METALLIC AND BITTER TASTES IN PREGNANCY

How Your Sense Of Taste Is Affected By Pregnancy

Many women complain that they have a bitter taste or even a metallic taste in their mouth during pregnancy.
My site: www.getpregnantover40.com for more on foods for pregnancy and fertility 
  I don't recall having an odd taste in my mouth, but I was so nauseated the entire first trimester, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell anyway!

This article talks about the possible reasons and what you can do to deal with it:

Dysguesia is not to be confused with cravings that occur in pregnancy, commonly to foods like ice-cream, pickles or chocolate, or aversions which are new repulsions to previously liked foods. Sometimes a pregnant woman may sense a funny taste in her mouth even when not eating. Again different presentations with a related root cause -- elevated hormone levels and/or increased body edema and water retention. Some researchers feel a concomitant increase in the sense of smell may play a role. Others state that there is an evolutionary protection built into these changes: that is, they help a pregnant mother balance and replace needed nutrients in the body, such as sodium and calcium.

Suggestions for dealing with these changes include:

* Alter your diet to accommodate these new likes and dislikes
* Start your meal with dry crackers to attenuate strong tastes
* Chew a flavored gum, sugarless mint or ice chips
* Try spicy foods because the numbing effect they can have sometimes helps

 from: www.pregnancy.org

Pregnancy Over 40 and Morning Sickness

I've often heard of ginger as a home remedy for a number of conditions, including nausea and vomiting.

See Also My site for more articles on foods for fertility and pregnancy over 40 (www.getpregnantover40.com) 

It seems like most women have their own cure for morning sickness.  For me, the only thing that seemed to help was continually sucking on starlight mints (the little red and white peppermints).  However, this didn't take the nausea away, it just smoothed over my gag reflex.  I had heard about ginger for morning sickness, but I never gave it a try.

This article actually sites a study done which proves that it is helpful in pregnancy. Read more:

Pregnant women may safely take ginger root for morning sickness
The venerable medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology published a 2001 study on the effectiveness of ginger for pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting. Seventy pregnant of women who were less than 17 weeks pregnant were studied for five months to determine if ginger had any effect on morning sickness. They were given either 1 gram of ginger daily or a placebo. Both nausea and vomiting decreased significantly in the ginger group, while barely at all in the control group. No adverse outcomes were reported. The researchers concluded that ginger is safe and effective for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

Complementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery reviewed safe alternatives for nausea and vomiting during morning sickness in pregnancy in 2002. The author noted that most pregnant women were reluctant to take any prescription drugs during pregnancy, but that these women did want to find relief from morning sickness. Ginger root was one of the alternatives noted as safe and effective.
from: www.naturalnews.com

The Best Foods To Eat (or not eat) in Pregnancy

Pregnancy Over 40, Diet Matters

I was so nauseated my first trimester that I can't say I always ate healthy foods.
 For my series on foods for fertility and pregnancy:  see www.getpregnantover40.com
 I had to eat creamy usually high fat dairy just to soothe my stomach. But I made up for it my second and third trimester when I got back to eating fruits vegetables, fiber and calcium rich foods. Here is an article from WebMD about what to eat when pregnant. I should mention that the only thing I disagree with in this article is the use of artificial sweeteners. I've read from numerous sources that pregnant women should stay away from aspartame and other artificial sweeteners when pregnant. Read more:

• Choose at least one good source of vitamin C every day, such as oranges, grapefruits, strawberries, honeydew, papaya, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, green peppers, tomatoes, and mustard greens. Pregnant women need 70 mg of vitamin C a day.
• Choose at least one good source of folic acid every day, like dark green leafy vegetables, veal, and legumes (lima beans, black beans, black-eyed peas and chickpeas). Every pregnant woman needs at least 0.4 mg of folic acid per day to help prevent neural tube defects such as spina bifida.
• Choose at least one source of vitamin A every other day. Sources of vitamin A include carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, spinach, water squash, turnip greens, beet greens, apricots, and cantaloupe. from: www.webmd.com