Craving meat

[ZenMamaJen]

I'm a vegetarian. I was vegan with dd. But I've been craving meat soooooo much with this pregnancy. Lemon chicken....yum. Salmon. KFC commercials make me drool.

I think maybe I should listen to my body and eat some meat!!!
What do you all think? It's really a hard decision for me. But then I think maybe the baby is telling me he needs it, which makes it a no-brainer.

[jenny-g]

You know, I think your body knows best, and I think there is a reason we have cravings! If I were you, I'd definitely eat meat for now- it's only a short period out of your life, and I"ll bet after you have the baby, you'll go right back off meat. I used to be a veg for 7 years (which for me ended up being a relatively unhealthy diet), so I do understand a bit.

If you're going to have meat though- have GOOD MEAT. Splurge a little, and if you have a whole foods or some place like that where you can get better meat (we don't ), go for it! I think chicken is the easiest thing to start with, it's so mild, and definitely salmon is about the healthiest thing to have right now anyway.

Best of luck! Baby wants meat!! (why does my baby always want cookies? ...)

[Carley]

I was vegetarian for 4 years and vegan for 2 until late in my 1st trimester. I had overwhelming cravings for meat (esp raw meat, like carpaccio and steak tartare) and STRONG aversions to my usual proteins (soy products, beans, mock meats). It made my decision to eat meat through this pregnancy as needed much easier because I had no protein sources left to eat!

Later I got the results from my bloodwork at the time & I was anemic. Some people say that cravings are just psychological. That may be part of the "cake & icecream NOW!," but when your body is screaming to you "EAT SOME FREAKING CHICKEN" then um... do it! OR considerably increase the amount of iron rich proteins you do eat (for me that was not an option... I only needed to say "tempeh" or "tofu" before gagging)

:

[AdinaL]

Yep...all I have wanted for the last couple of days is a steak. A big one. (I wasn't veggie before.) I had some spaghetti sauce with beef in it last night and I feel much better now.

I think that meat cravings are good ones to pay attention to. Same with veggie cravings. The potato chip/candy/soda cravings not always good topay attention to.

[jenny-g]

Originally Posted by AdinaL

Yep...all I have wanted for the last couple of days is a steak. A big one. (I wasn't veggie before.) I had some spaghetti sauce with beef in it last night and I feel much better now.

I think that meat cravings are good ones to pay attention to. Same with veggie cravings. The potato chip/candy/soda cravings not always good topay attention to.

I could not agree more . Sometimes I think the evil cravings are a) salt cravings, or b) carb cravings, both of which can be met more healithy than garbage food. I found that i need more salt than I thought! For one week, I was CRAVING salads. I was so happy. I ate so many salads. And then I went off them, totally . Will try to get back on!

[ltk]

Hey there, a fellow vegetarian here......

I think that it's okay, but go out of your way to eat/prepare free range, organic meat. I have also been having cravings for LAMB and even a steak. The thought really pisses me off, but if my body wants it, what can I do?

baby needs meat! I really want to raise my kids vegetarian, but maybe not in the womb!

[pfamilygal]

Originally Posted by AdinaL

I think that meat cravings are good ones to pay attention to. Same with veggie cravings. The potato chip/candy/soda cravings not always good topay attention to.

What about the "whole box of Jiffy corn bread" cravings?

[jenny-g]

Originally Posted by ltk

Hey there, a fellow vegetarian here......

I think that it's okay, but go out of your way to eat/prepare free range, organic meat. I have also been having cravings for LAMB and even a steak. The thought really pisses me off, but if my body wants it, what can I do?

baby needs meat! I really want to raise my kids vegetarian, but maybe not in the womb!

I think that's a very wise idea. Sometimes, there really is no subsitute for meat protein, *especially* during pregnancy! If you breastfeed, it's probably not a big deal at all to raise kids veggie since they are getting the perfect protein when they need it the most! (I think raising kids veggie is particularly easy now with the wonder that is frozen, mini, veggie corn dogs.)

While my husband and I aren't vegitarians now, we really rarely eat meat (and even more rarely prepare it), so I wouldn't be surprised if our kids go for weeks without meat. No prob.

I really am happy to see reasonable attitudes on here about eating some meat/fish products during pregnancy! It makes vegitarianism that much more reasonable and open to all.

[norasmom]

I'm not a vegetarian, but whoa the red meat cravings are out of controll. Chicken & pork don't even look good to me. The only other craving that equals it right now are the cheesecake cravings and something tells me it's not as important to make sure I get my monthly allowance of fat & sugar in one sitting!

[aprilushka]

I am a total carnivore but even worse in pregnancy-- I especially want big hunks of beef a lot, but I try to make sure I get in some fish every week. It really should be more than the once a week I'm averaging now though, sigh. I eat chicken regularly but it doesn't appeal to me as much as beef, in fact sometimes I find it almost repulsive.

Just had steak fajitas from Baja Fresh. I thought I would eat two and have the third later but no way...I ate the whole thing in one sitting, mmmm mmmm.

I say, just eat it. Protein is so vital during pregnancy, it's worth it temporarily to eat it, and you can find environmentally friendlier meet at Whole Foods, etc or at Farmer's Market type of places.

[Wittyone]

It makes a lot of sense that people are really craving high protein/high iron foods right now (in the form of meat and particularly red meat) since our bodies are really working hard to increase our blood volume (it will increase 50% over the course of our pg's with most of the work being done in the 2nd tri). Protein and iron are vital for this and your body will prompt you to seek out sources. What's been weird for me is that I *do* eat meat but it hasn't been sounding that great and instead I've been craving leafy greens (which I couldn't even think about in the first trimester) and black strap molassess drizzled on things...our bodies do crazy things in pg but it makes sense to *listen* to them!! BTW, ITA that if you're going to eat meat it might as well be high quality - it's not the antibiotics and growth hormones that we are craving

[ZenMamaJen]

Thanks for the replies!

I had some salmon today. It was delicious.

DH thinks I'm a wimp, giving in to my craving. Oh well. He's not pregnant.

[2+twins]

You should do whatever you think is best, but as a fellow vegetarian I guess I don't agree with the "just eat meat" replies. I think you should take queue from what you're body is saying, but use that craving to discover what's missing in your diet (like more protein, iron or whatever). There are absolutely good veg-friendly ways to fulfill these needs.

[jenny-g]

Originally Posted by jenais10

Thanks for the replies!

I had some salmon today. It was delicious.

DH thinks I'm a wimp, giving in to my craving. Oh well. He's not pregnant.

Actually, I think you would be a whimp to not listen to your body and cave to vegitarian peer-pressure! You're being brave to ask this question and give your baby what it needs right now. Everyone has different requirements for protein and iron, and for some people, being a veg is healthier than for other people.

It's worth making sure they check your iron at your next appointment, too- it's hard to absorb plant-based iron (just because there is iron, or calcium for that matter, in something doesn't mean your body can get it out of it), so you may have started out with a deficiency. Or not. -j

[Blue Dragonfly]

Sorry to butt-in on your thread, but I know when I am craving meat, I am anemic. I took Floradix through my whole pregnancy. It really helped. Now, not pg, I use one bottle maybe every three months (when I feel like eating meat.) Fixes the problem right up for me.

Congrads on your pg!!