We are new parents, our little girl Yasmin is now 11 month-old. Let us share with you what my wife ate and avoided during pregnancy.
Ate:
Lots of soups - We bought a charcoal stove to cook soup to save on gas bill as we make old-fire soup (3-5 hrs) everyday. we made mostly fish soup. As my wife's family are fish wholesaler in Malaysia, they told us not to eat any scale-less fish as they are 'poisonous'. So I bought 5-6 small mullet (ikan kurau??) cook with potatoes and tomatoes, carrots. or replace fish with chicken, or meat
Steamed fish - we have steamed fish everyday, mostly steamed.
Veg - we ate lots of different kinds of veg.
We are the lucky ones, besides going to visit gynae or to antenatal classes, we have meals at home. So minimised MSG intake and fast food.
Avoid:
Papaya, pineapple, banana - according to my mom, these are slippery, even though we know it is baseless, but since they insisted, we follow the old wisdom.
Deep fried food - To heaty, may lead to bad case of piles
Coffee, Tea, coke - Gynae told my wife not to take any. We tried once, and baby had disco party all through the night, so never taken anymore. Gynae advised if really tempted, can drink 7-up or soda water for kick only
Ginseng - Ginseng should be avoided, according to research in Hong Kong, consumming ginseng too early in pregnancy may lead to deformation. If you want to take ginseng to prepare you body for labour, take it sparingly during the last 2 month of pregnancy.
raw veg, raw egg - to avoid food poisoning ( one of our friends in the antenatal class was food poisoned and induced labor, luckily after 2 nights in KKH, she was ok)
smurfy, red bean soup needs the following:
red bean, dried mandarin orange peel X1, lotus seed (fresh or dried), lily bulb (fresh or dried)
soak red bean, mandarin orange peel
scrape the white layer of orange peel off under running water, soak lotus sees and lily bulb if using dried ones.
put red bean, orange peel in a pot add water and bring to boil for 30 mins then turn down heat to simmer for about 1.5 to 2 hrs until 'sandy'. if using fresh lotus seeds and lily bulb add them during the last 30min cooking time.
Add chinese compress brown brick sugar to taste