Most Common Cravings During Pregnancy
During pregnancy, your body experiences a lot of hormonal changes. This causes cravings or desires that normally make you feel like you need to eat a certain food. In fact, almost all pregnant women experience these cravings, and today we’ll tell you about the most common cravings during pregnancy.
It’s important to manage your cravings appropriately during pregnancy so you can avoid altering the quality of your diet. If you don’t, you’ll be putting your health at risk. In addition, you need to be sure you’re getting the right nutrients and that you’re restricting certain products.
Sweets are one of the most common cravings during pregnancy
Pregnant women often crave sweets. This could be due to the fact that, as the body’s nutritional needs increase, it requires a greater amount of glucose to keep your blood sugar levels stable.
However, you shouldn’t always give in to these cravings. According to research published in the journal Nutrients, excessive consumption of simple sugars could lead to a condition known as gestational diabetes.
Because of that, it’s important to highlight the importance of limiting some foods. For example, you should only eat ice cream, chocolate and cookies in moderation, even though they’re some of the foods that women crave most during the initial stages of pregnancy.
Some women crave spicy foods
In addition, it’s fairly common for women to crave spicy foods during pregnancy. This is because hormonal changes can create a special desire for strong flavors.
However, we don’t recommend eating foods that contain capsaicin while you’re pregnant. Although the substance itself has been shown to act as an anti-inflammatory and and as an analgesic, it can actually be harmful for women who suffer from frequent heartburn or reflux.
Therefore, it’s important to check your tolerance for these types of products before adding them to your diet. Some spicy foods that pregnant women tend to crave are pickles, jalapeños, hot peppers, and heavily seasoned foods.
Cheese is another one of the most common cravings during pregnancy
Women also tend to crave cheese more often when they’re pregnant. Cheese contains a high amount of fat, which helps to generate feelings of satiety. In addition, these lipids are able to help with inflammatory processes. They even contain essential nutrients that can help you maintain good bone health.
However, pregnant women need to be careful about the types of cheese they eat. You should only be eating cheeses that have been made from pasteurized milk. Otherwise, you’re increasing your microbiological risk. You should also keep in mind that food poisoning during pregnancy can put your fetus’ life at risk.
When it comes to eating cheese during pregnancy, you should include aged cheeses that have been properly sterilized. If you’ve developed a lactose intolerance, you should still keep that limitation in mind. However, there are solutions to this problem, like taking a pill with the enzyme lactase.
Conclusion
As we’ve mentioned, it’s very common for women to experience cravings during pregnancy. These cravings are caused by the hormonal changes that women experience during this stage of their lives. In fact, some of these cravings may even continue for months after you’ve given birth.
As a general rule, you can listen to your cravings. However, it’s important to limit your consumption of sweets so you can avoid complications like gestational diabetes. In addition, you should be careful when it comes to cheeses, since not all of them are suitable for pregnant women.
Remember, if you want to know exactly which foods are safe to include in your diet, it’s best to go to a specialist. Also, you’ll want to follow a diet that will ensure you don’t experience excessive weight gain. Putting on too much weight during pregnancy could put you and your baby at risk.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Mustad VA, Huynh DTT, López-Pedrosa JM, Campoy C, Rueda R. The Role of Dietary Carbohydrates in Gestational Diabetes. Nutrients. 2020 Jan 31;12(2):385. doi: 10.3390/nu12020385. PMID: 32024026; PMCID: PMC7071246.
- Frias B, Merighi A. Capsaicin, Nociception and Pain. Molecules. 2016 Jun 18;21(6):797. doi: 10.3390/molecules21060797. PMID: 27322240; PMCID: PMC6273518.
