Pick Or Pass On These Pregnancy Cravings And We'll Reveal The Perfect Baby Name
- by Brittany Brown
- – on
- in Lifestyle
As a foodie, researching pregnancy cravings may make someone never want to have a baby. We're mixing cheese and seafood, Flaming Hot Cheetos and yogurt, and pulled pork and ice cream. But, alas, the human race must be continued.
Why do pregnancy cravings happen? The truth is, medical professionals are unsure, but it's a common theory that it's what a woman's body is lacking, nutrient wise. For example, pickles are a common pregnancy craving, and they're high in sodium. An ice cream craving may mean the body needs fat or calcium. A woman's body changes while carrying a baby, and that may mean she needs different levels of nutrients.
Pregnant women may crave non-food items as well that can hurt mom or baby.
When pregnant, a woman's preferences for food may change as well. With some of these cravings, women would claim to want nonstop portions of these things, but after the baby was born, the thought of the food combinations would make them sick. Sometimes that means that food or smells that would be fine pre-baby causes nausea, too. This is called a food aversion.
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Pick or pass: pickles and ice cream
This combination may be one of the most iconic pregnancy cravings of all time. Pregnancy is full of cliches, but is one may take the cake. The sweetness of ice cream can be something anyone craves, but there's a reason so many pregnant women crave pickles. The increased blood volume a woman experiences while pregnant requires a higher sodium intake.
Pick or pass: pickle flavored potato chips
Potato chips that are pickle flavored seems like a double whammy when it comes to sodium. Frito-Lay's chips seem to be going though all kinds of flavors as of late. The company asks for suggestions and creates a limited batch of chips for people to vote on. Sounds like a pregnancy craving dream.
Pick or pass: sauerkraut
People have strong opinions about sauerkraut. It's fermented raw cabbage that has a strong smell and flavor. The sugars of the cabbage create a lactic acid that makes it so distinct. This cabbage is often thought of as European, but the first example of sauerkraut comes from China, where rice wine was used instead of sodium.
Pick or pass: hot Cheetos and yogurt
Flaming hot Cheetos and yogurt have passionate people on both sides to begin with, but what if they were combined. If yogurt grosses you out, imagine spicy corn puffs added to the mix. Yogurt can be sweet, and sweet and spicy flavor combinations are a thing, but dairy with the unique flavor of hot Cheetos? I'll pass.
Pick or pass: cream cheese and cantaloupe
Cream cheese is more commonly found on bagels or as an ingredient in cheesecake. Maybe put it on a cracker with some red pepper jelly, but with melon? That's a new thing. Cantaloupe is a popular addition to a fruit salad. It has a creamy orange colored meat inside and the skin is tan and ridged.
Pick or pass: peanut butter and hot sauce
Peanut flavor and heat sounds like some good Thai food, but what about his simplified deconstruction of traditional flavors. Pad Thai isn't just hot sauce and peanut butter, after all. Think of how peanut butter sicks to the mouth and if you're sensitive to spicy, that will be trapped up there too.
Pick or pass: fresh mango
Mangoes are a tropical stone fruit that belongs to the same family as the cashew. This juicy fruit is native to Southern Asia, and many are grown in the wild. It can be quite intimidating to eat because of how messy it is, but people have cracked the code to enjoying mango. Cut the mango in half, and segment the flesh while still inside the peel, like a grid.
Pick or pass: chocolate
Chocolate is a popular dessert for many, not just pregnant women. This favorite treat is created from roasted and crushed cacao seeds that grow in tropical regions. With a craving for chocolate, nothing else will really do. Chocolate has been around since 1900 BC, that's many years for people to crave the sweet, rich treat.
Pick or pass: cheeseburger
A cheeseburger is a classic meal choice in the United States. Almost any restaurant will serve a burger, which is lucky for pregnant women because nothing quite does it like a cheeseburger. What happens if you're a vegetarian, though? On the show, Friends, Joey became a temporary vegetarian while Phoebe craved meat while carrying triplets for her brother.
Pick or pass: uncooked canned corn
We're lucky to live in an age where people can purchase vegetables cheaply with the innovation of canning. Canned goods are kept in liquid and have a long shelf life. This is great for keeping in an emergency, but most canned vegetables aren't meant to be consumed from the can. They will be typically added to a dish like chili or soup.
Pick or pass: glazed donut and cheddar popcorn
A Chicagoan may be less surprised by this combination of random foods. Although a glazed donuts are not involved, Chicago has their own mix of popcorn that is equally cheese and caramel corn. That kind of justifies the overly sweet, and cheese combination of a glazed donut and cheddar popcorn. Kind of.
Pick or pass: sardines and Ritz crackers
Ritz crackers are the party cracker. The buttery rounds are packaged in sleeves are plain tasting enough to be topped with really anything. Popular options would be cheese or peanut butter, but sardines could be good too...if you like fish, that is. Luckily these oily fish are filled with nutrients.
Pick or pass: pulled pork and ice cream
Pulled pork is exactly what it sounds like. Pork is slowly cooked in a low temperature to make it able to pull apart. This slow cooked meat is usually covered in barbecue sauce sauce and put in between a bun to create a pulled pork sandwich. In this case, the pulled pork is on ice cream...interesting.
Pick or pass: Doritos and New England clam chowder
Seems to be a lot of seafood on this list of pregnancy cravings. Fish is normally safe for pregnant women to eat as long as it's well cooked and has low mercury levels. Sushi, however, should be avoided unless it's fully cooked or vegetarian. How do we feel about Doritos (take your pick) and clam chowder?
Pick or pass: canned cheese
How you consume your canned cheese is up to you. Easy cheese is the kind that dispenses like whipped cream. That's easy access for a cracker...or directly to your mouth. Some people might not touch this artificial can of yellow cheese, but if one can get over the fact it's not really cheese, they can enjoy it.
Pick or pass: Twinkies and ranch dressing
Twinkies are a snack food that are rumored to be able to survive anything. While it is rumored that Twinkies have a shelf life of over fifty years, Snopes.com discredits this. Twinkies only have a shelf life of 25 days. So no, the Twinkies in store aren't from before you were born.
Pick or pass: Nutella and burrito
A burrito can contain a lot of different ingredients, but chocolate hazelnut spread isn't usually one of them. Some of these ingredients can include beans, rice, cheese...think anything from Chipotle. Nutella is more of a breakfast or dessert spread, but to each their own. Maybe the sweet chocolate treat works.
Pick or pass: meatballs and milk
Spaghetti and meatballs are a classic Italian staple. The dish is all about simplicity and quality of flavors in the marinara (red) sauce and meatballs. There are many ways to make a meatball, but Nonna probably knows best. Cereal and milk sounds more appealing, but why not try something new?
Pick or pass: chicken noodle soup and Cheetos
For tomato soup, goldfish crackers may be added. Oyster crackers (no oysters harmed) taste great with clam chowder (clams harmed). Cheetos in chicken noodle soup is something else. At least with chicken noodle, there's...noodles, that provide a change in texture. What about when the Cheetos degrade in the warm liquid?
Pick or pass: mustard sandwhich
Mustard is a condiment that may be added to a sandwich, but it's typically not a solo operation. The yellow, grainy sandwich spread is made of crushed seeds from the mustard plant, vinegar, lemon juice, and additional flavoring. The color, texture, and taste of mustard depends on on processing of the condiment and seeds.
Pick or pass: peanut butter and celery sandwich
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are an iconic childhood favorite. It's also has a large fan base around picky eating adults. Peanut better and celery is even a fan favorite with the satisfying crunch of the vegetable with the delicious nut butter. That in between bread though, might be a strange texture.
Pick or pass: ice cream and rice
Ice and rice may rhyme, but these two foods belong far away from each other. Ice cream has plenty of textures like cookies and candy, which are delicious, but what would such a plain grain like rice do? Create a strange texture where the rice would probably absorb some of the ice cream.
Pick or pass: pickles and marshmallow fluff
Again with the pickles. It really can't he helped because they're just what pregnant women crave. Marshmallow fluff is a spreadable version of marshmallows, you know the stuff you make smores with. If you're from the New England region of the United States, this spread is used with peanut butter to make a "fluffernutter" sandwich.
Pick or pass: Buttermilk and sardines
We were just as shocked as you by this one. Traditionally, buttermilk is the leftover diary from churning butter. Now it's packaged and made as its own product. Sardines are fish and fish swim, but should the small salty fish be swimming in dairy? Vegans will say: absolutely not.
Pick or pass: chocolate on a buttered roll
Okay, this does not sound so bad taste wise, but it might depend on the chocolate. A spreadable or liquid chocolate would be almost like a dessert, but a chocolate bar on a buttered roll would be like having a soft piece of bread with a tough chunk on top.
Pick or pass: toothpaste
Everyone uses toothpaste and it tastes fine enough to put in our mouths twice everyday, but it's a whole other thing to want to eat it. Ingesting some toothpaste won't do too much harm, but many toothpastes contain fluoride which in high amounts, is toxic. Non fluoride toothpaste would be the best choice is you MUST try it.
Pick or pass: cake mix
Eating cake that is made with a cake mix is one thing, but what about the actual powder of a cake mix? People are certainly advised not to eat cake batter, though we do it anyways, due to the addition of raw eggs. Maybe it wouldn't hurt you, but we couldn't imagine powdery cake mix going down that easily.
Pick or pass: pickled onions and chocolate cake
Although pickles refer to specific food, many vegetables can be pickled. It's a way of changing the flavor of a food, as well as a preservation process. Onions are pickled with vinegar, salt, and other flavors. You might find pickled red onions on a burger or sandwich, but definitely not commonly on chocolate cake.
Pick or pass: cottage cheese and bran flakes
Talk about the senior special. Bran flakes taste great with milk, but other kinds of dairy is questionable. Maybe it depends now it's arranged. People eat cottage cheese alone, maybe there's just a couple flakes on top. You know, for texture. An equal mix sounds kind of strange, but baby wants what baby wants.
Pick or pass: ice cream and potato chips
In the Ben and Jerry's flavor, Late Night Snack, there are chocolate covered potato chips and caramel swirls in the pint of vanilla ice cream. The ice cream flavor is inspired by late night talk show host, Jimmy Fallon. This ice cream is the perfect combo of sweet and salty, which will satisfy any craving.
Pick or pass: macaroni and cheese and brownies
Mac and cheese and brownies sounds like a great after school meal. Separately. Sweet and savory is a popular flavor combination, however cheese and chocolate isn't bacon and maple syrup. Consider if you're craving boxed mac and cheese or homemade, with the brownie. That has to make some kind of difference.
Pick or pass: Goldfish crackers and sour worms
Another combination of things that taste great separately. This one is hard to justify. The tanginess of the cheese in a goldfish cracker just shouldn't be with a fruity sour flavor. Maybe a plain gummy worm could be survivable with the fish shaped crackers but we're not rushing to find out.
Pick or pass: cream cheese and pepperoni
No one else does this as a snack? This is more than a pregnancy craving because it's not that out of the ordinary. Still, the saltiness of cured meat is still very temping for someone growing live inside them. The cream cheese kind of mellows out that salty flavor with the creamy dairy texture.
Pick or pass: cheese and ketchup
Cheese and tomato isn't a distant combo. Grilled cheese tastes great dripped in tomato soup, and most cheeseburgers have ketchup involved. But, what about dipping cheese into ketchup like a french fry? That's a lot of cheese to be able to dip it. Maybe like a cheese stick. Pick your preference of cheese, but cheddar sounds the best.
Pick or pass: onions and mustard
When googling onions and mustard, you might get a gravy, marinade, or hot dog recipe. However, the ingredients are then cooked and combined with other things to make them super tasty. Ever imagine spreading mustard on a raw white onion? Gag material? Maybe, but a craving is a craving and a pregnant woman deserves what she wants.