Cravings

No, not the cookbook by Chrissy Teigen, but I do not-so-secretly want to become her best friend and cook with her in her immaculate kitchen. I’m talking pregnancy cravings… the very real reason that I tried to convince my boyfriend to get me pulled pork and mashed potatoes at 11:30 on a Tuesday night (spoiler alert, I was unconvincing).

Pregnancy cravings can be caused by many things, hormones (fucking hormones!), a heightened sense of taste and smell (I have a super nose these days), or nutritional deficiencies. They tend to peak in the second trimester, which I happen to be smack dab in the middle of, but really they can occur at any time during pregnancy. Apparently, a lot of pregnancy cravings are just your brain (or baby) telling you that you’re lacking in something. Craving crunchy dill pickles? You’re probably running low on sodium. Desperately in need of a cheeseburger? You might be low on iron. Craving chocolate? You might need some mood-boosting tryptophan, which increases your serotonin. Baby science is interesting folks.

So far I haven’t found myself craving anything odd like pickles and ice cream, I want them both, but I want them separately. Not just any ice cream will do though, it’s an OREO McFlurry or nothing at all. Pregnancy has made me pickier than ever, if I want something it has to be the exact thing I’m thinking of, which I’m not always good at articulating with words (sorry honey!). I sometimes feel like a kid again, one Christmas my mom bought me The Secret Garden movie, which I desperately wanted, but it wasn’t the RIGHT secret garden movie so obviously, I threw a massive tantrum for reasons. I haven’t thrown any tantrums (yet) but I know I’m probably annoying the hell out of my partner who is really just trying to get me what I want.

I’ve heard that some of the more typical cravings are fruit, I can’t go long without fruit but in the theme of pickiness it has to be the right fruit, I’m partial to berries right now. Lemon is another craving common for soon-to-be mamas, which might be why I’ve started mixing pink lemonade with sparkling water on the daily.

At the end of the day what I really want is extreme flavours, lemons, hot sauce, salt, really dark chocolate cake, I’m here for it all. My new favourite lunch is chicken fingers covered in hot sauce, cut up and tossed in a caesar salad, I’d happily eat this all day every day but for now, it’s my go-to lunch choice. Although fun fact, as much as I love eating spicy food right now, the pregnancy-induced chapped lips means that eating the spicy food I’m craving is causing me literal pain – gosh isn’t pregnancy fun?

So, I actually think it’s more fun to think about the post-pregnancy cravings I want to indulge in, salmon skin rolls and spicy tuna rolls, a really good medium-rare steak, a brunch with eggs benedict and bottomless mimosas (you can bring babies to brunch right?), and an absolutely fantastic glass of champagne and I’ll for sure be picky about that one, it’s Veuve or it’s nothing.

Did you or your partner have weird cravings during pregnancy? Comment below and let me know what you needed during those crazy 9-months.