Why Do You Have Cravings During Pregnancy?

During pregnancy, your body changes and as a result, you may have really unusual cravings during pregnancy.

Cravings during pregnancy are quite common among future moms. Cravings open the door to an infinity of peculiar combinations of food, often intolerable before pregnancy. Even if they aren’t the most tasty or eye-catching, cravings during pregnancy are pleasurable and normal.

During this time, you should allow yourself to indulge in these cravings to satisfy your taste buds. However, giving yourself a treat doesn’t mean you should stop eating actual food. That would be a huge mistake.

It’s very important to have a quality diet during pregnancy. Your health and your baby’s health depend on it. Excessive weight gain at this stage isn’t healthy. Therefore, you should control your cravings during pregnancy, since most of the time they’re loaded with calories.

If you feel the need to indulge in your cravings too much, this may signal a deficiency in your body. Therefore, you should balance cravings with healthy foods and avoid fats and sugars.

Why do you have cravings during pregnancy?

Your body undergoes many changes during pregnancy. They aren’t only physical, but also hormonal and sentimental. Cravings may be linked to hormonal changes, hence the need to be pleased. Mood swings can occur if that pleasure doesn’t take place.

During pregnancy, you also need vitamins and proteins, since your baby is receiving a large part of those nutrients. As a result, you’re often hungrier than normal.

Also, sugar levels usually decrease during pregnancy. Because of this, you may prefer sweets. Due to low glucose levels in the blood, you may want to eat foods loaded with sugar at any time of the day. This can be considered a warning sign that the body has this deficiency and must be compensated.

On the other hand, as you undergo alterations in pregnancy, new sensations and changes in taste and smell occur. Frequently, you reject foods with strong odors, which often cause vomiting and discomfort.

In turn, some smells will become more attractive, such as the aroma of a particular flower or that of moist soil.

How can cravings be controlled during pregnancy?

Cravings during pregnancy can be satisfied, while eating healthy foods and not jeopardizing your health or that of your baby’s. A good way to control cravings is to eat a good breakfast every morning.

It’s a well-known fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Skipping it tends to increase cravings. In addition to eating breakfast, exercising or engaging in some type of physical activity can improve mood and reduce anxiety.

On the other hand, feeling supported by your partner, family, and friends will prevent emotional changes from excessively increasing cravings. It’s important for you to feel loved and relaxed so that your stress levels don’t increase. With that, the anxiety will also disappear.

Recommendations

You should enjoy your cravings. Giving in to them from time to time makes you happy and therefore improves your attitude toward the challenges you go through during pregnancy. Many times, cravings can’t be avoided, so analyze what type of foods your body is seeking.

Substituting foods that have a high level of calories is ideal, not only for your appearance, but because excessive weight gain during pregnancy isn’t recommended.

Don’t satisfy a craving that involves alcohol or raw foods, or other harmful products, under any circumstance.

In addition, eating small portions during the day reduces cravings. This keeps you satisfied and gives you the feeling of fullness and well-being. Eat fruits throughout the day. Not only is fruit a healthy option, but it also helps prevent gestational diabetes.

The most important thing is to satisfy your cravings without going overboard. You should appeal to all of your options in a balanced way.