In the real world, myths have their own energy and are sustained by mindless repetition.
Sometimes these myths are started by a well-intentioned, if culturally-insensitive, health professional.
A pregnant woman’s doctor, a man from a non-ethnic background, discovers his patient is eating hot peppers daily, and is concerned.
Among cultures with a distinct focus on spicy foods, the perception of what spicy, or hot, even means may vary.
If you’re pregnant and you also happen to be an Italian lady who loves eating your Sliced Pepperoncini peppers nightly as part of your antipasto, or a Spanish woman who enjoys habaneros in her salad, remember that if anyone has told you that the foods of your culture are somehow damaging, they’re probably missing the fact that they’re not sharing science or data, but rather cultural biases, conscious of otherwise.
The fact is, there are really no “hot” or “spicy” ethnic foods a pregnant woman must avoid for health’s sake.
None.
At the same time, as a Health Care Professional, I cannot stand behind a pregnant person wishing to compete in a hot pepper eating contest.
That’s not quite the same…
Eating traditional foods as such delicacies were intended is a far-cry from eating food as part of a competition.
Of course, if you’re pregnant and noticing that every time you eat hot or spicy foods, you get terrible indigestion, you may want to consider different food combining with that item, or eating it at a different time of the day. Or, perhaps you need to eat that food item in smaller quantities. There are many ways you can try working with your body.
Just because it’s not true that any ethnic foods can harm the baby, it’s equally true that any food that you were able to eat prior to being pregnant many give you some issues, while pregnant.
As a Licensed Postnatal and Pregnancy Massage Practitioner working in New Jersey, I’ve come across many situations regarding a pregnant woman and a doctor or nurse who has offered horrendous advice.
One woman was a South Asian patient who was told by her non-ethnic American doctor that she had to give up her Indian diet while pregnant because the “spices can be harmful to the baby.” He cited the oils, spices, and peppers, and really had her concerned that cooking and eating as she had her entire life might harm her and the baby.
Once she spoke with her sister and mother, though, everyone was slightly annoyed that she had been told such insanity.
Her Mother considered the question of “Indian food toxicity,” wondering how generations and generations have eaten this way while pregnant and everyone had turned out just fine.
Did the doctor mean to be culturally insensitive?
From everything else the woman had said, probably not. But at the same time, he was dispensing dietary advice that was unsound.
