To eat or not to eat. help pls!

[LauraLyn]

Hey all,

I am on day 22 of my second whole30 this year and am having an internal conflict about when to eat a meal and when to skip it. I rarely wake up hungry and I know that it is recommended to eat anyway to set your body straight, but here I am almost through the 30 with no adjustment in that area. Should I really be forcing myself to eat if I am not hungry? Is something terribly screwy with my body that this hasn't fallen into place? And how about the circumstance where I do make myself eat and then 20 minutes later I am starving? I am eating well balanced whole30 compliant breakfast so why would this happen?

Also, I read a lot in the forums of people, myself included, proudly skipping dinner because they aren't hungry. Or some not eating although they are hungry and happy that they've realized being hungry is no big deal. Why is it not a problem to skip meals 2 or 3?

I recently read this article, as well, and was wondering what you all think:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/17/eating-breakfast.aspx?e_cid=20120817_DNL_artNew_2

But then again this article really clicked for me:

http://www.paleoforwomen.com/shattering-the-myth-of-fasting-for-women-a-review-of-female-specific-responses-to-fasting-in-the-literature/

This is definitely a little tantrum I've been having in my brain for the past week or so. I guess I am a bit frustrated about my body not conforming to healthy behaviors, and am the type to worry about not doing things perfectly.

Advice, please!!!

[Tom Denham]

What I hear you reporting is that you are sometimes skipping meals. You have to actually get in the routine of eating 3 meals per day spaced 4 to 5 hours apart for the hormonal rhythm of your body to fall into place. If you skip meals, your body is going to stay a bit off kilter.

If you are starving 20 minutes after you eat a full meal of protein, fat, and veggies, something is out of whack. That would suggest you really need to get in the routine of eating meals regularly.

I think skipping meals 2 or 3 is an awful idea. Just because a person can skip a meal doesn't make it healthy. People try to hurry fat loss by restricting calories or experimenting with intermittent fasting. The efforts often back fire. The Whole30 guidelines work when implemented consistently and lead to improved health. Relax. Follow the program and let it work for you. It will.

[LauraLyn]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply! I have actually been forcing myself to eat breakfast even though I'm not hungry. Every once in a while Ive done a snack (smaller meal) if I really don't want to eat breakfast. Once during the whole 30 I skipped meal 3 because I just wasn't hungry.

I guess I just have a problem with the idea of forcing myself to eat at all. Isn't that counter to the idea that food is fuel and listen to your body's cues? I guess my body isnt performing well enough to give the proper cues?

I'm on day 26 and this is my second whole30 this year. I've been primal/paleo for almost 2 years. I guess I'm just waiting for the magic and getting frustrated, trying to figure out exactly what I am doing wrong!

Thank you again for your advice!

[Shantess]

To add to what Tom has said (and I agree), it sounds like your leptin/ghrelin signaling is off. These are hormones involved in metabolism and to put it simply, they induce satiety (feeling full) and hunger respectively. They also interact with insulin levels. Skipping meals throws them off balance and it can take a while to recover that balance. The main clue here is that you're starving 30 minutes after eating (which, if everything was in balance) you shouldn't be. The only way to get back in balance is refrain from skipping meals and once the balance is back, it will be easier to listen to one's own natural body cues.

[brizi]

Hiya and sorry to resurrect this post but I wanted to ask about my situation similar (yet different!) to the above...

So for the first, oh, 15-21 days or so, I religiously ate breakfast, lunch, dinner. It wasn't a struggle...I was feeling hunger at those times, and about 4.5-5 hours after eating. Yay - I thought, I have a healthy balance.

More recently though, I've been listening to my body, and there's been a time or two when it really doesn't want lunch. Like it's perfectly filled/neutral/not hungry. And then I get hungry for dinner. So basically I've skipped a lunch.

Also, there's been a couple of times where I was hungry for breakfast and lunch. And then dinner rolled around and I wasn't in the least bit hungry. Once I forced myself to have a very small/balanced meal. The other time I just skipped it.

This all started happening towards my last quarter of whole30...and also sort of coincided with getting TOM...feelings of being a bit bloated and sooo not hungry. These past few days though, TOM is over, and still I'm getting the occasional "I'm not hungry" at a meal.

Should I be listening to my body and skipping a meal when it's "not needed"? Or is only something now "off" with it and should I be forcing myself to eat 3 meals 4-5 hours apart?

Thanks for the feedback - I appreciate it!

Edited to add: PS. Seems this trend is now happening about a couple of times a week - tomorrow is day 30 for me.

[Renee Lee]

Don't worry about it too much, especially post W30. We stress the 3 meals a day to ensure that folks are getting enough food while they learn to trust what their body is telling them. At the tail end of your W30, you can definitely trust what your body's telling you, so don't worry. Eat when you need to!

I'm definitely at 2.5 meals/day

[brizi]

Excellent - thanks Renee!