Why Women Have Food Cravings During Pregnancy?

Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 14:55

Are you pregnant and craving for that elusive 'sweet something'? Do not be amazed at your sudden food cravings during pregnancy because they are desperately common. It is not like every pregnant woman on this earth has these cravings but a large majority does. Food during pregnancy is both a physical and emotional entity. It is not something that you eat to stay alive; according to your pregnant logic (dripping with hormones) you have to eat what particularly fancies you at the moment or at least something that appeals to your senses.

Pregnancy cravings need to be satisfied as far as possible but you cannot ignore your prenatal nutrition for it. So you need to be well informed about this phenomenon to take care of your prenatal health.

Some Interesting Facts About Pregnancy Cravings:

The pangs of desire you feel for a certain flavour of ice cream may not necessarily have been your favourite before getting pregnant. A good percentage of women crave food in the pregnancy, that they normally do not touch.

This phenomenon has many explanations. The old grandmothers tale is that because you have not been eating a certain food all your life, your body lacks the nutrients from it. In pregnancy, you get the chance to fulfill that deficit.

So according to this theory cravings are the body's natural instinct to fulfill temporary nutritional needs. For example, if you didn"t like milk before, now you would because you need calcium. However, then pregnant women would crave only for healthy foods. Ever heard of anyone craving for boiled spinach or broccoli?

Not all cravings are healthy (most of them are not healthy) and thus, this theory does not explain most other cravings in pregnancy, specially the weird ones. Did you know that some women crave for chalk, wall paint, toothpaste and rubber? It is called 'Pico' cravings. What would these inedible things have to do with prenatal nutrition?

It is best to curb such crazy cravings and that brings us to a more plausible explanation of this changed pattern of eating food during pregnancy. Pregnancy is a huge turmoil for your hormones, some surge sky high and some dip as low as ever.

As food is partly perceived and partly eaten, it is normal for your preferences to change. Your hormones make you emotionally unstable and you can get upset or angry at the drop of a hat. The same phenomenon affects your food habits in pregnancy too.

Pregnancy has some special problems like heart burns, headache and nausea or morning sickness. Some of the cravings can also be to soothe these symptoms. For example one of the most common craving for tarty or sour things like pickles has been done to death in movies. It is actually a natural reaction of the body to crave citrus smells and taste when you have a vomiting tendency.

These pregnancy tips can be useful in unraveling your pregnancy cravings and regulating them.