Jessie J ditches vegan diet due to pregnancy cravings

Jessie J previously went vegan to tackle her health issues.

Jessie J has ditched her plant-based diet due to pregnancy cravings.

The 34-year-old recently shared a picture of herself enjoying a meaty meal at Joyce’s Jerk Joint Caribbean restaurant in London on her Instagram story. She wrote: “Most of my days vegan. Some days really not. Giving my body what it craves.”

⁠ The Domino singer is pregnant with her first child after suffering a miscarriage in November 2021.

Jessie J went vegan for her health

Jessie J went vegan in 2018 after doctors told her she’d never be able to have biological children.

She spoke about her transition in an interview with Plant-Based News.

“All women and men go through fertility issues, and it’s something that’s very empowering for me to talk about,” she told the publication.

“I had all these tests done, and basically the long and short of it was, ‘you manage the pain that you get, or you have to have a hysterectomy’.

“I decided to manage the pain and do it naturally. So four years ago, I cut out sugar from my diet to try and stop bacteria from building up in my body. Once I cut out sugar I realized how much I began to enjoy food when it was good for me – and it was balancing out everything – my health, my moods, my sleep.”

She later cut meat from her diet, but it took her a year to become a full-on vegan.

Pregnant women can do well on a vegan diet

While Jessie J may have gone back to eating meat, it is more to do with her cravings than to tackle any unforeseen nutritional deficiency.

The American Dietetic Association, the largest organization for nutritionists and dietitians, states that vegan diets are suitable for all stages of life, including pregnancy and lactation.

A mounting amount of research has demonstrated the potential risks of consuming animal-based foods during pregnancy and nursing, including mercury in seafood, high saturated fat and bacteria in meat and dairy, nitrates and additives in processed meats, and growth hormones in cheese. 

In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers avoid or significantly limit their intake of certain types of fish due to the potential mercury contamination.

“Not eating meat during gestation may even have upsides,” a New York Times report stated.

 “A vegetarian diet in the first trimester was linked to a lower risk of excessive gestational weight gain, a 2010 study found.” 

According to Harvard Medical School, whole grains, healthy fats, and excellent protein packages are true fertility foods, and most of its suggestions focus on getting these macronutrients from plants.

And experts point to a link between a plant-based diet during pregnancy and a decreased risk of complications, including gestational diabetes. For the increasing number of women choosing to start families later in life, this may help reduce some of the risks that are common for older women. It may also help improve fertility for both women and their male partners.

Moreover, most of our ancient civilization relied on plant-heavy diets, while experts note that veganism is a relatively new concept.

“We don’t have thousands of years of human tradition trial-and-erroring veganism in a cultural context,” scientist Sayward Rebhal told Insider.

“Vegetarianism, yes, but not veganism. Living this way is relatively new in human history, and like anything new, it’s going to be met with skepticism. Eventually, science will catch up, but for now, vegans have to deal with the reality that it’s human nature to be wary of anything new.”

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