5 food items that pregnant women crave

Pregnancy is a life-altering experience, and this journey is full of surprises. Well, for starters, you’ll meet your alter ego; you will suddenly develop a penchant for certain things that used to appear quite unappealing to you in your pre-pregnancy days. This whirlwind of emotions is what you will be experiencing throughout the pregnancy, and no amount of pregnancy magazines will prepare you for what’s to come.

The pregnancy experience varies from one woman to another; while one expecting mom’s day begins with morning sickness, the other one would be practicing breathing exercises in her yoga class. However, the one thing that every pregnant woman experiences is sudden food cravings, and what’s more surprising about these food cravings is that most of the times it these will be for the most bizarre food items which you might never have considered eating earlier.

So, don’t fret if you suddenly develop an inclination towards eating pickle for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; it’s completely normal. Here are some of the common food cravings that women experience during pregnancy.

Spicy and hot foods
If you were not a fan of spicy food and suddenly couldn’t wait to add red peppers to your curry, your pregnancy food cravings point towards spicy and hot foods. Though the hot chicken wings and spicy Taco Bell Fiery Doritos might appear extremely delicious, you need to limit the consumption of spicy and hot foods as it can aggravate morning sickness or cause acidity. Also, an interesting old wives’ tale suggests that women who are about to have baby boys crave spicy food, whereas, those carrying baby girls will develop an obsession towards chocolates.

Sweets
If you have an unexplainable urge to binge on chocolate-chip cookies or chocolate ice-cream, this implies that either you developed a new sweet tooth or your old one went into an overdrive. A lot of pregnant women crave sweets; chocolates, sugary sweets, ice cream, and doughnuts are some of the popular contenders among the sweet food items that entice pregnant women. It’s harmless to indulge these cravings but only to a certain extent.

Salty foods
Do you yearn to hear the racket a bag of chips makes when it’s being opened? Well, if chips and french fries are what appeals to your taste buds during the pregnancy, then you have to tread carefully. A sudden craving for salty food implies that your current diet doesn’t contain the required sodium level. Moreover, the blood volume increases during pregnancy, and this can also trigger cravings for salty foods. Popcorn, french fries, potato chips, and chicken tenders with added salt are some of the popular salty foods that women crave during their pregnancy.

Bizarre food combinations
Pregnancy can transform you into a completely different person, and this fact manifests itself when you suddenly develop the urge to eat pickles with peanut butter! If this is not what you would have done in your pre-pregnancy days, then your guilty pleasure is to experiment with different food types and to find the weirdest food combinations that will make your hunger hormones go crazy. Some of the weirdest food combinations that were invented include fried eggs and mint sauce, marmite on ice cream, sponge cake and tomato sauce, and many more. Though some of these foods items might appear unappetizing to a majority of people, you can continue enjoying these weird food creations as long as it doesn’t harm you.

Craving for non-foods
This type of craving during pregnancy indicates serious underlying health issues. At times, pregnant women start craving for things that aren’t eligible food items, and this phenomenon is known as pica. Pica puts the mother and the baby at risk, and this condition indicates iron deficiency or the deficiency of some other essential nutrient or mineral. These inedible items that pregnant women crave include ice, wax, clay, coffee grounds, starch, dirt, and more.