When you are carrying a baby, what you eat really matters. You need to select carefully what to consume, scan what it contains and whether it is nutritious, and need to see the possible effects toward your pregnancy. Not all of your previous diets will be harmful for your pregnancy, but not all will be safe either. When you are with the tiny thing in your belly, all you eat should pass beneficial nutrition through the placenta and nourish the unborn, instead of harming her. You also need to get the nutrition contained by those foods to support your stamina during pregnancy. This is the importance of balanced diets during your upcoming nine months. One kind of foods arousing a lot of questions about its safety to be eaten during pregnancy is seafood. You know that seafood is tasteful and healthy, but you probably also heard that this diet can be dangerous when eaten during pregnancy. Shrimps and oyster are said to contain mercury and other contaminators that can affect your baby.

Why eat Oyster

Oyster refers to the family of saltwater clams. It is high in calories, low in fat and cholesterol, high in sodium and potassium, contains several kinds of vitamins, and is enriched with vitamin D. Calories gives you sufficient energy, fat—especially omega-3 is important for your baby brain development, sodium and potassium are electrolytes needed by your blood. When you are pregnant, your blood volume increases, so that you need more electrolytes to pass through the nutrients from bloodstream to your cells. In addition, vitamin D is beneficial for both your baby’s and your bones developments. A serving of oyster gives these benefits, not ignoring its delicious taste when cooked variously. You can boil oysters with herbs, sauté with herbs and vegetables, fried after seasoned, and barbeque with paprika and mushrooms. Oysters indeed may contain mercury, but in low level. That is why it is important for you to watch your portion when eating oysters. Do not eat big portion frequently, and limit your consumption to get the benefits instead of the negative effects.

Is it Safe to eat Oyster when Pregnant

Similar to other kinds of seafood, oyster is enriched with various beneficial substances. However, it is also loaded with low-level mercury. In pregnancy, excessive intake of mercury-contaminated diets will result in baby nervous system damage and birth defects. Oyster is also enriched with electrolytes which if consumed too much will be counterproductive. Excessed amount of electrolytes will make you dehydrated, which is really harmful during pregnancy. Hence, when pregnant, you should pay attention to some things about eating oyster to get the benefits instead of the negative effects.

1. Cook the oyster carefully. We often find half-cooked oyster in a party. You might want to avoid that kind during your whole pregnancy. Half-cooked oyster might contain bacteria and parasite that can be harmful for your unborn baby.
2. Before cooking oysters, make sure you brush out the shells. Oysters are usually cooked with their shell attached. Before start cooking them, make sure you have clean the shell up to eliminate all possible contamination that might be attached. Should you wish to sauté or fried the oysters, you can boil them up with some herbs. It will eliminate the odors and cook the inner meat at the same time.
3. When purchasing oysters, choose the ones with closed shells. Oysters with opened shells are usually less fresh than the ones with closed shells. Watch the smell. Fresh oysters should have the smell of fresh saltwater.
4. Frozen oysters are not advised. Only purchase the fresh ones and cook them immediately. Do not keep them refrigerated.
5. Eat the oysters in considerable portion and only occasionally. Do not eat them too much as you may consume too much electrolytes and mercury, too.
6. If you are not familiar with oyster cooking, you should not cook your own oyster, as it might turn poisoning you.

Oyster is a healthy kind of diet. It gives beneficial nutrients to your body when consumed in considerably amount and not a part of daily diets. Thorough cooking and moderation are the keys to eat those delicious buddies when you have baby bump.