Have you heard of pregnant women who have been vegetarians for years and then during their pregnancy craved meat? Perhaps they started eating meat and their carnivore husbands then gave meat up? Maybe this actually happens or maybe it was just a Friends episode that has become an urban legend? Anyway, in our culture food cravings and aversions go along with pregnancy and it is not uncommon to be asked if I have had any cravings.
I would not exactly say cravings, but I have indulged in plenty of comfort foods since becoming pregnant. There were about 2 straight weeks where all I could think to eat were noodles and broth. Not necessary chicken noodle soup, but chicken broth and noodles. No chicken or vegetables. Sometimes toast with melted cheddar cheese hit the spot, too. But vegetables? Nope. Fruit? Sometimes. Meat? NO WAY.
So instead of cravings, food aversions have hit closer to home for me. Having been a vegetarian for years, I reversed my diet about 5 years ago to include more meat. As I was running more marathons, my body was craving more meat and started eating it. Just a year or two ago, I could not get enough meat. Since October, my meat consumption has reduced drastically. Now I am basically only eating small pieces of meat when they are presented to me, instead of me cooking them. Poultry is much better than pork or red meat. I think its the juices from those meats that turn my stomach.
After a first trimester where I was eating anything that I felt could stay down (again, lots of noodles and toast and crackers and cheese), I have finally gotten my appetite for healthy foods back. Yay! And I think it is no coincidence that I have felt FANTASTIC these past few weeks.
I have been having oatmeal each morning, with yogurt, cinnamon and/or almond butter. I have been having a salad of greens, other colorful veggies and protein (cheese or egg) for lunch with snacks of raw almonds and soy nuts. And dinners have consisted of sautéed veggies, sometimes tofu (eating tons of it lately, probably unhealthy amounts) and rice, polenta or quinoa. Potatoes, too.
I am not saying I have a perfectly healthy diet. We do get take-out more often and I cannot resist a spicy burrito or drunken noodles from the neighborhood thai place. I snack a lot more often than I used to and I add butter to just about everything. But I love that I can now stomach a lot more veggies and am even ‘craving’ them all the time.
I cannot say I think pregnancy automatically comes with food cravings or aversions, but I do know it makes us more conscious of what we are eating and how our body is responding. For me, comfort foods were all I could eat when I was really nauseous. But I would not say I craved them; I knew I had to eat so I figured I would eat what I knew would go down well. Aversions like meat had a way of turning my stomach so much so that I could not even smell it without gagging. I am not sure why, but that affected me the most. And it still does. I’m not sure when or if I will want to eat meat again, but for the time being, I am happily consuming all the fresh veggies, beans, nuts and tofu that I can find!
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