Food Cravings Could Save Your Baby’s Life!
We’ve all heard the old wives tales that craving certain foods during pregnancy can mean different things for your baby. It’s often said that if you are craving salty or sour foods or if you are craving protein rich foods like meat and cheese, then you are having a boy.
If you are craving fruit, orange juice and sweets and you refuse to eat the crusty end of a loaf of bread then it’s a girl.
Most of realise now that food cravings during pregnancy can be an indicator that your pregnancy nutrition is deficient in something but this is not always the case. Unless you have a completely toxin free pregnancy diet, (which to be honest, how many pregnant women do right?), then it’s pretty hard to tell whether your body is craving something because it needs it or just because it wants it.
You see, things like alcohol, caffeine, sugar, wheat, milk and processed foods all act like toxins in the body. Caffeine, alcohol and sugar are addictive substances and create a non-physical need within the body. The body becomes used to the effects of caffeine and sugar – like increased cortisol secretion and insulin resistance and so the body will tell you to have more, to stimulate that same effect.
Processed foods, wheat and milk are also toxins due to the nature of the refinement processes used in their manufacture and have a similar effect to sugar on the body, spiking an extreme insulin response and then creating a need for more sugar.
All of this means that if you are experiencing food cravings during pregnancy you will have no idea whether they are “real” or not.
<b>So how do you tell the difference between a “real” food craving and an “addictive” food craving?</b>
1) Firstly it’s important for both your own health and the health and proper development of your baby to clean up your diet. Eating from only natural food sources like fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh organic proteins and wholegrains like oats, rye, buckwheat and quinoa will detox your body and get rid of all “addictive” food cravings.
2) Once you have a clean diet if you are still craving something in particular and you can’t get enough of it, check out what nutrients it contains and see what you could be missing out on
3) If your craving is particularly unusual get it checked out. The sudden urge to wolf down an entire bag of fun size chocolate bars was a big red flag for one of the pregnant ladies in The 9 Month Club Community and when she arrived at the hospital they found that her unborn baby had dangeroulsy low blood sugar. It was only that bag of chocolate bars that kept her baby going until he could be treated by the medical staff.
What to do About Food Cravings
If you are worried about food cravings then your first step is to contact your pregnancy care professional. Once you have determined whether your food craving is a deficiency or not, then it’s time to switch up your pregnancy diet to one based soley on clean, wholesome nutrient dense foods.In most cases this will be enough to satisfy all of your body’s and baby’s needs.
If you are still craving unusual foods after 10 days on a clean diet then don’t ignore it. Listen to your body and go back to your pregnancy care professional to get chacked out – it may just save your baby’s life!
