Not Hungry - Should I eat Anyway?

[AliceInAutoimmuneland]

I’m often not hungry 4-5 hours after my last meal. Should I eat anyway? I think I’m following the meal template pretty well - I’m using recipes from RealPlans and the Whole30 book, so while it’s not always easy to see if they follow the template perfectly, they should be close.

A typical day looks something like this:

Breakfast: 3 eggs cooked in ghee with onion and half a large link of chicken sausage, or 1/6th of a quiche (sweet potato crust, 10 eggs, 1 pound of sausage or bacon, veggies, a scoop of ghee on top).

Lunch: Salad with avocado dressing and 3-4 oz roasted chicken breast or leftovers from dinner.

Dinner: A Whole30 or RealPlans recipe (examples: Whole30 Stuffed Peppers or on-plan meatballs in a veggie sauce with zoodles).

I also start my morning with low glycemic green juice, 2 T ground flaxseed stirred into some unsweetened almond milk, and black coffee. (The coffee is occasionally mixed with cashew butter, coconut oil and collagen peptides for creaminess, but usually just black. If I do add these things, I scale back on the fat with breakfast.) I usually finish the juice and coffee both about an hour before breakfast.

 

[ladyshanny]

Hi @AliceInAutoimmuneland - we would recommend you leave off the juice altogether and save the coffee until after a full template breakfast. Both of these things can be appetite suppressants. Try that for a few days and see how you feel?

[AliceInAutoimmuneland]

@ladyshanny - I should have mentioned that the juice (and Whole30!) are part of a protocol my functional doctor recently asked me to follow. I have nutrient absorption issues and nutritional deficiencies, so the juice is an integral part of the plan. I can definitely wait on the coffee, though. If I still find that I’m not hungry in 4-5 hours, should I eat anyway or wait?

[ladyshanny]

19 hours ago, AliceInAutoimmuneland said:

@ladyshanny - I should have mentioned that the juice (and Whole30!) are part of a protocol my functional doctor recently asked me to follow. I have nutrient absorption issues and nutritional deficiencies, so the juice is an integral part of the plan. I can definitely wait on the coffee, though. If I still find that I’m not hungry in 4-5 hours, should I eat anyway or wait?

Oh, I see. Are you able to drink the juice after your breakfast or was the timing also prescribed? 

A person should need to eat every 4-5 hours and if you are having autoimmune and other underlying health conditions it is possible that you should not be relying yet on body signals to tell you when you need to eat. I would eat on a 4-5 hour schedule if I were you for a while. See how you feel. The hunger may come as you teach your body what is happening.

[AliceInAutoimmuneland]

@ladyshanny Thank you! The timing was not prescribed, but I was told to drink it on an empty stomach. Is there a time that would be better for Whole30? (Before another meal, at bedtime...?)

[ladyshanny]

40 minutes ago, AliceInAutoimmuneland said:

@ladyshanny Thank you! The timing was not prescribed, but I was told to drink it on an empty stomach. Is there a time that would be better for Whole30? (Before another meal, at bedtime...?)

I would try out a few different timings. It's possible that with your underlying issues, that the juice first thing in the morning is inhibiting your appetite signals. It's also completely possible that it's not so it may be worth trying out as you go. Maybe you have less trouble eating your lunch so having the juice before that meal may work better. The first meal of the day can often be a tricky one for some people as far as appetite and nausea etc goes so trying to keep that one fully template recommendation might help.