Nutrition & cravings during Pregnancy
Food aversions, cravings, morning sickness … pregnancy can be a bit of a minefield when it comes to eating!
Pregnancy is such a rollercoaster for your appetite, initially you may be having morning sickness and even the smell of food could send you running for the bathroom. I remember finding it really hard to cook dinner as the smell of cooking would send me over the edge, and in particular raw meat … the sight or smell of mince or chicken just made me feel so nauseous!
Then once the morning sickness subsided, I remember being starving all the time, I would wake up in the middle of the night hungry so I had to start bringing a breakfast bar to bed. In the second and third trimesters, when the heartburn became almost unbearable, I used to find eating or chewing gum would help me, I would keep stacks of chewing gum on my nightstand, it helped get a burp up … practice for what was to come! Also, Rennies, I could not get enough of them, I needed them everywhere I went, some people swear by Gaviscon, but for me it was Rennies or nothing!
In terms of cravings, some people say that this is your body’s way of telling you what you are lacking in terms of nutrients, I don’t have too much milk or yogurt in my diet normally as with my colitis it usually upsets my stomach. I usually fill my dairy quota with cheese, but during my first pregnancy I craved milk and became addicted to hot chocolate, it’s still my go-to comfort drink in the evenings!
I was also a demon for salty crisps, the proper thick, crunchy ones with sea salt flavouring, I would easily devour a giant “sharing” bag all by myself in one sitting! Maybe this was my body’s way of telling me I wasn’t having enough salt or calcium.
For the nausea, I found putting lemon slices in my water bottle at work a great help. That way I could just keep refilling my bottle and the lemon did really help with my digestion too!
On my second pregnancy I craved citrus fruits and orange juice, I would make loads of smoothies with lots of fruits, again this helped with my digestion as things tend to get backed up into the second and third trimesters!
In general terms in relation to nutrition, I did all the normal things, folic acid three months before we started trying to conceive continuing until sixteen weeks into the pregnancy and pregnancy multivitamins throughout.
