Sushi while Pregnant

Today is pregnancy talk 🙂  There are a lot of forbidden foods when pregnant.  Last week I told you about deli meats and today it’s sushi.  Sushi is not allowed since raw fish can carry a lot of bacteria causing mom to become sick. While it’s possible that it will not harm your baby, the last thing you want is food poisoning while pregnant!  I’ve written about sushi before, so if you want the low down on calories and nutrition and what to order when eating sushi when not pregnant read this post called “The Inside Scoop on Sushi.”

But don’t fret – you can eat sushi, just not the raw stuff.  You can eat anything with cooked fish and vegetables.  I love sushi, and while I miss eating raw tuna and salmon, I can still satisfy my sushi craving with other alternatives.  Above is a photo of sushi I ate this week from Whole Foods.  It was a brown rice shrimp california roll and totally satisfied my craving.  I ate it with a big bowl of bok choy and an apple for dessert.

Here’s what you can eat:

• California Rolls
• Shrimp Rolls
• Eel Rolls
• Cooked salmon (i’m seeing this on more menus)
• Vegetable Rolls
• Tempura Rolls (shrimp, crab, vegetable – while not the healthiest it’s always fully cooked)

You can order any of these cooked fish varieties as sushi or sashimi.  I love to get an order of edamame and seaweed salad to enjoy with my roll.  I currently alternate between shrimp rolls and eel rolls.

On a personal note pregnancy has been progressing well this week.  The only complaint I have is sleep!  For some reason I have so much trouble sleeping on my side which makes it very hard to sleep at night.  I bought one of those huge body pillows, which helped quite a bit, but I still find myself waking up many times throughout the night.  But I’m happy to say last night’s sleep was infinitely better than the prior few nights, so hopefully tonight will be too!  Other than that I’m feeling great!

I’m now 23 weeks along, I can’t believe how quickly it’s progressing!  My appetite has definitely been increasing, and I’m listening to my body as closely as possible.  As a result I’m eating more during the day (larger snacks and lunch) but then I’m not as hungry at dinnertime.  I prefer eating like this anyway to fuel my activity for the day, and to minimize heartburn (common symptom during pregnancy) when lying in bed at night.

As for my weight, I’m exactly 9 pounds heavier than I was at the start of my 2nd trimester (13 weeks), however 7.5 pounds heavier than I was at the start of pregnancy, not sure exactly why I lost 1.5 pounds from the 6th-13th week.  I weigh myself periodically at home on Fridays, since I find it to be more accurate than at the doctor’s office.  At the doctor’s office I’m wearing all my clothing (and in the winter that’s a lot!) and I go at different times (always after meals), so the fluctuation may not be as true as if I do it on my own at home in the morning before eating or drinking.