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For many women, powerful food cravings for certain foods come with the territory during pregnancy. You often have had heard of your friends or family member in hunt for a specific food during their pregnancy journey. For me, the struggle was a little different one. All my cravings were for chalk. Yes, you read it right; chalk. I could have done anything to grab a piece of chalk in those days. All I was told at that time was that I must be deficient of calcium and hence I crave for a chalk. The suggestions and advices were many but the truth is that nobody is sure why some women have pregnancy food cravings. Yet there are ton of myths and advices that are offered to a pregnant lady. So let’s burst some of those food craving myths today.
Pregnancy food myths and facts
Myth 1:-
Avoid Papaya and pineapple during Pregnancy for it may lead to a miscarriage.
Fact:
While all of us have heard this a lot, there is absolutely no proof that these fruits can be a reason for a miscarriage. Nevertheless it has been heard for generations that papaya and pineapple should be avoided as they might lead to a bad stomach and that puts on a lot of pressure on the bladders. While that isn’t the case with every expecting lady, there is no harm in avoiding only one or two foods, including these foods during pregnancy.
Myth 2:-
Vitamin and mineral supplements must be taken to meet pregnancy requirements.
Fact: –
Our mums and grand moms never had such huge intake of supplements during their pregnancies and yet we all turned out to be healthy; aren’t we? When a women is healthy, there isn’t much of a need for consuming supplements during pregnancy. Of course Folic Acid is an exception, which is usually taken when you are planning to conceive and in the first trimester, to reduce the risk of neural tube defects. Having said that, the needs of nutrition supplements may be required in some cases. It is also important to understand that the nutrition requirement of the body increases during the pregnancy and hence a good diet can help you meet the requirement.
Note: – It is advisable to take supplements only as recommended by your doctor or dietitian.
Myth 3:-
Full cream milk is more nutritious than low-fat milk
Fact: –
It is an absolute myth that a full fat milk will be more beneficial than a low fat milk. Low fat milk contain the same amount of calcium, protein and phosphorus as a whole milk but with lesser calories and fat. Fat during pregnancy is important but then it should be good fat that can be obtained from consuming fish, nuts, flaxseeds & even soy milk. The intake of saturated fats, present in whole milk, may lead to unnecessary weight gain for the mother which can be struggle to lose post-delivery.
Myth 4:-
Eat for 2
Fact: –
A pregnant women should be eating healthy and nutritious. Eating for 2 is absolutely not required during pregnancy as you may consume too many calories, leading to excessive weight gain which can lead to an increased risk of gestational diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension) and even cardiovascular disease. Your entire focus, during pregnancy, should be on eating healthy. It is recommended to have small and frequent meals during this phase as that makes the digestion of the food easy and avoids acidity to an extent.
Myth 5:-
Boy or girl? There are ways to detect
Fact: –
“Oh! You’re craving for sweets; it’s a boy for sure”. All of us have heard such lines from our aunts, moms, mom-in-law or even friends. Can’t say about you but I surely have. I had n-number of verdicts that stated that I was carrying a boy in my womb while I ended up having a baby girl.
There is absolutely no way to detect the gender of the child by the way a mom behaves or appear or eats during her pregnancy. Craving for sweat or sour varies from person to person. Craving for sweets doesn’t mean it’s a boy and craving for citrus food doesn’t mean you’ll have a girl. In my case I craved for bitter gourd (Karela) the most. Now guess the gender. Hahaha…!!!
While there are thousands of advice that comes your way during pregnancy, there aren’t many people who would actually give you healthy yet yummy food options to overcome your food cravings. To help you with these, our favorite food channel LF has come up with a new show Mother’s Menu which answers all the queries of all expecting as well as young mothers. This show shares the knowledge regarding different phases of parenthood along with nutritional needs and how to jumpstart the journey to recovery. You can watch the episode here.
