A common pregnancy issue is the effect of the hormones on your taste buds, or as I like to call it “Hijacked Taste Buds.”
Food that you have always loved can suddenly make you nauseous at one whiff or one bite. Or a more subtle problem is when food you have always loved or liked doesn’t taste the same as it did before you were pregnant. In addition to that, you are subjected to the introduction of “cravings”. Personally I have always been a person who had cravings and food phases, so it wasn’t surprising that it continued through my pregnancy. Tyler teases me because at the suggestion of a certain food that I may not have thought of in a while, I’ll go out and buy it to eat. I don’t see what the big deal is, I like to encourage good advertising ha ha
An example, pre-pregnancy, occurred when we watched the movie “Pineapple Express” (an otherwise disappointing movie by the way). One of the main characters was eating a Fruit Roll-up and I was like “yum, I haven’t had one of those in forever.” Then the next time I got groceries I bought a box of Fruit Roll-ups. The thing is, I still have most of that box in my pantry so I don’t think it’s a problem I need to worry about. Whereas Tyler has this terrible habit of seeing something in the pantry and he has to eat it right then & there (whether he is hungry or not). I think that’s a worse problem (and if he has any argument about that I have three words for him “My Coffee Crisp” LOL).
My first aversion that I can remember having was with garlic. I had just found out that my iron count was low so I decided to look up iron rich foods. Looking through the list I thought I’d make a lasagna with spinach as a good iron booster. I went to all the trouble of making the lasagna from scratch & Tyler made his garlic loaf only to find that I could not stomach the food nor be near Tyler when he was eating it!
My second major aversion seems to be meat products. I’m just not the hugest fan of cooking them or eating them right now. If they are included in what I’m eating I don’t pick it out or anything, but I just feel like loading up on carbs instead. Not really cool!
My first major food phase was for eggs and it lasted for quite a while. It was handy because eggs are very versatile and very quick to make. So at say 11pm when I decided that I’m hungry for an egg it was easy to whip one up! Then, one morning I was making my eggs, I looked at them and thought “I don’t want this.” Bizarre. Since then I have just had a healthy relationship with eggs.
I’ve had a fruit food phase for pretty much the whole pregnancy, though specifically I have liked watermelon. I’m thankful to be pregnant into the summer so that it is in season! I’m very particular about how I like the watermelon though (texture, color, flavor) and sometimes its difficult to pick the right piece. I’ve been a bit wasteful when it doesn’t meet my standards.
One night, all of a sudden I wanted peach juice. You know the kind you can sometimes get out of one of those juice fountain machines in a Mom & Pop restaurant? I haven’t really been able to satisfy this craving though as it is hard to find. I’ve been eating nectarines and drinking Snapple Peach Iced Tea which is keeping it at bay, but not satisfied. I just remembered that Sammies in Grimshaw has peach juice and that Melody is meeting me tomorrow so she might be able to hook me up. Oooh, now I’m extra excited!
For probably a month now I have been craving wieners n’ beans (beans in molasses to be specific). Again a nice simple craving that is easy to satisfy…and works in with some of the camping we’ve been doing!
Most of my cravings have been on the positive side however I have not been able to avoid my sweet tooth though I would have liked to. In my early pregnancy when I was experiencing nausea and morning sickness sweet stuff seemed to be safe. In addition to that, I have also been craving Pepsi (in cans) which is not something I was super into pre-pregnancy. I was mostly a non-cola girl. I’ve been trying to limit the Pepsi as pop isn’t that great for baby and the addition of caffeine makes me a little weary but I’ve still had some.
A word of warning for future pregnancy people: sometimes the cravings are satisfied in one sitting and sometimes they take longer. Be conservative and don’t “stock up” on any craving foods too much. An author of one book had a craving for beans and bought 18 cans (not sure why) and after one can was good so now she is stuck with 17 cans of beans LOL
Food that you have always loved can suddenly make you nauseous at one whiff or one bite. Or a more subtle problem is when food you have always loved or liked doesn’t taste the same as it did before you were pregnant. In addition to that, you are subjected to the introduction of “cravings”. Personally I have always been a person who had cravings and food phases, so it wasn’t surprising that it continued through my pregnancy. Tyler teases me because at the suggestion of a certain food that I may not have thought of in a while, I’ll go out and buy it to eat. I don’t see what the big deal is, I like to encourage good advertising ha ha
An example, pre-pregnancy, occurred when we watched the movie “Pineapple Express” (an otherwise disappointing movie by the way). One of the main characters was eating a Fruit Roll-up and I was like “yum, I haven’t had one of those in forever.” Then the next time I got groceries I bought a box of Fruit Roll-ups. The thing is, I still have most of that box in my pantry so I don’t think it’s a problem I need to worry about. Whereas Tyler has this terrible habit of seeing something in the pantry and he has to eat it right then & there (whether he is hungry or not). I think that’s a worse problem (and if he has any argument about that I have three words for him “My Coffee Crisp” LOL).
My first aversion that I can remember having was with garlic. I had just found out that my iron count was low so I decided to look up iron rich foods. Looking through the list I thought I’d make a lasagna with spinach as a good iron booster. I went to all the trouble of making the lasagna from scratch & Tyler made his garlic loaf only to find that I could not stomach the food nor be near Tyler when he was eating it!
My second major aversion seems to be meat products. I’m just not the hugest fan of cooking them or eating them right now. If they are included in what I’m eating I don’t pick it out or anything, but I just feel like loading up on carbs instead. Not really cool!
My first major food phase was for eggs and it lasted for quite a while. It was handy because eggs are very versatile and very quick to make. So at say 11pm when I decided that I’m hungry for an egg it was easy to whip one up! Then, one morning I was making my eggs, I looked at them and thought “I don’t want this.” Bizarre. Since then I have just had a healthy relationship with eggs.
I’ve had a fruit food phase for pretty much the whole pregnancy, though specifically I have liked watermelon. I’m thankful to be pregnant into the summer so that it is in season! I’m very particular about how I like the watermelon though (texture, color, flavor) and sometimes its difficult to pick the right piece. I’ve been a bit wasteful when it doesn’t meet my standards.
One night, all of a sudden I wanted peach juice. You know the kind you can sometimes get out of one of those juice fountain machines in a Mom & Pop restaurant? I haven’t really been able to satisfy this craving though as it is hard to find. I’ve been eating nectarines and drinking Snapple Peach Iced Tea which is keeping it at bay, but not satisfied. I just remembered that Sammies in Grimshaw has peach juice and that Melody is meeting me tomorrow so she might be able to hook me up. Oooh, now I’m extra excited!
For probably a month now I have been craving wieners n’ beans (beans in molasses to be specific). Again a nice simple craving that is easy to satisfy…and works in with some of the camping we’ve been doing!
Most of my cravings have been on the positive side however I have not been able to avoid my sweet tooth though I would have liked to. In my early pregnancy when I was experiencing nausea and morning sickness sweet stuff seemed to be safe. In addition to that, I have also been craving Pepsi (in cans) which is not something I was super into pre-pregnancy. I was mostly a non-cola girl. I’ve been trying to limit the Pepsi as pop isn’t that great for baby and the addition of caffeine makes me a little weary but I’ve still had some.
A word of warning for future pregnancy people: sometimes the cravings are satisfied in one sitting and sometimes they take longer. Be conservative and don’t “stock up” on any craving foods too much. An author of one book had a craving for beans and bought 18 cans (not sure why) and after one can was good so now she is stuck with 17 cans of beans LOL
I liked this blog (not that I don't like the others).. I had a few "aversions" to some foods. I also couldn't handle much garlic.. but not necessarily garlic in general, but I could NOT cook with it.. to think about even putting it on anything made me so sick feeling! (i used to cook with it specifically on our stir fry veggies).. I also could no longer handle brocoli (which mind you has since returned to my repetoire of foods thankfully - I was concerned I would never like broccoli again! it took me 20 years to like it in the first place lol)
ReplyDeleteHowever, in argument to your blog I kind of don't believe in "Cravings" during pregnancy. I think if you thought about it, even when you werent pregnant, you probably saw a movie or commercial or someone else with a product and thought "gee that'd be good right now" - or randomly "craved" something before as well.. (I can't say you did or didn't, but i'd guess you are like most people and have definetly experienced that).
The point of my argument is that in -my- opinion I think far too many women use the excuse of pregnancy "cravings" just to eat more. Cravings for me are right up there with "I'm eaiting for two".
:) -Kyla
Tim Hortons has peach juice! :)
ReplyDelete- Diana
I both agree & disagree with your beliefs about cravings. I agree that most people experience them before, during and after pregnancy. I also agree that they shouldn't be used an excuse to overindulge (as they are indeed a craving not a compulsion).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that there is SOME evidence that a craving can be an indication of a nutrient or vitamin that is missing or low in your diet that you may need to add. Experts say that our diet should be rich in all colors of the rainbow because (specifically in veggies & fruits) green ones tend to have similar nutrients to other greens, reds to reds, yellows to yellow, etc. So if you find you are craving nectarines & watermelon (like me) then there might be a common vitamin or nutrient to red fruits/veggies that baby & mommy need. Often when people are really hungry they will crave sweets because it is one of the lowest and simpliest forms of energy and your body knows it can convert it quickly (though unhealthfully).
That being said, I believe it to be only a general indicator and that you still need to apply common sense to what you are eating. :-)
I will have to check out this Tim Horton's peach juice to see if its the kind I like (I'm sort of looking for the kind that resembles Tang).
ReplyDelete