Food Sensitivities and My Pregnancy
If you don’t know me personally, you probably don’t know I’m pregnant. In fact…I’m so pregnant I could have this little baby any day now. GULP!
My pregnancy has been pretty easy, I actually think I’ve been very lucky. No morning sickness and little weight gain. However, one of the adjustments that I have had to make (and had previously decided I wanted to) has been my diet. Before I was pregnant I had an alternative diet because of my food sensitivities. I knew that during pregnancy I wanted to make extra sure I was giving both myself and my baby all the nutrients we need. Luckily for me, my body seemed to just allow me foods that it previously punished me for even considering!
Pre-pregnancy diet:
- Preservative and hormone free beef about once a month
- Fish a few times a week (mostly salmon and tuna)
- Eggs
- Lots of nuts and vegetables
- No dairy, gluten or sugar
Pregnancy diet:
- Preservative and hormone free beef and pork at least twice a week
- No fish or eggs
- Lots of nuts and vegetables, but fruit has become so much more important!
- All the dairy, gluten and sugar I can handle, which is significantly more than before
The reason I can eat the foods listed in my Pregnancy Diet, and why they’re quite a bit different that what I was eating pre-pregnancy, is because this is what my body has been asking for. I made an informed decision to try introducing foods into my diet during my pregnancy that would normally upset my body because I knew those foods would be a benefit to my growing baby. I never dreamed my body would be accepting of them; I got the exact opposite reaction I was ready for. I started craving from very early on foods like beef, yogurt, and cheese. When I brought this up with my Naturopathic Doctor she suggested that our bodies have a way of knowing what they are lacking and create cravings based on that. When I gave into these cravings I noticed my body was completely accepting of them. I have been free to eat any food I choose for the past 8 1/2 months! This has been totally shocking to me because I have based my diet around my food sensitivities for almost 10 years now.
I’ve found my pregnancy to be a journey of food discovery. I feel like it’s given me a second chance to decide which foods I actually like, and which ones I can live without. Even though my body can tolerate cheese right now, it’s not a food that I need (unlike yogurt, which I’m having a love affair with). I’ve heard that during pregnancy women’s tastes can change and adapt due to hormone changes and that after the baby is born they can completely change again. I wonder if this change in food tolerance my body has granted me is here only until the baby is? Let me know if you’ve had a similar food sensitivity experience during your pregnancy, I would love to compare notes.
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4 Responses to Food Sensitivities and My Pregnancy
I’ve never been pregnant but a good friend who has always been lactose intolerant found with her first pregnancy that she was craving dairy and her body was happy to accept it. She’s been able to eat/drink dairy ever since!
Hi Melissa, thanks for the reply. I really hope that happens for me too!
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