Strange Encounters of the Food Kind

Many people have asked me throughout the pregnancy, "Have you had any weird food cravings?" Well, let's start from the beginning...

In the first trimester, I craved carbs like nobody's business. In fact, during one of my grocery runs, Michael came home and looked in the cupboards completely fascinated by my purchases of all things forever banned on the Atkin's Diet (and many things that had never been seen in our cupboards to date): loaf of bread, bagels, Nilla wafers (pretty sure I hadn't eaten a single one in the10 years prior), endless amounts of instant rice, pasta, french fries, tater tots, corn, Spaghetti O's (huh?!), tortillas, beans (no surprise here - I've always loved beans), oyster crackers, and Parmesan Goldfish. My doctor did reassure me that most women crave carbs during the first trimester, so that made me feel a little better. But poor Michael was stuck eating this stuff for a good 6 weeks or so. Thankfully, he's never been a picky eater!

One of the strangest food experiences I've had so far was when I was back in Ames for a weekend and couldn't bring myself to eat at my most favorite Mexican restaurants of all time. I had an aversion to it for some reason (seriously, it was so unlike me that it felt like the Twilight Zone). It was at that very moment that there was no doubt that I was pregnant! Thank goodness the aversion didn't last long and I'm back to embracing my favorite foods with open arms. Now let's just hope this little girl likes a good ol' bean burrito as much her mom and dad do! :)

All in all, my taste buds have changed a bit during the last 5 months, as I've been eating a lot of the same kinds of foods over and over. Here are the things that I've been enjoying regularly:

• Chili - traditionally a fall/winter dish, my officemates were a little weirded out when I ate chili almost everyday during the summer (90 degrees outside? Still had myself a bowl!). Michael also made many trips to Wendy's for chili - thanks, honey!
• Huge steins of beer - (only joking!! Just testing if you were paying attention :)
  
• Soup - any kind, any time. I especially like black bean soup from Panera. (Hmm, between that and the chili, can you tell I'm a fan of beans?)
• Cereal - normally a food that I don't bother with because it leaves me hungry again in an hour, this has become a staple for breakfast and dinner (yes, dinner). Favorite kind is Special K with Red Berries.
• Chocolate milk - I'm not deterred by the fact that these individual servings of Kirkland brand lowfat Organic Chocolate Milk sold at Costco are clearly made for kids (the dancing cow on the front gave it away). This stuff is delicious and has been a great way to get some additional protein in my diet.

Just thought it might be fun to document this stuff to look back on someday. Thanks for reading - I'm off to have a bowl of chili!