Live Laugh Love & Learn: First Trimester Cravings

So far I am not having any super odd cravings. I am definitely having them though. I will never forget working my first job at Chick-Fil-A at the young age of 15 and taking a man's order at the counter. He said, "I need a number one (chicken sandwich meal), but please NO pickle. And can you make sure that the sandwich has not even touched pickle?" I replied, "Okay, is there an allergy we should be aware of?" And he said, "No. It is for my pregnant wife, and the mere smell of pickle makes her throw up. But she keeps craving your sandwiches." I never forgot taking his order even though it was over 10 years ago, and since that moment I always wondered what kind of cravings I would experience myself.

Over the past few weeks I have learned that aside from being sleepy a lot, the most difficult part of my pregnancy has been making healthier choices when I eat. Sure, it seems simple. But as a retail sales manager putting in long hours and coming home to hours of homework, many times it is much more simple to go through a drive thru or to order a pizza. Eating for two now, that is not ideal. Have I entirely avoided fast food? No, not at all. But when given the option I am choosing the side salad over the fries, and the grilled over the fried (most of the time).

A change that I thought would be extremely difficult, but has not been quite so bad is giving up caffeine. I have had a close relationship with coke. I get excited about Cherry Coke especially, as well as a caramel frappicino from Starbucks. Since I found out about 4 weeks ago I have honestly only had 1 drink with caffeine and I only drank half of it (a medium). I really did not enjoy it that much, so I think my taste for it has changed. Because I am weird about "public water" (that is what I call water they serve as restaurants) I generally take a bottle of water with me or order Sprite or fruit punch when we go out to eat. Sure, they contain sugar but I figure that option occasionally is much better than the large coke full of caffeine that I would have ordered in the past.

I do have cravings for vegetables. Brocolli and green beans sounds better to me than a Ruth's Chris steak right now. Kenny has been eating grilled chicken with some sort of green vegetable almost every night, and I have been inhaling the leftovers of the vegetable he makes. Odd I know, but I guess Baby G wants those nutrients... which is good! I find it interesting that I love Reeses cups and when I was given some for Easter they sounded disgusting. And while I have always liked grapefruit juice, it has become one of my number one cravings. Grapefruit juice??? I literally drank one jug of it within about three days. I did notice all of the acid was bothering my stomach so I have stopped drinking it as much.

Something else that I think is odd is that I usually love all ice cream... especially Orange Leaf frozen yogurt and Coldstone Creamery. I am not saying that I would not eat it if it were given to me, but Orange Leaf doesn't sound very good and Coldstone sounds amazing. My favorite is the Founder's Favorite with Cake Batter ice cream, add peanut butter (hint, hint). Kenny has stopped on his way home from work and brought me some while I was working. Very sweet of him! And maybe Baby G is going to own a winery one day because the only thing I have had a craving for that I cannot have is a good glass of Reisling. Don't worry... I won't be acting on that craving when it comes around. Oh and, below you will see a photo of the addicting bread sticks at Kilroy's in Downtown Indianapolis. Kenny and I went downtown for the day last Saturday so I could get some, haha.
My overall favorite meal right now is from Panera Bread. I absolutely love the brocolli cheddar soup in a bread bowl, either the greek salad or asian sesame salad. I have to have chips and the raspberry tea with it. Soup in general is the best to me right now. The other day I was having one of my "I gotta have it now" brocolli cheddar soup cravings and I convinced Kenny to take me. I waited for him to get home from work, we drive to the one at Metropolis mall and I wait in line to order. I anxiously order my soup with a smile on my face and the cashier replies, "We are out of brocolli cheddar soup today." She broke my heart with those 8 words...how can Panera be out of brocolli cheddar soup?! The raging hormones made me want to cry and yell at the same time, but I took a deep breath and kindly ordered the chicken tortilla soup instead. She is lucky that I had a good day. :) Just kidding. No raging hormones here...yet. Haha. I will update about my cravings as time goes on.