Travel Edition - Spain, Part One: Travel Tips for Pregnancy 1. Tell service people you are pregnant What is more annoying - someone who special orders everything on the menu or someone who explains that while they want to enjoy their dining experience, they cannot eat certain things for a 9 month period? In early stages of pregnancy, if you discretely tell your waiters and flight attendants that you are pregnant you not only explain your ensuing nuttiness, but it gives them a reason to give better service and it gives them a problem to solve. We've noticed that the service increases when you present this to them in an honest way ("the reason I can't have proscuitto in my salad is..") the experience is better. With flight attendants this is also helpful. Not only will they understand why you keep hitting the call button for more water, you may even see them take a more proactive approach. Most of all, you will find yourself more comfortable inside as you will not feel as "demanding". We tested this out in a top 10 restaurant in Spain and the 5 course meal was brought out "normal" for the man, and "pregnancy proof" for the woman. It was a fabulous experience while traveling. Yes, you can still go to the best restaurants in the city and they will appreciate it. Even if you have a huge baby belly, if you make it clear that you are in for a great experience, you just have some limitations, it will create a unique experience for both yourself and the chef.
2. The Snack Pack One key element that made our Spain trip a success was our snack pack. We kept the following items in a sack while driving around Spain. It may seem like a lot, but they were all gone by the end of the trip. At the Fork, we preach you controlling your food during pregnancy and beyond. While traveling, you never know what food options you will encounter on the roadside or in the airport particularly in a foriegn country. Sure you can always find something, but the point is to be sure you get what you need. The following items made for great power snacks while driving as well as great supplements to roadside meals when the offerings were all on the banned list.-4 Luna Bars -4 Granola Bars, peanut butter, oates and honey
-1 pack fig newtons
-1 bag of pretzels
-1 pack animal crackers
3. Things you should avoid eating The following are general "rules of thumb" regarding items you should avoid. It is all about using your judgement. It is kind of like what they tell surfers (like me) about getting attacked by a shark; "the only way to guarantee not get attached by a shark is to stay out of the ocean". Most of the risk with the items below come from possible food safety issues with the source of item, or possible problems in the process or creating or handling the item which could then cause food infections and sickness that will affect the pregnancy. If you grew up on a farm with your 12 brothers and sisters eating homemade cheese from the unpastuerized milk of the family cow Betsy - your risk with Betsy is clearly less (yes, knowing the cow's name helps). Reference the March of Dimes complete list for a full list of hazards.
-cured meats, especially from unreliable sources (due to possible mishandling of food since the product is technically cured and not cooked)
-unpastuerized liquids like milk and juice
-cheeses made from unpastuerized milk. Foreign countries have different regulations on how they make dairy products then does the US.
-anything undercooked or not cooked; sushi, rare beef, eggs, seafood, etc.
-limit your seafood intake to 12 oz. per week of low-mercury seafood such as salmon (wild), canned light tuna, and shrimp.
Coming Next, Part Two, Tapas In part two we take the "Tapas" food philosophy of Spain and rework the recipes Stork Fork style. |
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