Why you must avoid soaked garri during pregnancy

Before you missed your flow, you noticed that you weren’t a good fan of soaked garri. But when you are some months gone, soaked garri has become your favourite local delicacy because of its sour taste and the way it hits your palate and prevents you from vomiting or spitting. Those are the reasons most pregnant mothers take it early in the morning or late in the evening.


Okay, if soaked garri has been working wonders for you to prevent spitting, you still need to watch out and desist from that habit. Who doesn’t know that when a pregnant mum who is addicted to garri deinking is told to desist, she would give you a thousand and one reasons for taking it. When you remind her that such food has no nutritious benefits, she would be quick to tell you that she usually adds beverages and milk into hers thus making it nutritious.


Please, enough of such reasons! As medical and Health Workers’ Union, Lagos State Council recently said, it would embark on public enlightenment to discourage consumption of soaked garri for now to prevent the spread of lassa fever. And you know this fever is no respecter of persons; you don’t have immunity against it just because you are pregnant. If you are not yet convinced, you need to know that the Chairman of the union, Mr Razak Adeo-falade, said the house rats that cause lassa fever are mostly in contact with our most staple food garri, a cassava product.


“We are going to encourage members of the public to depart from the process of drinking garri at this moment, it is better that the cassava flour is utilised for eba, because of the use of hot water. We are waging total war and that is war against rats, and that is what we are going to do to ensure we do not have more victims of lassa fever in the state.


We would also be telling them to ensure fruits and raw vegetables are properly washed if they must be consumed raw,” he counselled. He did not exclude expectant mums, so desist from soaked garri. Did you ask what you would do to the remaining garri which you carefully poured into an empty and clean container with a cap that is always covered? Well, it’s up to you. It has always been said that prevention is better than cure.


Don’t let your crave for soaked garri make you ignore vital safety tips for you and your baby. There are some other things you can soak, such as cabin biscuits, corn flakes or golden morn. They are well packaged and hygienic such that they could replace soaked garri, at least for now.