Feeling "empty" and starving

[bekahj]

I'm on day 8 and feel like for the most part, things are going well. My biggest challenge is that I am feeling "empty" either right after I eat or within a few hours. This has been happening since day 1. I increased my fat intake significantly to see if that helped and it hasn't really done anything. I'm wondering if there is something I am doing wrong, or if this is something others have experienced? Will it go away as my body switches to burning fat for fuel instead of sugar? Below, I've listed what I've had to eat for the past few days (I eat the same thing in a row for a few days because of food prep). Any advice would be appreciated!!!

 

Breakfast:

3 scrambled eggs

2 tomatoes

banana with almond butter, coconut flakes, cashews

tea with full fat coconut milk

 

Lunch:

kale salad (kale, 1/2 avocado, lemon juice)

burger with mustard and pickles OR roasted chicken thighs

handful grapes

 

Dinner:

2 cups broccoli

salmon with lemon

mashed sweet potato with cinnamon and walnuts

 

Thank you ahead of time!

[Carlaccini]

Actually your meals look decent enough composed however I DO see a lot a fair amount of nuts floating around.  Keep in mind although nuts are a recommended fat - they are not an ideal fat source.  It has a lot to do with their omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acid ratio.  They are more specifically high in omega 6's.  Also nuts have a tendency of causing gut disruption.

 

So try other options: olives, olive oil, ghee, duck fat, lard, schmaltz, or my personal favourite homemade mayo

 

So other recommendations - drop the fruit in the am.  Really.  If you are still hungry after 2 tomatoes - then add some more veg.  personally love a mushroom, spinach and oven roasted tomato omelet.  But going back to the fruit.  Fruit in the AM usually throws things off - meaning it can cause everything from sugar cravings, to feeling tired in the afternoon (because of a sugar crash) to that feeling of not eating enough.  

[womaninshoe]

Hi bekahj, am a complete newbie, but read somewhere that something carb-y can help. Maybe try sweet potatoes/butternut squash with breakfast and lunch instead of dinner? I do that so I have the energy from them to get through the day, don't need it so much in the evening. 

[bekahj]

Thanks for your comments. Just to clarify, I'm not eating a lot of nuts. Just a "sprinkle" on both the breakfast and dinner meals. It's not even 1/4 cup combined between the two. I'm also cooking everything in ghee (ghee with the eggs, ghee on the broccoli at dinner) and eating olives for fat sources on other days. Does that help at all?

[Carlaccini]

Cooking fat generally stays behind in the pan - unless you make a point of scraping it onto your dish.  So feel free to add more to your dish.

 

I see nut butter and cashews in meal one  and nuts on meal 3.  This is quite a bit of nuts.  Nuts should be reserved for a closed handful every other day.  Nut butters - have a tendency of being food without brakes for many.  We are not suggesting you cut them out unless they are FWOB - but they are not something that you should consume a lot of.

 

BTW - sprinkling nuts over salads and meals is EXACTLY what we recommend for nut consumption.  So good on that.

 

Basically I would focus on making your breakfast a bit better.  Tomatoes are mostly water so maybe add another vegetable that is more substantial?  And also drop the banana and nut butter until maybe later on in the day.