Foods to Avoid when Pregnant: The Blame Game
Browsing the Internet recently an article regarding foods to avoid when pregnant caught my eye. The article specifically discussed the role of salt in a healthy diet plan during pregnancy.An Overview of Sodium in the Pregnant Woman’s DietIn decades past, salt consumption of expectant women was strictly limited. Doctors believed salting foods as you normally do during pregnancy could lead to swelling and high blood pressure. This article asserted the falseness of these old school, and disproven, medical practices.Don’t Listen to the Wrong Pregnancy AdviceAt the article’s end, this website included a section where readers could leave their comments regarding the article. A running thread of comments left by well intentioned, albeit ignorant, women followed. Many, many women related horror stories of the toxicities of salt on pregnancy. Detailing early deliveries, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, toxemic seizures and a whole list of woes were laid directly at the saltshaker’s feet.Read Between the LinesReading this thread, the careful consumer would note the mode of salt consumption as mentioned by each inflicted woman. The sources were of surprisingly similar food value relating to the healthy diet for pregnant woman, and not one of them was salt-enhanced broccoli, lean white meat chicken or tomatoes.Instead, women ingesting a steady diet of salty french fries, chips, sodium soaked canned and processed foods and fast convenience meals of all sorts pointed the finger of blame at salt. Is Salt Really a Usual Suspect for Foods to Avoid when Pregnant?No diet plan for pregnant women exists anywhere that condones the consumption of overly high amounts of fatty, sodium-enhanced, empty-calorie processed foods. The salt in these foods is not the blame; the blame really rests squarely on the unhealthy oil-soaked and processed packaging beneath the salt.Salt–it seems–provides many women an easy scapegoat when a steady diet of McDonald’s fries fails to be the hoped for healthy daily diet for a pregnant woman. Women need to avoid blaming salt when pregnant and look beyond that and be really honest with themselves regarding the nutritional quality of the food choices being made. Real Healthy EatingSalt reduces swelling and water retention if it’s part of a healthy diet in pregnancy. It also enhances energy levels and can benefit blood pressure. Fast foods, junk foods and processed canned boxed meals can never make this same claim.Eating fresh foods like fruits, vegetables and quality lean meat at home salted to taste is the ticket to healthy salt intake. Salt should not be included as one of the foods to avoid when pregnant, unless of course it is being carried to the mouth on the rim of a margarita glass. So eat right, and only put salt on healthy food choices.
