Are you craving a lush vibrant salad?
Maybe it's the beckoning warmer weather, the BBQ sizzling, or just your body's desire to
eat healthily during your pregnancy.
But, you're wondering are pre-made salads during pregnancy safe?
Well stay tuned and I'll tell you exactly what the latest research says.
Hi, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Melanie McGrice and I'm a fertility
and prenatal dietitian.
I help people to have healthy babies and give them a head start by optimising their nutrition
during the first thousand days of life.
Today, we're discussing the question 'are pre-made salads during pregnancy safe'?
I remember reading a comment by a lady in a closed facebook group.
It said something along the lines of "I was craving a burger today, so
I ate it.... but don't worry, I removed the salad!"
There's a common belief that salad is unsafe during pregnancy, but it couldn't be further
from the truth.
Salads ARE healthy.
You just need to know how to prepare them to minimise the risk.
Let's look at what makes a great pregnancy salad.
First of all, you need your salad base.
During pregnancy, when your digestion slows down
I always encourage women to make fibre their friend to help keep your gut healthy
and bowels moving!
So, a salad is always going to be a great high-fibre option.
Even though there's nothing wrong with the humble iceberg lettuce, choosing dark green
leafy lettuces, such as baby spinach or radicchio, has the added benefit of boosting your vitamin
and mineral intake, as well as folate.
Folate is particularly crucial in the first trimester of pregnancy because it's
going to help reduce your risk of neural tube defects.
So point here is, choose a nice dark green lettuce.
Now secondly, we want to focus on salad variety
You might have heard of the term "eat the rainbow"
This saying typically means that you want your salad plate, or bowl, to have lots of
colour from different ingredients as this indicates that you're getting a range of different
antioxidants to boost your defence system.
The more variety in your food, the greater nutritional adequacy in your diet, which needless
to say is important as you are currently growing a baby.
So, throw in lots of different ingredients and don't get stuck eating the same salad
every day; mix up the colour, textures and flavours, so you never get bored of your salad
and your growing bub will thank you for it.
Now the next thing we need to consider is salad meats.
All good salads should contain a good source of protein
Unfortunately, deli meats, eggs and cheese, which are common in salads, may have listeria
or salmonella risk.
So, your options are to a) opt for a warm salad where you reheat or cook fresh some
chicken or salmon, or b) throw in a can of legumes, canned fish or a handful of nuts
if you're on the run.
Next we need a great salad dressing.
Dressings can add such a boost of flavour
and difference to your salad, so don't shy away from being creative with your salad dressings.
Preferably choose vinaigrette or oil-based dressing and if you want more oomph, then
mix in different herbs, spices, or flavourings.
What you do need to be careful of is salad that contain undercooked eggs, such as hollandaise or bearnaise,
or salad dressing that contains cheese or other dairy products.
The dairy products are fine if they are pasturised, but you are just going to have to check the label
to double check that hey have been pasturised.
Let's just wrap up with a word of caution.
Although hopefully I've made it clear to you that salad is good for you and you don't need to 'pregnant pass'
the salad, you do need to be careful with how it's prepared, so take the time to make it yourself.
That way you are going to know that it's safe.
Wash all the ingredients thoroughly; even if the product says it's been pre-washed,
wash it again to remove any residual bacteria.
Refrigerate as soon as you finish preparing the salad and then make sure you eat it within a couple of hours.
This is one of the biggest risks of listeria, when you go to places like a food court or some cafes.
Is that they have it sitting out in the open, not being refrigerated for potentially
hours and hours on end.
And that gives listeria a chance to grow.
As long as it's been kept refrigerated, you're fine.
Also, you've got to be careful of salad bars and buffets, where you really just don't know
how well the salad has been prepared.
And you can't guarantee there will be no cross-contamination with
things like raw meats.
So just be on the safe when it does comes to eating out
But if you are making salad yourself, that's going to ensure that you know exactly
what goes in it and you can be confident that you are
eating a healthy, tasty and pregnancy-safe salad!
I'd love to hear your favourite pregnancy salad recipe in the comments box below, or
better still post a pic of it on your social media and tag me at Melanie McGrice.
And, if you haven't yet downloaded my free pregnancy meal plan, you can do so at www.melaniemcgrice.com/pregnancy
- you'll find lots of yummy recipes included.
I'd also really appreciate it if you could share this video with your pregnant friends
to help avoid the misconception that all salads need to be avoided during pregnancy.
I'll look forward to seeing you in my next video!