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Craving Pickles and Ice Cream?
Food Cravings During Pregnancy
By Heather Larson
In the beginning of her pregnancy, Ann Eide of Columbus, Miss., craved strawberries on saltines dipped in salsa. Luckily for her, strawberries were in season. Later her preferred food choice was pickles dipped in strawberry-kiwi fruit juice.
Robyn Shapiro of Albrightsville, Pa., ate a roast beef hero with lettuce, tomato, mayo, salt and pepper and pickles every single day of her first pregnancy. That doesn't sound strange at all. But every day?
In a position paper titled Nutrition and Lifestyle for a Healthy Pregnancy Outcome currently posted on the American Dietetic Association Web site, some of the most common foods craved during pregnancy are chocolate, citrus fruits, pickles, chips and ice cream.
Imler says professionals speculate that it's a reaction to a shift in hormones, the body's attempt to get certain vitamins and minerals that may be lacking or an underlying psychological means for indulging in certain delicacies. There is even some speculation that certain cravings are related to an iron deficiency.
"Probably the safer speculation would be [food cravings] are caused by a combination of these factors," says Imler.
There is no scientific evidence linking food cravings with certain vitamin or mineral deficiencies, counters Rachel Brandeis of Atlanta, Ga., a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association (ADA).
When your hormones surge, you experience peaks and valleys, so it makes sense that food cravings increase, says Brandeis.
Women going through the menstrual cycle often have sweet or salty cravings. In pregnancy those cravings, along with others, may be magnified. Hormonal swings during pregnancy also strengthen your sense of smell, which heavily affects taste, and are powerful enough to influence food selections.
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