Pickles During Pregnancy – Is It Safe To Eat?
6 min readWritten by Pradeep
Just conceived a few weeks back and have been experiencing urges for various foods that you never used to enjoy earlier? Pregnancy brings forth a lot of hormonal changes that make you crave unusual food items like pickles making you reach out automatically for these items. While common pregnancy cravings can be strange, some of the most common cravings are chocolates, lemons, spicy and tangy food, ice, ice-creams, potato chips, sweets, and even pickles during pregnancy.
While some women treat pickles to cure their craving for spicy food, some others find it really helpful to avert morning sickness that usually plagues most women during this period. This makes you automatically worried about whether having these tangy pickles during pregnancy is really safe in this period. Although eating small quantities of pickles may not cause any harm, having it on a daily basis is not advisable.
In This Article
- Are Pickles During Pregnancy Safe to Consume?
- Nutritional Facts About Pickles
- What are the Benefits of Eating Pickles During Pregnancy?
- Precautions When Eating Pickles During Pregnancy
- Risk Factors of Eating Pickles by the Pregnant Women
- FAQ’s
Are Pickles During Pregnancy Safe to Consume?
Pickles during pregnancy are one of the most craved food items for pregnant women. The majority of women want to eat pickles during pregnancy, while some may have cravings for these food items in certain months only.
Consuming a small amount of pickle or pickle juice is alright for pregnant women, as long as you don’t have any reaction to it.
Nutritional Facts About Pickles
The nutritional value of pickles is actually non- existent.The pickles have limited benefits and are not actually something that can be made part of your daily diet plan during your pregnancy period. Following are some nutritional facts about pickles.
- An ounce of pickle does not contain any cholesterol, fat, or protein in it.
- It contains just minute traces of carbohydrates and potassium.
- All that pickle juice contains Vitamin C and sodium in moderate amounts only.
What are the Benefits of Eating Pickles During Pregnancy?
A majority of pregnant women crave pickles, and the tangy, spicy taste presents a treat for them. However, pregnancy calls for a focus on your diet plan, and hence eating a nutritionally balanced diet is a must.
To satiate your taste buds, limited consumption of pickles is not bad and may even have some of the benefits given below:
1. Aids to Maintain the Correct Balance of Electrolytes in Your System
The two important electrolytes in your system are sodium and potassium. These are the main minerals that aid in ensuring proper electrical transmissions throughout your system. When one conceives, the body begins to preserve more fluid in it as even your fetus’s nutritional requirements need to be met by your system.
This implies your body requires higher amounts of electrolytes and pickle juice that contains moderate quantities of both sodium and potassium, can help to an extent in meeting these requirements.
2. It Does Not Increase Your Weight
Since pickles have zero amount of fat and cholesterol in it, you can be certain that eating pickles in moderation will not make you put on much weight. Unlike other pregnancy cravings like sweets, chocolates, and ice creams, pickles pose very little risk to weight gain during that phase.
Precautions When Eating Pickles During Pregnancy
Some of the precautions you should keep track of if your carving when pregnant:
1. Chances of Dehydration
If you are eating pickles in moderate quantities during the pregnancy period, it is imperative that you remain well hydrated to ensure a proper balance of sodium levels in your system. Too much pickle consumption can raise levels of sodium and lead to various health issues especially like dehydration.
[Read : Home Remedies For Gas And Bloating During Pregnancy]
2. Gastric Issues
If you have gastric issues, it is best to steer clear of pickles during pregnancy. Pickles can cause bloating and other gastric issues during pregnancy.
It can also trigger dysentery and other digestive disorders if consumed in excess during pregnancy.
3. Can Cause Heartburn
One of the main woes of pregnancy that the majority of the women face is heartburn. Pickles that are highly acidic can only increase the uneasiness if you are one of those women who are already experiencing heartburn during the pregnancy period.
[Read : Natural Remedies For Heartburn During Pregnancy]
4. Can Increase Sodium Levels
Some pickles have extremely high sodium levels that can trigger a negative impact on your fetus’s development and proper growth.
5. Pickles Can Hike Your Blood Pressure
Pickles contain a lot of salt that is not good for your body, especially if you are prone to gestational hypertension. Eating too much of pickles can hike up the levels of blood pressure leading to unwanted complications during pregnancy.
6. Limit the Quantity
Make sure that your consumption of pickles does not go overboard as eating too much of pickles can cause unwanted adverse effects for you and your fetus.
7. Read Labels Carefully
If you plan on purchasing pickles from the store, ascertain you read labels carefully before buying them. Ensure they are made from organic items and also be sure to check the date of expiry. Steer clear of pickles that have too much of chemical preservatives that may be quite dangerous for the fetus growing inside you.
8. Steer Clear of Homemade Pickles
Homemade pickles have chances of containing traces of listeria bacteria which can trigger unwanted harm during this period.
9. Consult Your Doctor
It is absolutely necessary to ask your doctor whether having pickles in moderation is safe for your condition during pregnancy.
Risk Factors of Eating Pickles by the Pregnant Women
Nearly most of the pickles contain high salt content in it. Moreover, many Indian pickles contain an excess amount of oil.
- Excess eating of salt through pickles during the pregnancy phase can lead to gestational hypertension, which can result in heart attacks and strokes.
- Oil in pickles can increase cholesterol levels and fat content in the body during the pregnancy period.
- Consuming very spicy pickles or those with chemical preservatives can lead to bloating or gas for pregnant women.
All this makes it clear that eating pickles is not actually a great idea, but having them in fewer quantities once in a while will not do any harm to you or the baby growing within you either.
So if you happen to be one of those women, who have a terrible craving for pickles during your pregnancy period, make sure they are safe to eat by consulting your doctor. Also ensure you eat just moderate quantities and that too, not on a daily basis.
[Read : Mangoes During Pregnancy]
FAQ’s
1. Can I Eat Pickles to Curb my Morning Sickness?
Yes you can. Pickles might control the nausea and retching, due to their taste. However, it is not recommended to consume them every day.
2. Can Eating Pickles During my Pregnancy Harm my Baby?
No it won’t. It can cause heartburn and indigestion for you. This in turn might affect the nutrition that reaches your child.
3. Are Pickles Healthy During Pregnancy?
It is definitely not one of those healthy foods for pregnancy. It contains a lot of oil and salt which are not great during pregnancy. Have pickles in moderation and opt for ones that are not too spicy.
4. Can my Craving for Pickles During Pregnancy Predict the Gender of the Baby?
No it cannot. It is a belief that women pregnant with boys will crave for more spice and salt. There is no scientific research to back up this claim.
5. Are Pickles Safe During Pregnancy?
Yes, they are. When eaten in moderation. Pregnant infact crave for pickles.
6. Can Pickles During Pregnancy Cause Complications?
If you are suffering from hypertension, then yes. Pickles contain a lot of salt. The high sodium content is not good for your blood pressure.
7. Can Pickles Cause Indigestion During Pregnancy?
Yes, they can. They are rich in salt, oil and spice. It can cause indigestion in sensitive pregnant women.
8. Can Pickles Cause Food Poisoning?
Yes, they can if they are not stored well. if the pickle has gone bad, they can be unsafe. If they are not stored properly, they can be contaminated.
Pradeep,
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