi together. You’ll be getting all of the good things about sushi, the rice and the seaweed, while avoiding all of the negative parts of sushi, namely the raw fish.

This can turn a negative into a positive and let you enjoy sushi even when you’re pregnant, without fear of getting an upset stomach or worse by eating uncooked meats.

What About Sashimi?
Sushi is what many people are familiar with and usually comes rolled up in rice with a seaweed wrapper. Sashimi on the other hand is simply a raw slice of fish that is meant to be eaten by itself, or with a little garnishment. This means that it’s exceptionally bad for you and poses a bigger threat to getting the wrong microorganisms into your system. You run a bigger risk of foodborne illness by eating sashimi, and the likelihood that won’t be prepared properly is increased.

Doing It For Baby
It may be hard to go so long without one of your favorite foods, but your baby would thank you if they could talk. The digestive system doesn’t know how to handle things like raw fish and when you eat a good amount of sushi it’s bombarded with a lot of uncooked meat all at once. You’ll likely get an upset stomach and the child inside you won’t know what to do with it.

Since there aren’t any amazingly healthy attributes to eating sushi, it’s best to stay clear of it until you’re done breastfeeding. That’s right, you’ll still be able to pass on the microorganisms in raw fish to your baby through your breast milk so it’s best to steer clear of it until they’ve made the transition to formula.

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