Meat during your pregnancy: the complete overview

Meat during your pregnancy: the complete overview

Meat is a versatile product that is often used during breakfast, lunch or dinner. You may like a piece of meat. But just like many other products, different rules apply when you are pregnant. Read here what to look out for if you are pregnant and want to eat meat.

Meat if you are pregnant

During your pregnancy you can generally eat fine meat. The main nutrients in meat are vitamins B1, B6 and B12 and the mineral zinc. In addition, it also provides iron and a lot of proteins.

Meat therefore fits well into a healthy diet during your pregnancy, provided you take into account a number of things.

Limit vitamin A intake

A large amount of vitamin A increases the risk of birth defects in your unborn baby. The advice for pregnant women is to consume no more than 3,000 micrograms of vitamin A per day.

Therefore, do not take supplements with vitamin A and do not eat too much liver and liver products, such as pate, berliner sausage, liver pate and liverwurst sausage.

A sandwich with liver sausage or pate already contains about 1,000 to 1,200 micrograms of vitamin A.

Avoid raw meat

If you are pregnant, it is better not to eat raw meat. The toxoplasma gondii parasite can be found in raw products and is harmful to your unborn baby. The earlier in your pregnancy you are, the more vulnerable your baby is, and the greater the damage will be for your baby.

So continue to pay close attention throughout your pregnancy and always fry your meat thoroughly. It may be less tasty, but it is the most responsible and therefore the best choice for yourself and your child.

Listeria bacteria

Listeria is a bacteria that can cause a food infection. This bacterium is mainly found in products that are kept refrigerated for a long time and that are eaten without heating.

Although you are unlikely to become infected, the consequences can be serious if you are pregnant. Namely, it can lead to miscarriage or premature birth .

The listeria bacteria does not survive temperatures above 70 ° C. So if you cook your meat well, there is nothing wrong. It is better not to order a medium steak when you eat out.

Are you a vegetarian or vegan?

Are you not a meat eater or do you not eat animal products at all? In that case, it is recommended to take extra vitamin B12 through meat substitutes, cheese, yogurt, milk products or vitamin B12 capsules. This way you will get the useful nutrients that meat contains.

Overview for your refrigerator

Meat is healthy, if you choose it carefully and prepare it correctly. It is sometimes difficult to keep an overview of which products you may or may not use during your pregnancy. With the overview below, you can see it at a glance. Handy for your fridge!

Do eat	Do not eat
Any fried, cooked or roast meat such as:	Liver, such as:
Chicken breast	Liver (contains a lot of vitamin A)
Turkey	Liver sausage (max 1x per day)
Beef (steak well done)	Liver cheese (max 1x per day)
Hamburger (well done)	Liver pate (max 1x per day)
Fricandeau	Foie gras
Minced meat	Pate (max 1x per day)
Sausage	Raw meat, such as:
Pork	Tartar
Gammon	Roast beef
Beenham	Duck (usually not fully cooked)
Breakfast bacon (in moderation due to salt content)	Carpaccio
Sandwich sausage	Cervelate
Smoked chicken fillet	Tea sausage
Grill sausage	Ox sausage
Smoked sausage	Parma ham
	Serrano ham
	Salami (unless heated on, for example, a pizza)
	Coburger ham
	Chorizo (unless heated on, for example, a pizza)
	Prosciutto
	Filet Americain
	Smoked meat
Overview of meats

Eaten something wrong?

Have you ever eaten raw meat? Do not panic. The chance that you have been infected with a harmful bacterium, and that it is directly harmful to your baby, is small. Are you unsure or do you get complaints shortly after eating them? Then consult a doctor or your midwife .