From time to time, I will cover topics regarding maintaining good health during pregnancy. Sometimes when you are faced with an unplanned pregnancy, you may forget the simple yet important things like eating properly and getting enough rest.!

Have you been having any cravings during your pregnancy? Cravings are a funny thing and often times our bodies crave odd foods and combinations such as the infamous pickles and ice cream. During my pregnancy with Charlie, I craved Reese’s Shivers from McDonalds. I didn’t just crave them during the normal fast food hours, but I’d crave them during the middle of the night and even have one for breakfast sometimes! I helped McDonalds stay in business during that pregnancy!

So what are these cravings all about and why do they occur? I was curious so I did a little research. I was guessing the cravings were related to pregnancy hormones and I was right on the money with that guess. According to Baby Center, about 85% of all pregnant women crave something at some point of their pregnancy. Typically the cravings are not healthy ones. Almost 40 percent of the women surveyed reported craving something sweet and about 33 percent crave something salty. Cravings typically come from out of no where and are usually very powerful!

Most experts agree that you should honor your cravings when they are healthy and eat the unhealthy ones in moderation and substitute healthy alternatives for the sweet cravings.

A few tips to help you curb those cravings:

• Eat breakfast every day. Skipping meals actually makes you feel hungrier.



• Seek emotional support. Remember, these cravings are caused by hormones and you may be substituting food for talking or emotional support.



• Think small. Eat a few spoonfuls of ice cream instead of the whole carton!

There’s a really great chart on one of the Baby Center craving pages that provides healthy substitutions to those unhealthy cravings such as sherbet or low fat yogurt instead of ice cream or popcorn instead of potato chips.

Sources: What’s Behind those Cravings?

Food Cravings and What they Mean?


PS. Happy Birthday to my rockin' Little Brother!