? Hungry or Needing Fuel -is there a difference?

[Heidi Staddon]

*Serious question*

How do you all know when you're hungry?

Does your stomach rumble? Do you find yourself slowing down, like you're moving thru quicksand? Does your brain fog over? All of the above?

I'm asking because I no longer feel the hunger pains/tummy rumbles that I used to eating pre-paleo. Was that the mini meals, dairy, grains, etc just wreaking havoc?

I find myself slowing down, like I'm running out of fuel. I am not eating as much because I'm just not hungry. It seems like a never-ending cycle. I eat more at each meal than pre-paleo and then am just less hungry.

Yet I'm not leaning out.

Am I the only one?? Or are others in similar situation OR have words of experience to share?

TIA,

Heidi

[Tom Denham]

One reason we offer the meal template is because hunger signals can be unreliable when your diet or eating habits have been problematic. Things will turn out okay if you follow the template. If you have trouble eating as much as the template recommends, you might need to try digestive enzymes.

[Heidi Staddon]

Tom, I just read in another thread (in this forum) you recommending not on use digestive enzymes without proper guidance. Are you suggesting I seek help for this? I'm confused.

[sheba-kitty]

I haven't been hungry much these past few days (on day 8) but still trying to eat the plan.

[notacommittee]

For me there really is a difference and I've been eating Paleo for over a year so I don't think it's just transition.

 

Very often, I don't actually feel hunger in my stomach at all, but I'll get irritable, inexplicably exhausted even when I've slept plenty, brain foggy/stupid, and dizzy when I stand up or move too fast. So I get all the "symptoms" of hunger except the desire to eat. The only reason I think that all these symptoms are actually my body needing food is that they only occur when I've accidentally delayed/skipped a meal, and they instantly go away and I perk right back up when I eat something.

 

Sometimes, I do get normal hunger in my stomach as well, but I've just learned to see those symptoms as also signs of my body being hungry. And I just eat when I notice them, whether or not I feel anything in my stomach. I think of it as my muscles being hungry, even if my stupid guts (I have digestive issues up the wazoo, and probably some really gnarly gut flora dysbiosis) haven't gotten the message yet. Sometimes this makes me feel uncomfortably full and bloated but that's a problem with my weak stomach/digestion and I accept the discomfort as necessary to fuel my strength training and workouts.

[Bet]

Sometimes when I am very busy at work, I don't notice being hungry and I'll look at the clock and it will be way pas lunch time. I think that is actually good, because my body isn't starved and is (hopefully!) burning off some stored fat for fuel.  Other times, I don't feel hungry and I get what I call the yawns, compulsive yawning. I used to think it was low blood sugar, but I've tested my BS at these times and it is fairly normal. If I do get that way I tried to eat a compliant mini-meal and I usually feel better.

[Tom Denham]

Tom, I just read in another thread (in this forum) you recommending not on use digestive enzymes without proper guidance. Are you suggesting I seek help for this? I'm confused.

In a basic, simple situation, it is okay to test digestive enzymes without guidance. 

 

In the post where I recommended the person not use digestive enzymes without guidance, they had lots of issues and had been trying to tweak changes to fix them every few days. In that kind of situation, I want people to stop what they are doing and proceed with a more basic program. And because they have a history of tinkering with their program, I want them to seek guidance and not tinker on their own.