All About Pregnancy Cravings

Pregnant women may tell you they experience almost irrepressible cravings for certain foods – salty, sweet, spicy or fatty foods. Some think it’s the body signalling what their growing baby needs. More likely, they’re due to hormones playing havoc (again!) with your senses of smell and taste – and your dietary habits.

Cravings are normal while you’re pregnant. As long as you maintain a varied and balanced diet and your weight remains normal, you can indulge occasionally in the foods you crave. By increasing your interest in certain foods, cravings can help you meet those additional energy needs while you are pregnant.

Tips to help manage your cravings:

1. Allow yourself some small pleasures

2. Try to avoid replacing healthy food with junk food

3. Eat three balanced meals a day and allow yourself one or two snacks; Try regular smaller meals if nausea or vomiting are a problem

4. Eat a variety of foods from each of the four food groups every day

5. Try to avoid unhealthy foods when craving, including sugary or fatty foods, and caffeine

Some people feel cravings are the first conversations that you have with your child. It can be the nutritional requirements of the baby that give rise to these new demands or perhaps simply physiological needs increased by hormonal changes. Eating regular meals and snacks over the day can help combat cravings.