7 New Foods You Should Never Eat While You're Pregnant

While eating fish during pregnancy can deliver lots of nutritional goodies in the form of omega-3 fatty acids, which support a baby's growth and development in the womb and into early childhood, navigating seafood menu options during your pregnancy can be quite the shit show. Although most people know that eating raw fish is a no-no during pregnancy because it can contain contaminants that cause food-borne illness and endanger your baby, that doesn't mean all cooked fish is 100 percent safe: Some contain concerning amounts of mercury that can mess with the development of a baby's nervous system and brain and result in birth defects, according to the American Congress of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (ACOG).

So it's a good thing that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recently teamed up to clarify exactly which seafood is OK to eat during pregnancy, setting brand new rules to live by if you're pregnant, thinking about becoming pregnant, or breastfeeding.

Aim to eat two to three palm-size servings (8 to 12 ounces) of ~approved~ low-mercury fish per week, shooting for variety that could include anchovies, catfish, cod, crab, flounder, shrimp, sole, tilapia, salmon, scallops, skate, canned light tuna, and fresh water trout, among others, or eat no more than one serving of most other kinds of tuna, grouper, halibut, mahi mahi, sea bass, snapper, and others that aren't listed below, including anything caught by recreational fishers in the wild. Most importantly, you'll want to avoid the fish below altogether, since they contain the highest levels of mercury in all the sea:

1. king mackerel
2. marlin
3. orange roughy
4. shark
5. swordfish
6. tilefish from Gulf of Mexico
7. bigeye tuna

You can get the FDA's full list of permitted fish right here, and keep it close for reference the next time a seafood menu confounds you. And if all else fails, you can always just order the chicken ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .

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