Dates! Anybody eating them?

Has anybody been eating them and feel a difference? I swear every time I eat some i cramp up. I'm 36 weeks this Wednesday. Yesterday my midwife said I'm already 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. So I don't think it's my imagination anymore. Plus my mucus plug fell out too. This is big for me since my first time I didn't dilate any by myself, my water broke first. Even after they induced me I was slow to dilate.