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Cravings when pregnant
Food cravings are the unusual hankering for a specific food or combination of foods not common to your regular, non-pregnant diet. Most food cravings disappear by the end of the first trimester.
What causes it?
There are still a variety of schools of thought that seek to explain why pregnant moms get food cravings, but most agree that pregnancy hormones have something to do with it, as they do for most curious symptoms. Others believe they are your body’s way of communicating which foods it wants to run more smoothly.
Tips?
Although it is perfectly okay to give in to your food cravings, it's important not to go overboard. You may want to try to minimize the portion size of whatever it is that you crave, particularly if the food has little to no nutritional value. Exercising or engaging in another activity when a craving arises may also help take your mind off of it. However, you should call your healthcare provider if you get cravings for non-food items like soap or dirt, as this is a symptom of a disease called Pica.
Read more
Sources
- CN Nyaruhucha. "Food cravings, aversions and pica among pregnant women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania." Tanzania Journal of Health Research. 11(1):29-34. Web. 1/9/2015.
- Colette Bouchez. "Pregnancy Cravings: When You Gotta Have It!." WebMD. WebMD, 10/8/2008. Web.
