One of the weird things about pregnancy is how it affects what you eat.

Before becoming pregnant I had heard about cravings and aversions but hadn’t realised how severe they could be until experiencing them myself. I'm now into my third trimester so things may change over these last few weeks but I thought I’d share my journey with food through my pregnancy so far.

From barely being able to eat anything but beige foods for almost two months, to gaining the biggest sweet tooth, this pregnancy has really messed with how I usually eat.

At the start of my first trimester I didn’t feel very different to normal. I enjoyed all my normal foods. We generally eat a mostly vegetarian diet, enjoying a variety of seasonal vegetables, mixing in tinned and dried pulses, nuts, seeds, grains and of course pasta. I’m lactose intolerant so we had mostly switched to vegan alternatives, with a few exceptions such ad our love for parmesan cheese.

This all changed halfway through my first trimester, almost overnight I couldn’t stand the smell or taste of coffee or tea. I went from eating eggs most morning for breakfast, to not being able to watch an egg being cracked on a reel without starting to gag. For some reason all vegetables started to taste different and I couldn’t stand seeing them on my plate. My normal varied diet switched to incredibly bland and beige.

The foods I could stand were limited to pasta and parmesan cheese, toast and crumpets with or without Marmite, chips, salt and vinegar crisps and in fairly standard pregnancy fashion salted crackers.

Some of my first cravings during the tail end of my first trimester were for sweet, juicy fruits such as strawberries, pink lady apples and nectarines. All of which have been staples all the way through my pregnancy diet.

I did also have a phase of wanting red grapes. Unfortunately they quickly lost their appeal after they came out my nose during a particularly bad bout of morning sickness. In someway I have been very lucky as although I had bad nausea from about weeks 6 to 16, I can count on one hand how often I was actually sick.

To combat the nausea, I found I needed to eat something every hour or so. If I let my stomach completely empty I tended to feel worse. This led to me snacking throughout the day on crackers, fruit or if I was out on site I would suck on mint humbugs to keep the dysgeusia and nausea away.

Around this time I also was obsessed with cheap, fizzy, rainbow laces from the supermarket. Looking back now I can’t believe I went through so many packets of them in such a short time period!

In order to replace my normal tea and coffee throughout the day, I switched to warm Vimto or orange squash. Not the healthiest option but it satisfied my need for a warm drink while working. Luckily as I progressed through my second trimester, towards the third, I’ve been able to drink tea again. Unfortunately coffee is still off the menu for me, it smells good now but the thought of actually drinking it isn’t appealing.

My other choices for drinks throughout my pregnancy have been iced water (normal cool tap water tastes odd without the ice), lemon juice and water (which was odd, but still tastes amazing) and lemonade (specifically full fat Sprite or cloudy lemonade).

Towards the end of my first trimester I started craving burgers, in particular Five Guys hamburgers (with mayonnaise, tomato and lettuce). These have become a staple throughout my pregnancy. I find this such an odd craving as I rarely ate meat, never mind hamburgers before I got pregnant 😅.

As I eased into my second trimester, I started to add foods back into my very bland diet, starting with vegetables. Unfortunately, I still can't stand onions of any variety unless extremely finely diced and well hidden. Even then I can still taste them and would rather leave them out. I have the same reaction to broccoli currently too which is sad.

My one aversion that has eased slightly is eggs. I can now crack an egg to bake with, but the idea or smell of egg by itself is still no good.

Otherwise I am back to eating a variety of foods again, with some slight tweaks. I have very definitely developed a large sweet tooth this pregnancy. I crave anything chocolate or ice cream, both of which I was fairly unfussed on before. My chocolate craving cumulated in me making batches of cookies for myself throughout the final month of my second trimester just to have a chocolate snack to hand at all times. They definitely fulfilled the craving, with each batch tasting amazing and allowed me to finally perfect my cookie recipe!

Coming into my third trimester I've found I seem to be switching between days where I feel starving and eat everything in sight, to days where I eat breakfast and lunch, then want to have a snack for dinner. For many meals I don't really mind what I eat.

I still eat a fair amount of pasta. Over the past month I have found my breakfasts seem to be where my cravings seem to switch up the most. I tend to fancy a particular breakfast for a week or two before switching it up completely. My most recent breakfast cravings have been melted cheese on toast, dark chocolate and cranberry oats,
toast with sliced cheese and fruit or marmite on toast with an apple and cream cheese on toast.

In general I have gone off vegan cheese and have switched back to lactose free cheeses. Many of which are pasteurised so safe to eat while pregnant, which is amazing!

It's so odd as a foodie to go through all these changes to my eating habits. I can’t wait to see what changes stick post pregnancy or if I switch back to my old eating habits.

If you’ve been pregnant what we’re your biggest food aversions and cravings? I’d love to hear in the comments!

Ju xx