Pregnancy And Baby Care Articles During Pregnancy

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The most popular cravings include spicy or fatty foods or sweet and salty foods. Research has shown that food cravings and aversions go side by side. Women who experienced the latter were more likely to have cravings than ones that did not.

There are a few reasons why women experience these cravings during a pregnancy. These are listed below:

Hormones: The extreme hormonal changes women go through in pregnancy could be one of the causes. These changes have a great impact on taste and smell. Some change could bring on nausea, others cravings.

Comfort Factor: Pregnancy sometimes causes a woman to be stressed or even go into a depression. This is usually due to fears about the baby that the woman might have. Cravings might thus be the body's natural response to craving for comfort.

Deficiencies: Certain nutritional deficiencies may also give rise to food cravings. As the body provides nutrition for two during pregnancy, it may lack reserves of some nutrients. The body sends signals to the brain which are then felt as cravings. Some vegetarian women have been known to crave for red meat during their pregnancies. This could be a sign of iron deficiency as well as a craving for protein. Likewise, women who crave for chocolate could need more B vitamins and magnesium. Experiencing weird cravings for dirt, starch, or other inedible things is known as pica. Such cravings should not be given in to, as they could harm both the mother and fetus.

The simplest explanation is that your growing body needs more calories as it is working hard to grow a healthy baby. There is nothing wrong with giving into your cravings while pregnant as long as the foods you consume are in keeping with a healthy pregnancy diet plan. Most cravings are harmless and are remedied by small indulgences and healthy changes in diet. Pregnancy cravings are normal and at times essential.

Read more articles from the During Pregnancy Category.