Table 6 Quotes 35–46 about determinants of eating behavior on the individual (biological) level

Changing preferences

Quote 35 – Taste palette (pregnant women 6): “I imagined how something tasted so I felt like eating it, but when I tasted it I thought ‘Oh no, I actually don’t want to eat this at all.’.”

Quote 36 – Specific food preferences (pregnant women 5): “I used to eat yoghurt with fruit every day, but while pregnant I had no desire for it anymore. Nowadays, I eat several pieces of fruit in a day without effort. Eating enough vegetables is sometimes difficult though. During the first 3 months, I ate almost nothing, ‘a banana then’ I thought, ‘I have to eat some kind of fruit’, and then I only ate bananas.”

Quote 37 – Cravings (expecting father 3): “And thing with these ‘greasy foods’ is that if you eat it more often, you want it again more often. (…) And then you notice, the more often you eat something like that, the more often you feel like eating it.”

Physiology

Quote 38 – Sickness (pregnant women 21): “Now that the nausea is gone I eat again as prior to my pregnancy.”

Quote 39 – Discomfort (pregnant women 5): “It’s not unhealthier in all aspects, it is actually healthier in some aspects, because I really liked sweets in the evening, not anymore now because if I eat sweet foods in the evening, I get a lot of gastric issues.”

Quote 40 – Sickness (pregnant women 12): “In the beginning I was not really nauseous, but I constantly had the feeling that I had to eat to avoid it When I go to work now, I make sure to take a lot of snacks with me.”

Quote 41 – Hunger and satiety (pregnant women 13): “My portions shrunk by half of the portions before I was pregnant, because I couldn’t eat more.”

Quote 42 – Physiological changes (expecting father 7): “It became more uncomfortable for her [about pregnant partner] to cook.”

Quote 43 – Hunger and satiety (expecting couple):

Pregnant women 11: “And he as well [about partner] got used to eating more snacks throughout the day, otherwise he’s hungry all the time.”

Expecting father 13 (partner of pregnant women 11): “Yes, especially now towards the end of her pregnancy I am constantly hungry. I normally do not eat breakfast, usually I get up and go to work, and then I eat something during the day. But since I am more hungry now, I started to eat in the morning.”

Quote 44 – Fatigue (expecting father 9): “I cook more often compared to the past because she [about pregnant partner] is more tired when she comes home from work and takes a break while I cook. This did not happen before.”

Quote 45 – Fatigue (first-time mother): “You just don’t have the energy to cook after work and handling with the baby stuff.”

Quote 46 – Fatigue (first-time father 1): “These first months our son almost didn’t sleep and I fell asleep at work. Therefore I took chocolate or caffeinated soda, which I otherwise never do, but back then I did, because otherwise I just couldn’t stay awake.”