Pregnant Woman Feels Guilty For Ordering Chicken Wings And Upsetting Her Vegetarian MIL, Asks For Advice Online

Pregnancy cravings are not a joke, often pushing a person to eat like a star athlete at the strangest times. Of course, this is a direct result of carrying around another little person, dealing with morning sickness, and often operating at a heightened level of stress.

A pregnant woman wanted to know if she was in the wrong for ordering chicken wings after her MIL cooked for her, despite the entire family being vegetarian. Family drama ensued when the MIL found the packaging in the garbage and confronted OP. So she turned to the internet to get a second opinion.

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While they might sound absurd to someone standing on the outside, pregnancy cravings are found all over the world, yet their root causes remain quite unknown. The leading theory, scientifically and as far as folk wisdom goes, is that women just need more nutrition. A baby isn’t free and morning sickness often leads to the pregnant person losing nutrients. However, global studies have found that the nutritional makeup of the foods women crave differs from region to region, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is the root cause. The one common thread is that the items the woman craves are generally not one’s she would typically eat and that might be considered strange to the people around her.

Some point to the idea that the woman is in fact trying to signal that she is pregnant to people around her. There could be an evolutionary root to this, as a heavily pregnant person tends to need some help near the end, so this signaling could be a method to recruit help from others. This behavior is visible in some species of apes, and in many cultures, it’s pretty normal to bring in family members and friends to help the woman with food and assistance. It’s important to understand that women generally aren’t faking their cravings, they do really feel like eating the strangest things and enjoy it quite deeply, even if they would never touch a specific item before or after pregnancy.

While a committed vegetarian might balk at someone eating meat, some pregnancy cravings go beyond food and veer into unknown territory. This is called pica, which is when a person has a deep and very real craving for inedible objects, like chalk, clay, wax, and even metal. Scientists believe its origins lie in mineral deficiencies and it’s not commonly found in the developed world. However, it is a pretty dangerous condition, as the things the person craves have basically no nutritional value and, even worse, can cause a slew of health issues. It doesn't take a doctor to realize that ingesting nails is very dangerous. Fortunately, it’s still pretty rare and most women tend to prefer calorie-dense foods, sweets, and sometimes unusual combinations like ice cream and cheese, chocolate cake and gravy, and basically anything else one can think of.

One hint to its origins may be that morning sickness can at times be prevented and limited by allowing the woman to indulge in her cravings. Regardless of what thinks about meat or pickles on brownies, she is the one carrying the baby, with all the subsequent difficulties. Probably best to cut her some slack. In OP’s story, it’s a bit surprising that the mother was so quick to forget her own pregnancy experience unless she was one of those few that never had any cravings. However, craving some food isn’t exactly reserved for pregnant women, and all of us sometimes want to indulge. So it’s best to withhold judgment and try to understand.