Probably Similar Posts

  1. Baron von Rochester writes:

    There's no better gift to a kid than parents who really know and love food. Regardless of your little freeloader's gender or path in life, an adventuresome and loving attitude toward the kitchen and its delights will serve him, her, or it well.

    25 May @ 9pm

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  • 19
  • May
  • 2009

Eating for Two

What I've Been Craving:
  • roast beef
  • pizza, anything without meat
  • pineapple
  • watermelon
  • enchiladas
  • Mom's tacos
  • anything a character eats in a book I'm reading
  • butter pecan ice cream
  • chocolate, chocolate, chocolate
  • millet, as a component of something trail-mixy
  • bran muffins
  • blueberry muffins
  • morning glory bread
  • fruit pie, any
  • mint
  • TLC original crackers
  • black beans
  • lentil soup and spinach pie from Nicholas
  • Chaat House fare
What I've Actually Been Eating:
  • pineapple
  • watermelon
  • yogurt
  • mutli-grain Cheerios
  • fish
  • salads
  • hummus + veggie sticks
  • lentil soup and spinach pie from Nicholas
  • bananas
  • almonds

These are incomplete lists, of course, but you get the idea. In the last three months food has taken on yet another dimension in my head, my kitchen, and my guts. I've been queasy, then downright nauseated. My digestion has slowed, because that's what happens; my eating habits have had to change. Some days I wake up starving, unable to get to the kitchen quickly enough. Some days anything I eat seems to sit in my stomach, like stone, for hours. Lately, it doesn't feel like there is room inside me for a stomach, a bladder, and a baby. There is, of course, or there will be. It's not like my condition is strange.

Some days I eat what I want, when I want, and I regret it. Some days I plan and choose carefully, proud of myself that I am giving my body—and the freeloader it carries—the material it needs to build the bones, skin, and eyelids of this inchoate being.

I am unused to denial, to discomfort, to frustration around food. I have always tried to eat responsibly, but now I am newly and powerfully motivated. I don't always do my best, but every day I hold my belly and promise to do better. Eating for two maybe isn't eating more, it's eating better. It's also eating what you can get into your stomach, because even a nutritionally-suspect snack is better than nothing at all.*

A few weeks into my second trimester, I can eat real meals most days, though carefully, and some days I can stay awake all day without a nap. I hear, from the few moms and dads that I know, that I have nothing but discomfort and pain to look forward to as we creep towards our November 16 due date, but for now I am celebrating the return of my appetite. I am celebrating also the fruits and vegetables that are coming into season, the mexican watermelons that I can't keep out of my grocery basket; hawaiian pineapples, and tamales from Micro Mercantes at the new King Farmers Market. For now I am celebrating the notion that I might get to raise an Eater, that maybe I can teach my kid to love kneading dough as much as I do, and that maybe soon my body will adjust to it's altered state and I'll be in the kitchen again making pizzas and muffins, minty things and black bean soup—anything to satisfy the growling cravings and nourish the little beast.

*This isn't nutritional advice; it's just the opinion of a cranky, pregnant food writer. If you are pregnant, please consult a qualified caregiver for advice about nutrition. And good luck.