Craving Validation

I have a confession to make.

When I was pregnant with Asher I craved broccoli and turkey sandwiches, but this pregnancy all I want to eat is homemade french fries and chocolate.

Gasp... I know... SO not healthy. Sob.

But wait, there is hope.

On Tuesday night I went to a class on nutrition during pregnancy and the speaker prefaced her lecture by saying that most of the time pregnant women crave EXACTLY what their bodies need. She said that women should listen to their cravings and eat what sounds good because it probably has nutrients their body and their baby need.

Hmm.... really? French fries and chocolate? Do they meet any nutritional needs? I was skeptical... really skeptical... but kept listening.

She said was that there are five vital nutrients that pregnant women need-- salt, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron. She mentioned that salt is one of the most important nutrients in the body but that to store adequate amounts of it our body also needs to have a good supply of potassium. Then she listed foods that are rich in potassium... fruits, vegetables, potatoes.

At this point I almost started to laugh and told her (it was a small class) that for the last few months that I had made french fries (with lots of season salt) for lunch almost every day. I guess it was just my bodies way of making sure I got my potassium WITH my salt. Crazy.

Then she went on to talk about calcium and magnesium and how a pregnant women needs a lot of calcium because she has to create a whole new bone structure for another human being. I've been worried about getting enough calcium because I am not taking pre-natal vitamins. Last pregnancy I got an AWFUL kidney stone that was caused by having too much calcium that my body couldn't use and the urologist told me the excess calcium probably came from my vitamins. So this time I've skipped the vitamins and have just been concentrating on making sure that I get all my vitamins, folic acid, and nutrients from my diet. But calcium is one I have been worried about because I want to make sure I get enough of it but that it is used and just doesn't get stored in the wrong places like it did last time. So when she mentioned that you need magnesium to help uptake calcium into the cells I was interested. She said the foods that were rich in magnesium were things like ... spinach, chard, chocolate!

Once again I laughed and told her that I'd been craving chocolate as well. Usually I want just a little piece around 4:00 PM, which she told me also happens to be the time when the body starts maximizing its calcium uptake. She said that it was really normal for pregnant women to crave magnesium rich food, but that the body knows that it will have an easier time getting most women to eat chocolate rather than steamed chard. Granted I've never had steamed chard, but I do know that it doesn't take much convincing to get me to eat chocolate. And know that I know that it is helping my magnesium uptake I won't feel too bad having a little piece when I crave it.

So, I feel validated. I guess my body really does know what it is needs and that I shouldn't feel like a blubber toad for wanting french fries and chocolate.. in moderation of course :)

But now I am curious... what types of things do other pregnant women crave and do they usually meet some hidden, inner nutritional need?