Cravings

I have a friend who owes me a little bit of money, and we've been discussing this fact through email over the past couple of days. However, after the 5am craving for ice cream I had last night, I am considering asking for the sum's equivalent in small cups of Mexican Vanilla with various combinations of malt balls, peanut butter cups, and hot fudge rather than some combination of US currency. It's officially my first craving of the second trimester, folks.

I woke up from a dream of ordering ice cream at Amy's (a place I've been to literally three times in two years, but where I would now like to live), sadly, before I could consume said ice cream, and then laid wistfully in bed for twenty minutes, unable to sleep while thinking of it.

During my first trimester, I couldn't get enough of orange juice for awhile, and then it was bananas. Bananas straight from the peel, bananas sliced onto cereal or granola and yogurt, bananas in a bowl with a tiny bit of sugar and rice milk. . . but I now have a sweet tooth like never before. I've been pretty good about soothing the urge for sweets with maple or chocolate yogurt rather than candy bars. But I'm not sure if I can make it through today without a trip to Amy's. I'll just order the smaller than small, "tiny" size, I promise.


Maybe it's just my body's way of keeping me and the baby calm and content. According to
Lise Eliot , "Sweets taste good because it literally feels good to eat them - they induce pleasurable sensations in the body. And it's not just because they give us a big energy boost. The pleasurable feeling associated with eating sweets turns on quite quickly; we don't have to wait for the sugar to reach the gut and be digested. Research now indicates that sweet receptors in the mouth are coupled to brain areas that release endogenous opiates - those natural morphinelike chemicals that induce a sense of pleasure and well-being and even block the transmission of painful stimuli to the brain . . . researchers have found that drinking sugar water or sucking on a sweetened pacifier has a tremendous calming effect on young infants. Sugar reduces crying, lowers a baby's heart rate, and decreases his or her less-coordinated, energy-wasting body movements. . . . In addition to its calming effects, sugar is known to make babies more alert and to encourage their hand-to-mouth coordination."

So basically, a woman with a Ph.D is giving me a greenlight to head to Amy's today. Thank you, Ms. Eliot.