What Do Those Crazy Cravings Mean?
It’s 3:00 AM; and you’re rummaging for your pickles and ice cream.
Chances are if you are pregnant, you have experienced cravings for certain foods and sometimes these can be downright odd. Why do pregnant women have cravings and what do they mean?
It is thought that at least 85% of pregnant women will have a craving for at least one type of food at some point in their pregnancy. Some of these cravings can seem disgusting to those around them. Some researchers claim these cravings come from the hormone flux that pregnant women are prone to, but no one really knows for sure.
It may be that the extreme changes a woman’s hormones go through during pregnancy are a factor in the strange diet women seem to yearn for when they are carrying a baby. Other changes women notice is their sense of taste as well as smell. Food smells and tastes different during this time and this may explain the odd eating habits of pregnant women. Many times as soon as women deliver their precious bundles of joy, the very foods they thought they could not live without now become repellent to them.
As for what the cravings mean, you will get as many answers as the number of well wishers you ask. If you ask a nutritionist, they may tell you that a craving signals a lack of some mineral or nutrient that your body needs in order to function at peak performance. There is a condition called pica that has been tied to deficiencies in iron which has the patient craving for bizarre things like cigarette butts, ice and laundry starch.
So, if you find yourself craving a food or a combination of foods, indulge yourself a little. As long as there are no toxins or chemicals involved in your cravings, they can’t hurt the baby and they may certainly bring the expectant mother a little pleasure which at this time in her life she so richly deserves.
Filed under: Pregnancy Tests & Symptoms
