So you are pregnant and those first few weeks have been hectic! You have been around your family and friends and spread the great news.

Unfortunately you have had a few really bad mornings with morning sickness and hope that part of your pregnancy is over quickly.

And now you have some really strange and excessive cravings… and you have gone off your favourite foods too. Not a happy place to be.

Why does it happen, and why me? Well some of it can be put down to changing hormones.

The changes in a woman’s hormones during her period can leave her with strange fancies or dislikes, and every woman can relate to that, but this intensifies during pregnancy into very strong cravings.

There is some respected medical thinking that says your body has these cravings because it now needs different food types to supplement your nutrition and that of your baby. This is particularly relevant at the different stages of your baby’s physical development.

Typically your body accentuates sour tastes in early pregnancy making certain foods and drinks taste unpalatable. This, in theory, is your body telling you it is not good for your baby. Whilst you may not think that you are doing any harm, and mostly it won’t be any real harm at all, your body is subconsciously telling you that for the best development for your baby you need different nutrients at this particular time.

As your pregnancy progresses through the three trimesters the sourness changes again, and so foods needed for development of the foetus at that time become desired by the body. Yet again you are being dropped massive hints that you need to change your diet for the optimum nutrients for your growing baby.

Whatever your cravings, be them chocolate, chips, pickled onions, garlic, anchovies etc… just go with them because your body is letting you know what baby needs, just as it tells you when you need to rest.