Read about prego food cravings and see what they mean!
Tell us about your CRAZY CRAVINGS during pregnancy!
Post your comments to the blog and share with others!What do pregnant women crave? When we surveyed BabyCenter moms, almost 40 percent said, "Give me something sweet." Slightly fewer (33 percent) chose salty snacks. Fans of Mexican food and other spicy cuisine came in third (17 percent). Trailing (at 10 percent) were those who craved citrus fruit, green apples, and other lip-puckering tart or sour foods.
What does it all mean? Here's what the experts say:
Food jags: Cheese Whiz sandwiches, anyone?
About half of women in the United States report at least one food craving during pregnancy, says Judith Brown, author of What to Eat Before, During, and After Pregnancy. And those cravings aren't all for pickles and ice cream. In fact, they run the gamut.
BabyCenter moms confessed to wanting pickles wrapped in cheese, salsa spooned straight out of the jar, and yes, even steak fat. And where in the spectrum of sweet, salty, spicy, and sour does one woman's passion for black olives on Sara Lee cheesecake lie?
Another mom told us she ate a steady diet of Cheese Whiz sandwiches, which she now (after having her baby) can't stand the sight of. Eggplant, particularly on pizza, was another expectant mother's obsession.
Many of these cravings seem to come out of nowhere, and they can feel overpowering. What causes them? Hormones, right?
Maybe partly, says Elizabeth Somer, author of Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy. The extreme hormonal changes women go through during pregnancy can have a huge impact on taste and smell. (This would help explain why women going through menopause may also experience strong food cravings and aversions.) But the bottom line, says Somer, is that no one knows for sure.
One thing we do know is that aversions and food cravings go hand-in-hand. In an Ethiopian study, women who experienced food aversions were more than twice as likely to crave food compared with those who didn't. And in studies at the University of Minnesota, Judith Brown found that pregnant women - like those we asked - prefer a sweeter taste to a salty one.
What do food cravings mean?
The answer depends on whom you ask.
Some nutritionists and healthcare practitioners believe that certain cravings are meaningful. For example, cravings for ice and bizarre substances such as laundry starch and cigarette butts (a condition called pica) have been linked to an iron deficiency - even though none of those items contain significant amounts of iron. A number of the moms we surveyed reported consuming large quantities of ice, which they had never craved before, during their pregnancies.
San Francisco midwife and herbalist, Cynthia Belew, says other food cravings may be worth paying attention to as well. For example, alternative medicine practitioners believe that a shortage of magnesium can trigger a craving for chocolate. Foods that contain magnesium include whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and green vegetables such as spinach.
Belew has also found that many of her patients need more essential fatty acids in their diet. When they start taking fish oil or flax oil, their food cravings disappear.
Similarly, a craving for red meat seems like a transparent cry for protein. And the mom in our survey who said she consumed great quantities of peaches may have been responding to her body's need for beta carotene.
Brown agrees that in some cases there might be a biological cause for cravings. She points to pregnant women who develop an aversion to certain foods or drinks that might be harmful (like diet soda, coffee, or alcohol).
Somer, on the other hand, doesn't seem much of a link between a pregnant woman's cravings and what her body needs.
"People think their cravings are significant, but studies show no link between cravings and nutritional requirements," she says. "If people craved what the body needs, we would all eat more broccoli and less chocolate."
And at this point the evidence - while hard to ignore - is anecdotal.
"There's no scientific explanation for food cravings. There's no data saying that what a woman craves is related to something her body or her baby needs, and there's no data to support that typical pregnancy food cravings are harmful, either," explains Brown.
What to do about your cravings
In the end, the experts we consulted agreed that you should pay attention to your pregnancy cravings - indulging the healthy ones and coming up with alternatives for the less healthy cravings.
"Most cravings and aversions are more interesting than serious and, for the most part, can be indulged in moderation," Somer says, "A healthful diet is one that meets your nutritional and your emotional needs, as well as your preferences."
She recommends that pregnant women humor their cravings rather than fight them by, say, substituting frozen yogurt for ice cream. Cravings for sweets are sometimes the result of a drop in blood sugar, so eating small frequent meals may also help curb that desire to indulge in desserts.
Other ways to curb unhealthy cravings: Eat breakfast every day (skipping breakfast can make cravings worse), get plenty of exercise, and make sure you have lots of emotional support. This last one is particularly important, says Somer.
"The ebb and flow of emotions that accompanies pregnancy can cause you to turn to food," she says, "when what you really need is a hug."
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