How are they explained? Scientists are not entirely sure, but food cravings during pregnancy may be the way your body warns that some nutrients are missing from your diet. Although it is difficult to explain how mustard and ice cream can be linked with an imbalance in your diet!
Pickles and ice cream.
You probably already know all the jokes about pregnant women and their strange eating habits. Although you may not have resorted to smearing mustard on a sweet bun or sprinkling sugar on a steak, you’re probably experiencing some unusual cravings, especially at night.
Some experts suggest that cravings may be the way your body warns that nutrients are lacking in your diet. They could also be the result of a need to have stronger flavors during pregnancy, to even the need to have more calories.
Thinking that nutrition in the early stage of pregnancy is vital. It is important to listen to your body when it tells you to eat, regardless of what you’re eating habits are. But keep in mind that although most cravings are likely harmless, you should always try to choose foods that are healthy and nutritious, starting with good nutrition from the first stage of pregnancy.
And you should never give in to the urge of consuming something that is not food. Any substance that is not designed for human consumption can be harmful to you or your baby. To combat nighttime cravings, make well-balanced meals and eat a light snack with a glass of milk at bedtime.
If you are one of those who have had cravings during pregnancy, we know the feeling: an irresistible desire to eat something specific. It can be sweet foods, acidic or salty foods. Some even create the strangest combinations: catsup cake, ice cream with lettuce, pork chops at three o’clock in the morning … Do you know why they occur?
Cravings.
That unexpected desire to eat a particular food occurs for several reasons. The first is the lack of nutrients, such as iron, and the second is due to hormonal changes. We do not all suffer cravings. The statistics are varied; some speak of 60% and others that up to 90% of pregnant women have cravings. Most of the time they are harmless and want to warn you that you need some nutrient that there is in what are you craving?
Cravings are more than whims.
If you feel like eating chocolate, you probably lack magnesium, chromium or vitamin B. You can replace it with sunflower seeds.
Do you want sweets? You may need magnesium, chromium, and water, try fruits instead.
If your craving is for bread, your body screams for fiber and glucose. Try nuts or nuts.
Wanting salty foods? You need sodium in the body. Eat vegetables. It can also be a symptom of stress.
Meat and sausages are the types of food craved the least, but it means you need protein and iron. You also find it in figs, plums, and legumes.
Fried food? You need calcium and fat. Opt for good fats like avocado or olive oil.
Cheese. Your body orders omega 3 and you find it in foods like salmon, and nuts.
We recommend that you pay good attention to cravings because they can contain a lot of caloric load. Better go for the healthy options so you do not gain so much weight.
Beware of disorders.
Be careful, because, although it is unlikely, some fall into serious eating disorders. For example, those who have a craving for dirt, plaster, soap, chalk, mud or things that are very harmful to the baby and the mom. This disorderly “cravings” are attributed to the lack of iron or calcium in the body and deficiencies of minerals, but here is still no scientific explanation for it. If you feel these peculiar desires you have to be careful not to satisfy them and rather go to the doctor as soon as possible for metabolic and nutritional evaluation.
