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| mycity-web.com |
Hello to all my readers!
This is me back again to post something new about Food, of course.
Nevertheless, this post is going to be a bit distinct because I'm not sharing any foods, like foods themselves. This post is sharing about the effect of foods consumed by pregnant women.
So, I'll just start out!
Most of women are dreaming to get pregnant someday. Living as a mother in a harmonious family is not only a dream, but a big achievement to seize. Thus, getting pregnant is one step closer to become a Mother, it's like you are unofficially a Mother during your pregnancy.
Many questions asked by Mothers to their responsible doctors. Those questions may be about what to prepare, how to handle the "big" belly, what to do and not to do during pregnancy, what and how to supply the sufficient nutrients during pregnancy, and yes what Mothers should do when craving for certain foods happens. The last thing, pregnancy craving, is what I'm trying to share here. To be remembered, I'm sharing what are in general, because experiences during pregnancy are unique of every Mothers would have.
Let me tell you what "Food Craving" means first. "Food Craving" is a strong urge to a specific food that's hard to postpone. The words "strong urge", "specific", and "hard to postpone" differ the term "craving" against " hunger". When people are hungry, it doesn't have to be specific and remain able to hold for some time.
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FIRST QUESTION : How can pregnant women crave for specific foods ?
We all know that when women are pregnant, some may experience the craving for specific things, including foods. There are 4 possible meanings of why craving for foods during pregnancy happen. First, when pregnancy comes to a woman, she might feel discomfort, nausea, or even vomiting. These are unexpectedly normal signs of the beginning of pregnant. Also, those discomfort experiences will have women try some ways to get her comfort back, and one of ways is eating comfort foods. Second, pregnancy moment will increase and/or decrease the sensitivity of smell and taste buds because of hormonal changes. When this happens, pregnant women will either grab more foods or avoid some. Third, pregnancy craving might be a "signal" from the baby. During pregnancy, the nutrients got into body will be absorbed by both the mother and the baby, indeed. So, the baby signal could possibly mean that the nutrients intake is no longer sufficient for both mother and baby itself. This gets the mother to grab more foods according to what the baby needs. Fourth, pregnancy craving is only an affection demand of the mother to have her husband attention.
SECOND QUESTION : What are the meanings of foods craved by pregnant women ?
There are some researches first categorize what kinds of common foods that pregnant women usually crave for. Those categories are sweet (candy, chocolate), salty (chips), sour (pickles), spicy (chilli, spices), protein (meat, fish), carbohydrate (bread, cereal, potato), dairy (milk, cheese), fruit, vegetables, and miscellaneous (tea, coffee, alcohols).
Then, there's a research tell us what meanings those are. Here, I'm only giving some examples of certain foods.
If a pregnant woman is craving for :
a. Salty foods : lack of Sodium (Na), Chlorine (Cl), or an indication of stress
b. Spicy foods : low hormone level
c. Sweet foods : low blood sugar level, lack of Sulphur (S), Phosphorus (P)
d. Sour foods : low intake of Vitamin C, a need of shock treatment for taste buds
e. Chocolate : low level of Magnesium (Mg) or Vitamin B
f. Meat products : low intake of Protein or Iron (Fe)
g. Coffee / Tea : indication of stress, lack of Iron (Fe)
h. Dairy products : indication of stress or loneliness
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| body-buildin.com |
THIRD QUESTION : Is it okay to eat Chocolate when craving for Chocolate ?
The answer is yes it is okay! It's okay to consume Chocolate when really crave for chocolate. However, do you think what the limit is to always take what you are craving for ? Only few does!
It's okay to always say yes to eat any foods that are craved for. But, in order to fulfill the certain level of nutrients intake, body needs more than that.
Let me give you an example : A pregnant woman is craving for a bar of chocolate. Yes, she may eat chocolate to satisfy her appetite. On the other hand, her body needs not only nutrients found in chocolate, and also consuming large amount of chocolate will lead to diabetes or cholesterol issue. To prevent this, she can take only small portion of chocolate bar as to comfort her taste buds, and next consume legumes, green-leaves vegetables, or whole wheat bread as substitutes of the rest of chocolate portion. Why ? Legumes, green-leaves vegetables, and whole wheat bread are rich in Magnesium (Mg) also. She can take these alternatives to regain her lack of Magnesium (Mg), and also get another nutrients, such as protein from legumes, dietary fiber from vegetables.
I think that's all about today's topic.
If you have any questions, critics, or suggestions, please kindly put your comments below.
I hope this will be helpful for you, especially my woman readers.
Thank you, everyone!
References :
Hill, A. J., et al. 2016. "Nutritional and Clinical Associations of Food Cravings in Pregnancy". Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 29 : 281 - 289.
Orloff, Natalia C. and Julia M. Hormes. 2014. "Pickles and Ice Cream! Food Cravings in Pregnancy : Hypotheses, Preliminary Evidence, and Direction for Future Research". Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 5 : 1 - 15.
