I am now 16 1/2 weeks pregnant! Yahoo! I’ll soon get to find out the gender of our baby and I’m so excited for that.Unfortunately, the pregnancy cravings have really set in, full-force. Want to know what I’m craving? Fast food (we pretty much NEVER eat fast food..I think the last time I had fast food was when I was last time I was pregnant and had a Wendy’s craving..), junk food, and anything with LOTS of sugar and oil/fats! Yikes! How bad is that?
I’ve done well with the fast food cravings. We have only given in to one of those (Chick-Fil-A), but it’s the sweets that are already starting to get out of control. Right this moment we have Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Muffins AND New York Style crumb cake that I have baked. How do you control this?!
You know what’s worse? The results I’m having from giving in to all of these cravings. I have had headaches galore! I haven’t actually kept track of them, but I would say that I am at least having 2 a week. They’re minor head aches, but I don’t normally have this many. One, maybe two a month is my usual.
The oh-so delicious, and oh-so bad for you crumb cake.
I went to the library yesterday and picked up 2 books. One was Chloe Coscarelli’s book “Chloe’s Vegan Desserts”, and the other was “Crazy Sexy Diet” by Kris Carr. If you know a thing or two about these authors, then you know these two books are extreme opposites in content. When I got home I immediately sat down with “Chloe’s Vegan Desserts” and marked about 20 pages that had desserts that I thought I would maybe like to try. I then made her New York Style Crumb cake. Although it is SUPER tasty, it also has quite a bit of sugar and fats, as I’m sure you can imagine.
Today I sat down and started reading over Kris Carr’s “Crazy Sexy Diet,” and by chapter 3 I was ready to run into my kitchen and start dumping every single ounce of sugar that we had in our house. Conflicted?! Yes, I do believe I am. Do you ever feel conflicted about what you do and what you think (or sometimes you may even KNOW) you should do? This is the constant struggle I have within myself. I think my verdict for now is to go back to limiting the desserts in our home. I plan to only make one vegan dessert a week, and once it’s gone, it’s gone!
My daughter saw me taking pictures and requested one of her. Such a sweetie!
I know that there are conflicting ideas out there and everyone has to do what is best for them and their situation, but I would love to know what your thoughts are about sugar and how you treat it in your home? Do you eat one dessert a week? Do you eat a dessert every night? Or do you even eat desserts at all?
Thanks!
Kristin
Brianna says:
I’m just finding your blog, and while we aren’t vegan, budget is making meatless meals a necessity more often than not so I find your posts extremely helpful!
As for sugar, my partner and I grew up on the white bread, sno-cone diet so common for the past few decades, and are finding the results horrifying. We’re now raising our kids much differently so they can (hopefully) avoid the sugar, refined carb, caffeine addition stuff we struggle with. We have dessert most nights, but the portions are small. We try to stick to the most natural items we can find. No high fructose corn crap, cane sugar or preferably honey or agave, as the less refined the better, in our opinions. Natural ice creams with ingredients I can recognize as things I cook with, lollipops with fruit juice instead of chemicals and food dyes.
We figure, they will have to learn how to balance the sweets they will want to eat versus the foods they should eat to be healthy, so a little will go a long way in the long run. Denying them outright would only make them crave and binge, but a small sucker after a day filled with fruits and veggies will satisfy the “need” without sacrificing their health. Thankfully, this approach seems to be working. They enjoy fruits and veggies, and will often ask for an apple with peanut butter/honey dip over chips for a side dish, and a frozen natural yogurt tube over cookies and candy for dessert. (Do they make soy or coconut yogurt in tubes yet? I wonder if they would freeze as well as milk yogurt? Something to look for, maybe. Our kids love them!)
kristin reichert says:
Brianna, Thanks for sharing! That is a lot like our approach to desserts. We try to eat healthier versions of desserts and keep our portions small. We also usually only do one dessert a day. I feel that like you said, if you avoid the desserts all together it’s hard to teach your child about self-control. Although I will say that the idea of cutting out sugars sounds enticing..but probably not something that my family and I will be doing all together for a while at least.
Since being pregnant, my cravings have gone up, but I feel that I’ve done a pretty good job at giving into them to a minimum, thank goodness.
Cathy says:
I used to be a sugar addict…just had to have something sugary 3 or 4 times a day. About 16 months ago I gave up sugar cold turkey. It took about 2 months, but I don’t crave it now. I eat fruit 3 times a day…a small apple or a 1/2 a small banana, so I am getting sugar from the foods I eat without all the refined sugar and fat from baked goods or ice cream.
Funny side benefit is I no longer am a mosquito magnet…they don’t like me any more.
kristin reichert says:
I loved reading your comment. My mom has told me some of your story and shared some of the things that you and your husband have been doing, and it’s really interesting. You are an inspiration! I don’t think my family is quite ready to give up sugar(or other forms of sweet things) all together, but it is something that I do feel I want to do eventually and hope to move closer to that a little bit at a time. Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to hearing more about how you guys eat and what you do for your personal diet!