My Pregnant Palate Needs Your Help

From the beginning of this blog until this current writing I have gone through a food philosophy journey. Meat eater, lacto-ovo vegetarian, vegan, lacto-vegetarian, chronic fast-er etc. One might think I have culinary schizophrenia, and perhaps I do (but I'd prefer to be called sophisticatedly open minded).

In truth, I loved most my vegan adventure for reasons too personal for a public blog. But I don't think I could ever be vegan again, just like I'll never be 27 again, but shoot it was fun while it lasted.

After reading a very enlightening book Intuitive Eating just shortly before I became pregnant, I realized that I didn't need to be a labeled eater, just a happy one. Intuitive Eating is all about natural processes that emulate the finickiness in children (which we try to force out with our insistence at the dinner table, the "two more bites" syndrome). Anyway, after I read this book I prayed to know if it was true, then I decided to live by it's teachings (why not? It worked with the Book of Mormon).

Intuitive Eating was a process I needed to learn before my pregnancy because suddenly I was craving food that I once abhorred. Like ice cream. And cold cereal. And if I didn't know that it was acceptable to give my body what it wanted then I'd be really miserable, whereas now I'm almost-tolerably miserable (mixed with a heap of grateful).

With this new pregnancy palate I feel so uneducated. Having shunned 75% of the food available to me for one reason (not organic) or another (too acidic) I feel like I've missed out on experimentation. I am hoping that if I list some of the foods that I've considered recently there will be someone out there who can enlighten me about brands, textures, tastes and temperatures. Or whatever.

My recent conversions:

Fruit snacks -because I now need to be able to make it to Sunday School at church (I am the new lucky 14-15 year-old teacher) and I see that it is all the rage with kids these days. Cheerios are so yesteryear. Hold the fructose corn syrup. I'd like mine really juicy.

Granola Bars -for when I get sick in the night. I prefer mine with peanuts or peanut butter, but hate the acid-in-the-mouth tastes of Quaker. Actually, I think the Quaker bars are crap. And, I will take that to my grave. The Kashi ones are too grainy for three am. I am looking for more of a smooth sensation. Don't fail me.

Cold Cereal -I love Oh's. Oh my argyle socks do I love Oh's! But besides the fact that they are hard to find, the crunchiness chews up my mouth with every bowl full. I hate tender-in-the-mouth. Again, I like anything peanut butter-ish. For the fiber (I heart regularity) I can eat a shredded-wheat type cereal as long as it doesn't taste like barn.

Artisian Bread -it was always about the honey whole wheat, but now I've found that a love exists between me and a crusty baguette. I need to know what I've been missing here.

Rich Desserts -tell me more. I've been so cruel to myself.

Ice Cream -I found that an occasional ice cream cone will subdue my sicky. On a hot tip from my Mother-in-Law Honey I tried the creaminess of the Arctic Circle. It was good unto me. One time I even had them dip it in that waxy chocolate! Where else might I try?

Sour Candy - I've dabbled in Warheads and experimented with Sour Patch Kids. I can handle the hard core, so don't waste my time with Lemonheads.

If you belong to any of these culinary clubs would you so kindly take time to give a gal a suggestion or two? And if you can't, will you call your mom and see if she can help? And also, if you just read this list and are worried about my health, please know that I only eat these foods in moderation. Most of the time I eat ice.