What are your food cravings & aversions?

FoolofaTook

FoolofaTook

Cathlete
Hey everyone! I was just curious what other people are craving and what foods are turning you off. I haven't had much problem at all with nausea (yeah, feeling kind of guilty saying that here) but the first time the nausea hit me was about four or five weeks into the pregnancy. I was eating a big burrito with lots of guacamole and drinking a non-alcoholic beer (Buckler) and all of a sudden I felt really icky! Before that, I was eating any old thing and feeling fine but since then I've been having some food aversions.

For instance, I don't want chicken anymore unless it's a Chick-Fil-E sandwich. I also don't want any garlic although I usually love garlic! Oh, and no more guacamole for a while even though I usually can't get enough.

The first craving I had was for fried okra. I'm also really craving both chicken and beef liver. I loved liver before but now I'm always in the mood for it. I'm also loving Bryers classic vanilla ice cream now (with the vanilla bean speckles) but I didn't care for any kind of vanilla ice cream before.

So I'm curious how everyone else's eating habits have been effected by your little ones! Looking forward to hearing about your experiences :) !
 
I've been craving chocolate ice cream mixed with oreos and almonds. Can we say weight gain(smile). Seriously though, I started craving this a few months ago and now that I'm pregnant I've decided to put a stop to it. I'm really determined this pregnancy to eat more whole foods and practically no sugar. I've pulled out all of my natural food/vegan cookbooks to get ideas. I figure if I can(mostly) eat that way for 9 months it'll be easy to break the habits I want to break in my eating.So, I'll still eat sweets(my biggest weakness) but they'll mostly be things that most people have to acquire a taste for(like carob brownies).I really just want to see how the combo of eating this way plus exercising works for me. I'm going on a trip for a week next month and that's going to be a big test. I'm a little nervous about living in a hotel for a week and trying to eat healthy.

By the way, I always seem to be soooo hungry. I'll eat and then shortly after I'm hungry again. Anyone else have a bottomless pit?

Valerie
 
I went off just about everything in the beginning - even strong smells such as perfume or aftershave made me feel really ill. I finally learned that they key was to force myself to eat something - even if I thought it was going to come straight back up again. If I could keep it down for 10 minutes, I was home free!
Now, there's no stopping me - "bottomless pit" is a very apt description as far as I'm concerned, Valerie!
I used to have a real sweet tooth before I was pregnant, but am now definitely craving savoury foods instead. I particularly crave potatoes - any kind, mashed, boiled, chipped. I also went through a whole "citrus fruit" stage, where I would eat literally anything which tasted fruity!
I have gone off meats which taste very meaty, if that makes sense - like beef and pork, but I still eat enjoy chicken and fish. I haven't had any of those really strange cravings you sometimes hear about, like coal or rubber! Anyone had anything like that?
I wonder if your cravings give any indication as to the sex of the baby, you know like maybe sweet for a girl and savoury for a boy? Anyone know if certain types of craving can indicate the sex?

Kaz.

Today Is The Tomorrow We Worried About Yesterday And All Is Well.
 
I have to say that I have not really had any cravings. I went through the nausea stage between weeks 7-12 and had a hard time eating anything except tomatoes, toast and peanut butter (not all at the same time!). Now at 21 weeks, I am eating just the normal stuff I usually did. No unusual cravings to speak of. I am finding that a few times a week I will feel fine but then suddenly in the middle of a meal will get really nauseous for some reason and have to stop eating. I sometimes develop an aversion to meat out of the blue and then it goes away. I have not had a problem with chicken until the other night. I pulled some out for dinner but by the time dinnertime came I could not even look at it and the thought of eating it made me want to barf. Strange. In terms of hunger level, I am actually not very hungry these days which makes it hard for me to get in the calories that I need to. I have to force myself to eat most days. My main complaint is fatigue--probably from not eating enough! My one aversion that popped up almost the day I got pregnant was to coffee and that is a major bummer because I am a coffee hound. I truly miss my daily brew.
 
None yet, but again, maybe is too early for me at a mere 2 fetal weeks.

When not pregnant, I would ocassionaly feel the need to eat something with kethcup. (a hamburger or scrambled eggs usually did it) Sort of wierd huh? Lack of Vitamin C maybe?

Gina
 
Some cravings and aversions have set in. Although, they are not strong. I have wanted to eat sandwiches with cheese (actually cheese in any form), yougurt, and Oodles of Noodles soup (how shameful is the latter?). I have some frozen homemade spaghetti sauce with meat and have no absolutely no desire to eat it. Chicken seems a little repulsive too. Gina
 
Hi Gina,
I just gave birth to my 4th child 2 months ago and I practically lived on grilled cheese sandwiches during this last pregnancy! I had strong cravings for yogurt, too, for about a month but ate grilled cheese daily until delivery.
Erica
 
Hi Gina,

It has been 2 years since I was pregnant with my third baby, but in my first pregnancy, in the first trimester, I craved Beef, which was weird because I had been a vegetarian for 10 years, and yes I gave in to my craving ! I had kind of moved away from that by the time I was 4 months pregnant, then when I reached around 30 weeks (and this went on until I was 35 weeks), I craved milk, could not get enough of it (5 pints of fat free a day !). In my second pregnancy, I craved milk again weeks 30-35 (again 5 pints a day) ! And in my third pregnancy, I didn't crave anything, in fact I just went off food big time, just lived on sandwiches !

Anna

PS: In the UK, milk is sold by the pint (which is just under 600mls)
 
This is my fourth pregnancy (I'm almost 27 weeks now) and my one craving throughout has been chocolate. I don't have a sweet tooth generally, but have been giving in to this craving daily. Kaz, I don't know if the craving thing indicates sex of the baby, since I'm having a boy as well and we're craving opposite things!

I've also been very fortunate in not feeling sick at all from day one with this little guy. It makes it so much more enjoyable!

Take care all,
Sandi
 
This is my fourth pregnancy (I'm almost 27 weeks now) and my one craving throughout has been chocolate. I don't have a sweet tooth generally, but have been giving in to this craving daily. Kaz, I don't know if the craving thing indicates sex of the baby, since I'm having a boy as well and we're craving opposite things!

I've also been very fortunate in not feeling sick at all from day one with this little guy. It makes it so much more enjoyable!

Take care all,
Sandi
 
Hi there! This is a fun thread. I have been craving turkey sandwiches. I have always loved turkey, but lately I can't seem to get enough. I am also craving hot fudge shakes. I remember craving these with my first pregancy too.

For a while I craved pasta salad, but then I stared to feel sick and now the thought of pasta salad makes me cringe.

Michelle
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-02 AT 02:39PM (Est)[/font][p]Yeah, it's fun to hear about other people's experiences :). I was talking to some ladies the other day and one of them told me that she craved cheeze-whiz on cinnamon crackers when she was pregnant! Ugh! They said that most of the bizarre cravings come during the second trimester but I still haven't wanted anything I didn't already like to begin with.

I haven't heard of people craving coal or rubber before but I have heard of people craving dirt and enjoying fumey smells like glue and gasoline. I've heard that a dirt craving means you need more iron and I have actually been craving some 'earthy' tasting foods like beets and spinach lately so that makes sense. I have been eating lots of chicken livers too, so much iron, so good for you!
 
Hello! I'm replying to this older message because it's so entertaining! I am 7 weeks along and so far have no nausea or anything, but I have noticed the following food anomalies:
1.) I usually LOVE Asian food- Chinese and Korean. Now: no.
2.) I have craved orange foods since I first found out. Carrots ran their course, then orange juice (I drank 1/2 gallon in one sitting! VERY rare for me to have any sort of juice at all, normally!). And sweet potatoes and squash...Now I'm fond of citrus fruits in general.
3.) Toast. mmm, hot buttered toast. Meaningless calories, yes, but it always hits the spot!

I think that's all. I still love Mexican (and guac!) and I still enjoy the occassional NA beer, but those are beginning to not be enjoyable either. I think it's just because none of them taste very good! But DH bought me a bottle of NA chardonnay, so maybe I'll sample that sometime.
Lisa

PS Tomorrow is my first sonogram!! It's early (7 wks) because I was concerned about my spotting. Which has since stopped. But I can't wait! I hope we can see the heart beat!!
 
You're right--this is a fun thread. If your experience is like mine, and also follows the pattern I read about in an article, you will start to be averted to the Mexican and NA alcohol, and will want more of the carbs. At least for the first trimester.

I took out an article from a respectable professional journal ....Let me interupt myself right now to say that I don't have the article here at home (it's at work) and I forget the name of the journal... that talks about "morning sickness" and how it may very well be an evolutionary adaptation to protect the fetus from toxins.

The article defines "morning sickness" not only as throwing up and nauseau, but also as food cravings and aversions. It combines and summarizes work done by other researchers, and the unique work done by the authors, on this topic.

In a nutshell, I recall that most women were averted to meat, vegetables, alcohol, caffeine, and spicy foods. They craved carbohydrates and dairy. These effects were most strong during the first three months and subsided over time.

I suppose this isn't particularly surprising to those of us who lived through it. But since I could NOT get myself to eat a vegetable during that time, it was a bit comforting to know that others didn't want it either, and that is may be not be as horrible as I thought.

The article suggested how vegetables actually do contain certain plant toxins that may not be good for the fetus at that very early age. Not, that I am suggesting people avoid their vegetables. I am just repeating what the article said. It mentioned how they are bitter and how young children don't like them either--and that there may be a good reason why.

It also talked about how certain ways of preparing meat may not kill all bacteria, or how the black char from over-grilled meat can be dangerous also.

All in all, I thought it was an interesting article and had lots of nice graphs. Still, I know a lot of people tend to think evolutionary thinking is a bunch of hogwash. I, however, find it to be a compelling and persuasive way to try and explain a lot of human behaviors.

Lisa, I don't think you will be able to hear the heartbeat at 7 weeks. I am glad your spotting stopped. Other threads here have mentioned that others spotted and everything ended up being just fine. Good luck with your pregnancy!

Gina
 
Gina- I find the evolutionary article very interesting! And I bet you're right- the Mexican food and NA beer will become less and less appealing eventually. I even still like coffee! (decaf of course)
But I do still think I should be able to see the baby's heartbeat this afternoon. (I did say see, not hear:) Here is a quote from babycenter.com's section on early ultrasound:

The baby's heartbeat should be clearly visible by 6½ weeks of pregnancy (assuming a 28-day menstrual cycle). If you can see the baby's heart beating on the sonogram after 7 weeks, your chances of continuing with the pregnancy are greater than 97 percent. If you don't see the heart beating at this point, don't despair yet. It may be that your cycle is longer than average and your baby is younger than your practitioner figured. She may want to try again in a week.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and I'll know by later today!! Lisa
 
I thought the "see" was a mistake! I guess this is because I haven't had a sonorgram yet and hadn't realized that a heartbeat is something that you can see! Hope the sonogram is a happy experience for you. Gina
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Dec-03-02 AT 01:40PM (Est)[/font][p]Hi Lisa & Gina,
I did see our baby's heart beating (more like fluttering) at seven weeks even though we didn't get much info besides that, so I'd be surprised if you can't get a glimpse of it! It's so amazing to see, I hope you have a wonderful sonogram!

By the way, I don't think the nausea has anything to do with the aversions & cravings. The nausea itself is actually caused by all the progesterone being produced by your body to help support the placenta while it's building and developing into a good strong temporary baby home.

I'm also not at all sure about the aversions and cravings being a protective thing for the baby because I sure could've drank some nice Merlot during the whole first trimester ;D. Plus which, why would one crave chalk and charcoal considering that's not what they need to be eating?

Interesting theories but I think some of these crazy responses to the extreme outpouring of hormones are just a mysterious thing that doesn't always have an explanation. Obviously, lots of physical evolution goes on with all kinds of life forms (whether you dig Darwin or not) but it doesn't sound like this particular article was taking everything into account.
 
Hi all! I posted my lengthy sonogram story under the "spotting during week 5" thread. It was AMAZING- we not only saw the heart, but heard it too!
 
I have been craving gummy bears, shrimp (and I have always hated shrimp!), hamburger meat, and chocolate. This is my first pregnancy, so I am sure there will be plenty more!
Ami
 
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