What’s With the Cravings?

By Ingrid Wells
Whenever pregnancy is discussed, the topic of cravings is sure to follow. TV sitcoms love to play up this aspect of pregnancy with husbands shown running out in the middle of the night to pick up crazy foods to appease their wives’ desperate cravings. But why all the fuss about cravings?

This is a question I often asked myself during pregnancy. My cravings never materialized. Not during either of my pregnancies. I wondered where they were. Was there something wrong with me or with my pregnancy? The thought of having a silly craving seemed sort of fun. But for me it was a real head scratcher.

I wondered if having cravings was just one of those old wives' tales that was perpetuated to allow women to eat the foods they had forgone prior to pregnancy to maintain their weight. Or were cravings hyped so much that women just imagined they were having them when they weren’t?

I’ve since learned that cravings are real. According to Your Pregnancy™ Week by Week, the most medically up-to-date pregnancy guide available, many pregnant women do in fact have cravings. Cravings, which are believed to be caused by hormones typically center on salty and or sweet foods. In a study cited by the book, 33% of pregnant women craved chocolate, 20% craved sweets of some sort and 19% craved citrus fruits and juices.

Pregnancy Cravings, an article on parents.com, notes that in addition to cravings, pregnant women also experience an increased perception of bitterness during their first trimester. This may be the body’s way of protecting the fetus from harmful foods or beverages during critical stages of fetal development.

Cravings can also be a signal that your body is in need of something, such as calcium or iron. A less commonly occurring craving called Pica may be caused by a nutritional deficiency. Pica is a craving for unusual non-food items such dirt, chalk, charcoal and other substances. Consumption of non-foods is not healthy for you or your baby. If you fall into this category, see your physician right away to try to get to the root cause of the unusual craving.

Indulging Your Cravings
So what should you do when you have a craving? Eating with wild abandon is not the answer. Though a food may be yummy going down, if you indulge too much you’ll have to work harder to take off pregnancy weight. The more weight, the more work. It’s as simple as that.

Don’t panic! Cravings usually subside or at least diminish some by month 4, according to Food Cravings and Aversions During Pregnancy, an article on whattoexpect.com. Just keep your health and the health of your baby in mind and focus on eating a healthful diet. The article offers these helpful tips for keeping cravings in check:

• Try to go easy on the indulgence by keeping the treat size within reason. For example, have a small chocolate bar instead of a super sized one.
  
  
• If you do give in to your craving, try to eat healthy for the rest of the day.

Your Pregnancy™ Week by Week suggests that instead of indulging, try treating yourself once in a while with a little sample of your craved food. The book notes that you can help reduce your cravings with low fat, low sugar snacks.

Clubdebebe.com offers wonderful pregnancy gift sets that focus on having a healthy pregnancy. Below are links to some of these sets which make very considerate gifts:

• Healthy Eats Gift Set
  
  
• Expecting Health Gift Set
  
  
• Healthy Pregnancy Package
  
  
• Healthy Mommy, Healthy Baby Gift Set

Some other articles you may enjoy:

• Pregnancy Cravings
  
  
• Food Cravings and Aversions During Pregnancy
  
  
• Coping with Pregnancy Cravings
  
  
• Pregnancy and Pica: Non-Food Cravings

Please join us in sharing your craving experience!