Pregnancy is weird.
Super weird.
My body is no longer my own and it does some really strange things… especially when it comes to food.
Everyone asks what my cravings are… and there is only one answer. Citrus.
I went to LA the week I found out I was pregnant and was at my aunt’s house. She had fresh oranges and I am pretty sure I ate fifteen of them. I was perpetually queasy, trying to hide that, and they were making me feel better. I am not sure if it was the cravings that pushed me to oranges that day or the oranges that pushed me towards that being MY food. But it has been 5 months now and I still eat about 3-4 oranges (or something similar) every single day.
My first trimester felt a lot like being hung over and sea sick at the same time. It was pretty awful, and I subsisted solely on beige foods for a few weeks (pasta, bread, crackers, pretzels, etc). And if I didn’t eat every two hours or so, I felt even worse. (Thank goodness my doctor told me at about 10 weeks about Unisom, which totally saved me from deciding this would be my ONE and ONLY pregnancy, by curing my morning/all-day sickness overnight)
One food that really saved me was a snack I was generously sent to try: BettaSnax.
I have never seen these before, but they are basically crispy little slices of biscotti.
I first tried the S’Mores since as a S’Mores lover, I was excited. They were good but didn’t satisfy that gooey S’Mores thing. I then tried the Fruit & Nut and LOVED them. (The original flavor was also quite good). These were my go-to when a meeting was going too long and I was in need of a snack to hold me over. They were tasty and filling, without being too hard on my stomach. And pretty healthy as far as snacks go, even in bulk (low calories and no added fat).
Once the Unisom kicked in and I could eat things with color again, I found myself NEEDING a custom yogurt parfait every single day for about 2 months. Luckily, a store on my walk to work allowed me to customize to my hearts content, with fresh fruit, multiple types of yogurt and cottage cheese. Of course, they each cost about $400, but what’s money when you NEED a yogurt parfait?
Then there was the day I innocently went to grab lunch and somehow came back with this collection of sea salt & vinegar PopChips, tangerines, gummy peaches, and a chicken caesar wrap. You know… because those things go together.
And then the day Mike talked about an anchovy pizza he had at a restaurant and I could not get it out of my head. So we went grocery shopping and Mike nicely entertained my needs and made me this delicious anchovy and olive “pizza” on naan with pesto. Partnered with a roast chicken and roast yellow cauliflower. And it was good.
Then the day I convinced my entire family to get milk shakes, delivered, after a full dinner when we also brought cupcakes. They gave in to my whims. Good family they are.
And my sister and her fiance were kind enough to get me a Citrus of the Month Club membership, with the first shipment including some Honeybell Oranges and Grapefruits. This lasted me a solid three days.
And brought me to one of my favorite breakfasts, cut grapefruits with a yogurt parfait (with bananas and grapes and topped with my favorite granola from The NoMad).
But the pizza adventure cracked me up most. We were on the train and Mike asked what kind of pizza I wanted to order… he started listing some things… “Olives? Mushrooms? Hawaiian?”
YES, YES, and YES!
It wasn’t that I wanted all of those things together, I just was influenced by the power of suggestion and couldn’t decide. So we got them all!
A funny moment happened when the order came through with all the ingredients as one. So the confused restaurant called me to ask if I REALLY wanted them all together. I clarified the half and half and when it arrived, I was a very happy pregnant lady.
Thankfully, nothing is really grossing me out, which I hear is common, except raw greens aren’t doing it for me anymore (though I still try to eat them).
Halfway through. Wonder what else will be in my food future with this little man making all the calls!
