So you’re pregnant and all you can think about is eating cheese and chili together. Food cravings are quite common among pregnant women with some even border lining on weird. Let’s take a look at a list of some of the most unusual cravings women have while they’re pregnant.
Why do women have pregnancy cravings?
First of all, 84% of women experience some kind of craving during their pregnancy. Pregnancy hormones are a factor here as they alter the taste and smell of pregnant women and may be responsible in part for craving foods you wouldn’t usually have craved prior to being pregnant.
Many studies have been carried out into the reasons why women experience cravings but there is still no scientific explanation for food cravings. More often than not, the cravings women experience during pregnancy have little to do with nutritional requirements. According to author of Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy, Elizabeth Somer,
“People think their cravings are significant, but studies show no link between cravings and nutritional requirements, if people craved what the body needs, we would all eat more broccoli and less chocolate.”
Basically, cravings have been shown to be neither positive nor negative. The best thing for women to do is to manage their cravings to ensure they are getting a healthy and balanced diet. This means indulging the healthy cravings and alternating the unhealthy ones with a healthier option. This could be as simple as eating figs instead of chocolate or baked potatoes over french fries.
10 most unusual pregnancy cravings
According to a C&G Baby Clubs survey, soon-to-be-mums are just as likely to find the object of their craving in a chemist or hardware store as the supermarket. Nearly half of the survey respondents said they were embarrassed about revealing what their cravings are. The following list will let you know why.
2. Toothpaste
3. Soap
4. Sausages and jam
5. Pickles
6. Ice
7. Dirt
8. Tabasco
9. Onions and mustard
10. Salt
So whether your craving is edible or not, make sure you run it by your doctor to see what they say about it. Be careful not to let your cravings dictate your diet as you could find yourself being deprived of essential nutrients. Finally, the reason women experience cravings is still a bit of a question mark, but keeping a good humor about it all is the way to go.
