You can’t drink, have to limit caffeine and you get judged for eating lunchmeat. All while growing a person who often dictates what either sounds delicious or makes your stomach turn sideways. It’s no wonder that pregnant women have crazy food cravings and aversions. Here are my ten favorites, some of my own and some from those I know.
1) Craving: Sugar. From cupcakes to chocolate covered cherries, sugar was the number one craving I heard when I polled some of my friends. I recall craving sugar much more with my daughter than my son. I started, “Apple Fritter Friday” which then unfortunately also turned into “Apple Fritter Tuesday” sometimes.
2) Aversion: Broccoli. I have a confession. I heated up chicken and broccoli at work the other day. While sitting near two pregnant co-workers. Who both have a broccoli aversion. I’m the worst. But at least I got in a healthy lunch!
3) Craving: Egg McMuffins. One of my friends said she craved these so much she kept a homemade stash to have on hand. However, after daily doses of them, they eventually became more of an aversion. She directed her husband to immediately remove them all from the house. God bless our husbands for going with the flow of the crazy things the pregnancy hormones do to us.
4) Aversion: Meat prepared at home. My husband was forbidden to cook meat while I was pregnant. The smell was too much for me to handle. He would cheat sometimes by cooking it while I was gone. But that smell lingers, especially to a pregnant nose.
5) Craving: Meat from a restaurant. It seems if we don’t have to be the ones smelling the cooking, we are totally up for eating it. Many of those I polled said they couldn’t stand the smell of meat cooking but craved it at the same time.
6) Aversion: Bananas. Pregnant or not, I like this fruit. However, the smell of them has always bothered me. While pregnant if someone would leave the peel laying around I would honestly pick it up with a paper towel and throw it away for them (yes, it was awkward when I would do this at work).
7) Craving: Beer. When pregnant with my son, I would literally inhale the smell of beer anytime I could. I found out this apparently is not super uncommon.
8) Aversion: Warm Vanilla Sugar lotion from Bath and Body Works. Yes, this one is quite specific. During the first trimester of nausea with my son I wore this lotion. Once my nausea wore off I then couldn’t stand the smell of the lotion because I associated it with the nausea. I literally gave it to a co-worker but told her she dare not wear it at work where I could smell it.
9) Craving: Cold and Crunchy. Apples and Claussen pickles (yes, they had to be this brand) were high on my list when pregnant. But they had to be super cold and super crunchy.
10) Aversion: Dishwater. This might just be a good excuse to not have to do the dishes while pregnant but I heard from a few people that dishwater made them sick, regardless of how much dish soap was used.
What were/are your go-to foods during pregnancy? Do you have any funny pregnancy craving stories? We’d love to hear?
