Hungry, But Don't Feel Like Eating: A Non-Medical Guide to Solutions

I've seen this thread of messages regarding mental/physical illness a few times and wrote about it quite some time ago but unless you happen to find it on Tumblr, you probably don't have any suggested fixes for being hungry but can't/don't feel like eating. (Click on the photo for larger text.)

This is not medical advice. There may not be many avenues to finding licensed medical care while low-income. These are things I've picked up as coping mechanisms while having a Lot Of Health Issues that I probably wouldn't have had... if I had been able to both afford doctors AND had doctors take me seriously for literal decades. But now I finally do have some medical acces! And... the damage is done for life. ::shrugs:: So instead of just giving up, I look for solutions. 

Here are a few of them I came up with and some stuff I learned along the way. Consult a doctor if you are able to so that medical issues can be documented and treated. Actual treatment is always better than "uhhh let's try this!" if you can access it. 2nd and 3rd educated opinions are immensely useful. The first step to fixing a problem is accurately naming it, right?

This is a long masterpost that addresses some different issues in the text chain. Different points are bolded so you can just scroll through them. 

“Hungry but don’t feel like eating” is a real thing where most foods either don’t appeal or can seem nauseating. Problem it causes: NOT eating can actually cause stomach damage via acid and… also causes nausea and further ADHD and depression symptoms! Thank you, blood sugar relationship with cortisol and neurotransmitters. Plus, turns out something like 80% of your serotonin is made in your gut, not your brain. Those "mental" disorders aren't just made up in your imagination. What you think can change dramatically by... having the fuel to think clearly and better-functioning body parts. Weird.

It can be somewhat fixed.

 

Eat a TINY amount. 

 

Find your texture: a handful of plain potato chips, plain rice, I don't care. Microwave rice is more expensive yes, but less expensive than developing GERD because of starvation. It is also more helpful than buying cheap bagged rice but not having a way to cook it or energy to cook, so it never gets eaten. Your body does NOT distinguish between starvation because of famine, anorexia, or lack of hunger signals. When you don’t eat, your body stops sending hunger signals. Just eat *something* a little at a time. 

 

I have major issues with texture AND flavour (yay autism! Did you know it comes with GI disorders? Yep. The thing that gave me a 3.8 college GPA also gave me celiac's.) A couple of saltine crackers, 4-5 ritz crackers if you don’t like saltines. If you suspect a wheat allergy or intolerance, and you can afford it, try gluten-free crackers. They come in all different flavours now. A little bit of instant mashed potatoes made in the microwave, doesn't matter. I prefer mine with a little sour cream mixed in because it makes them creamier and closer to “real” fresh-made potatoes.

I don’t care if all you eat is one cookie worth of cold sugar cookie dough. it’s SOMETHING. Any calories are more than 0 calories and some of that nausea was coming from not eating for too long, but then I wouldn't eat because I'm too tired and nauseous... so I didn't eat, but the problem was not eating...

Once I killed some of that nausea, I was able to eat a little more again. Not much in an hour, but a little every hour is better than 0 per hour, all day.

"Hungry but can’t make anything" Stop thinking that keeping snacks is a bad thing. Refer to “Hungry but don’t feel like eating”- eat ANYTHING to prevent bad side effects. Doesn’t have to be much. Or try our Hot Food tag to find things made for you. There is no financial sense in not spending $2 at Burger King and then making 10 mistakes that take hours to undo later because you didn't eat.

 

Cheerios are often buy one, get one free. Off-brand is also good. They come in lots of flavours like pumpkin, strawberry, honey, apple, chocolate, etc. and many are gluten-free. I have tupperware, too, the GOOD kind (the more expensive kind won’t warp with one wash and the lids are tighter so ants can’t get in). So now I have ‘stashes’ of food in sealed containers.in a few places: the couch, where I sleep most from fibromyalgia. My desk in my office. My purse, my car’s dashboard. Keep some snacks stashed everywhere! I used to live in a broken down Kia and couldn't keep food. It was too hot, so hot even water would have plastic leeching into it from water bottles. Cereal was a safe bet.

 

Granola bars or cereal bars are fine, too. I often get those B1G1. Cashews are fine. I also have the big bag of peanut or almond M+Ms broken into those tiny ziplock snack bags in 3-4 places (not the car, too hot.) Fig newtons. In the kitchen, plain fruit, like bananas. No apples or oranges- I have to peel oranges, so knowing I Won’t, those are out. Sometimes I can't move to throw away cores, so I don't do those. Your needs and abilities will be different. Adapt to what works for you.

 

I have canned soup but often don’t have energy to microwave it. So that’s out, but if you have a microwave and three minutes, do that. Don’t have to eat the whole can. I microwave things in tupperware sometimes so I can just put a lid on it and put it in the fridge. Some of my bowls are glass with lids so I can do that. 

 

Microwave rice is good, too. Crackers are fine. Eat a loaf of bread. You don’t have to MAKE a sandwich- you wanna just eat four slices of meat, a couple individual slices of cheese, and later a slice of toast? THAT’S FINE. NO ONE CAN STOP YOU. THERE IS NO FOOD POLICE HERE. Last I checked, fancy people call that a charcuterie board. If you can't "make a proper meal," don't let it stop you from eating. Eat anything and you'll get around to "making proper meals" another time. 

“Hungry, want to eat, why bother” is along with “Hungry but hyperfixated” and “Hungry but unaware because hyperfixated”

 

These are actually very similar in actions and resolution. Different people regulate differently. I need timers to ding and TELL me why they are dinging. Cue the random snacks stashed from the previous section. Those timers ding every hour or two, then five minutes after that to make sure I did it.

 

Hyperfixated? Just really goal-focused or in a time crunch and you CANNOT stop right now? I don’t have to stop doing the thing, I just have to eat one single cracker and keep doing the thing

 

The snacks have to be IN REACH before I can start a Thing or I won't stop to eat. It’s now part of “setup” for doing a Thing. Want to sew? Part of my sewing supplies is a snack- usually baby wipes and gummies. Not M+Ms which can leave candy stains or cereal since that can have crumbs. Gummies are fine though, or something like chewy sweettarts. Sometimes I have no idea how much time went by. It could be twenty minutes. Suddenly it’s… dark? It was JUST like, 11:30 AM. Uh. ………..? That’s why I have the alarms! I don’t have to eat a giant meal and stop what I’m doing. I JUST need to eat a few things until I’m actually hungry. ONE substantial meal a day is a necessity but that is part of the “routine.” The alarms work if I try to help myself. I need to eat to help me have the mind power to maintain focus, or else I think* I know what I’m doing, but later I realise I’ve made drastic mistakes. Because I didn’t eat. duh.

 

“Why bother” is not a question I allow my depressed self to dwell on because depression will ALWAYS say “there is no reason to live, no reason to eat, I’ll just be hungry later, this is a waste” and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. If there is, that’s a train. NEVER dwell on “why bother.” Don’t think about it. Just try to make eating an auto habit. “Why bother,” you can think, while also eating literally two cookies. The cookies don’t HAVE to be meaningful. They don’t need a cosmic purpose. Cookies are meant to be eaten. You are fulfilling the cookies’ destiny. Cookies are not meant for the garbage. You ate the cookies. Good. The cookies weren’t that great? Destroy them- by devouring them. 

 

Time loss because of depression? ADHD? Just... couldn't move today? The alarm thing again. Your phone knows what two hours looks like. Depression doesn’t know what five whole DAYS looks like. Just do the thing. Don’t let yourself think about it. Have an alarm set to go off several times a day, especially on your phone, to remind you to eat. Most phones let you label the alarms so label it "Did you eat?" or "Eat something!" to remember it's time to snack.

 

(I just realised that justifying any questions like that with depression is just depression being a sea lion. A sea lion is someone who claims to just innocently be asking questions, but they are actually baiting you and trying to make you hurt or angry. Why bother? ... it doesn't matter what you say. You wasted time in answering. This is not a zoo, do not feed the damn sea lions. Feed your body. Those sea lions can feed themselves if they want to.)

 

 “Hungry but I’ll get to it later" Busy, tired, distracted, don't want to walk anywhere. ADHD and you literally just forget that the reason you feel awful is because you haven't eaten, you just thought you did earlier. You'll get to it... later. Later makes it worse. See "Hungry but don't feel like eating."

 

Snacks. Everywhere. In arms’ reach. You don’t have to have a whole meal or a GOOD meal. Just eat a small amount of literally anything to give you calories until you get the Real Meal. Don't think about what the Real Meal is yet; you'll get there when you do. Focus on RIGHT NOW: eating a snack. Then you will think about later, with more calories + nutrients for your body to use to do that process. 

 

That’s what those snacks talked about in the first section are and why they come in handy. Just keep them everywhere, like in a one gallon ziploc bag wherever you are most often. 2-3 places. whatever. long-term dry storage food that doesn’t need special temps stuff, protein bars or something. I pick M+Ms because they have nuts and a small amount of chocolate + sugar relative to me just munching on straight caramel blocks.

 

Hungry, okay, I’ll eat a tiny amount of cashews NOW, and in two hours, I’ll eat some scrambled eggs with salmon and rice. And I’m lazy. It’s clearance frozen salmon with teriyaki sauce, thrown in the oven on tinfoil for 20 minutes while I do dishes or something, then microwave eggs (3mins), and microwave rice (90 seconds). Put it all on a plate. BAM. Done. ONE big meal a day. And that can be heated up tomorrow, too. If there is salad or something that’s still good (something I avoid buying because I never eat it in time) I’ll eat that. Otherwise, like, fruit or something. A few slices of avocado or a little premade guacamole.

 

Guacamole and cucumber slices on toast can be quite good. Just one slice. That’s fine if you want a “healthy snack.”

 

That is the total of my energy with chronic fatigue, okay? (okay, I’m not “lazy”, I’m sick, but see. internalized ableism right there.) You’re ALLOWED to eat. Just eat a LITTLE. A little might make you feel less like crap. Go from there. You might eat more. You might not. Whatever. At least it was something. 

 

By the way, me cleaning counters and doing the dishes while I wait for the oven? That's because I can set a timer on my phone or stove for the baking, and it's my countdown to get SOMETHING in the kitchen done. Doesn't matter what it is. I'll never do things 'all the way' like I want/"should" anyways. This is called 'habit stacking,' or 'task bundling,' apparently. It's really useful. You don't have to actually be diagnosed with anything to see if this trick works for you. You don't need a prescription to make your own life easier. Give yourself permission to make things easier in your daily life. You already have things hard enough! Why make them harder if you can make them easier?

“Definitely not hungry, BUT…” That’s a real thing. I have the idea that our body KNOWS generally what you need, even if misdirected. You can't know what you need if you've never had it before.

 

For example, sometimes before diagnosis, I DESPERATELY craved specifically vanilla tahini, mustard, strawberry frozen yoghurt, and caramelized sweet onions despite being somewhat intolerant to onions. Hahaha turns out, those are all like ridiculously full of copper and antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. I have a severe genetic disorder that is destroying all of my nerves and causing inflammation everywhere in my body. It was so bad that my pain levels were SO out of control that my heart actually stopped because of it. My BP on one hospital visit was ~70/40. Yeaaahh that’s…. scary dangerous. Apparently my Veteran’s Affairs-scale pain level daily WITH medication is 6-7. Without it… uh. That was Normal for me. 

 

My friend started craving random fruit and specific dark chocolate and peppers like crazy. She HATES chocolate. She has always hated chocolate. Even when we were kids. Suddenly it tasted fucking delicious and she couldn’t get enough. Her gynecological issues had become cancer. All of those foods are “anti-cancer” foods, antioxidants, metallics, anti-inflammatories… everything she suddenly was likely losing or needing because of the cancer, she was craving. 

 

But sometimes your body misdirects a craving, like suddenly you want strawberry twizzlers by the pound and you feel like awful, or even worse than when you started. There are no nutrients there. In fact, processing that much sugar costs you nutrients. But that sugar boosts your dopamine in the very short term- so when you're sad or scared, guess what? Yep. The trick THERE is to switch the food out: give yourself maybe 2-3 twizzlers, eat them slowly, and pair it with another nutrient-rich tart food like actual strawberries. You condition yourself to have some of the real fibre, vitamin C, sugars, and other good stuff, AND you get the actual food you really just wanted. 

 

You should never feel guilty for just wanting some freaking twizzlers. Just be prepared to deal with the issues from eating way too many for you, like a bad blood sugar episode, sudden fatigue, headaches, etc.You are allowed to have candy and sweets 'just because.' The key here is to not hurt yourself with them.

 

If you "weren’t hungry" but suddenly just INHALED food like Kirby, a cartoon that eats everything, and now you suddenly feel So Much Better? YOUR BODY NEEDED FOOD. YOU NEED IT, NOT OPTIONAL. YOUR BRAIN IS A BALL OF ELECTRIFIED FAT AND CARBS. YOUR BODY SELF-CANNIBALIZES IF YOU DON’T HAVE BALANCED NUTRIENTS. YOU. NEED. FOOD. When you don’t eat, the calories needed to send “hungry signals” are too expensive for the amount you have to spend and they stop. But you still Need Food.

 

Fasting and other fad diets might help a few people very short-term but mostly they're eating disorders dressed up to be socially acceptable (and even enviable! You're such a Good Person for not eating! ... ew.) Please just eat something, anything. If you are an adult, never go under 1000 calories willingly. You need at least that much just to live. Like, breathing and thinking stuff, literally just to live.

“Hungry for one specific food.” or "Hungry, don't know what I want."are actually kind of the same. If you only want ONE specific food that you don’t have access to, you are probably (temporarily) deficient in something, like I was depleting copper and B-complex. Look up what is in that food. “food + nutrition facts” in google. The advanced stuff, like micronutrients, antioxidants, whatever. See if there is another food that you DO have access to which also has that thing.

 

Hungry for chocolate but don’t have any? Try almond or peanut butter. Or literally any nut or seed. Or avocado. Just a small amount. It might be metallics you’re craving. Eating those might stave off the craving because the metallics are there. If it doesn’t go away… you might want something different. Sugar? A small amount of something like cookie dough, or some kind of carb.

 

If those don’t work, it might just be that you want chocolate because chocolate is delicious and you are allowed to have chocolate. See if you have the money and ability to go to a petrol station or Walmart or something and get a chocolate bar.

 

Don’t know what you want? It’s okay to try one of everything. One thin slice of cheese off the block. One cracker with peanut butter. One fig newton, one handful of popcorn, one slice of apple. Whatever. You can put the fruit or whatever in the freezer for later, okay? You don’t have to eat the whole thing.

 

One of two things will happen:

- Either you eat a little of everything and you will be full, but still craving Something, but at least you will have some kind of calories.

- OR you will have Found a Thing you didn’t know you wanted, but now you feel better!

There is no 'losing' here. No matter what, you come out better.

 

If you didn’t find the thing, you are now pretty full-ish. It’s okay. Look at going to a store or something if possible. Now that you have SOMETHING in your stomach, look around. Smell things if possible. Use whatever senses you have available. Bring home stuff in your budget that feels right. Just make sure you eat it later. Limit yourself maybe to $20 or so.

 

I’ve been victim to “this looks AMAZING” and then … I eat a quarter of ONE thing I bought and then suddenly I have no interest in everything I just bought. Oy. I don't want to waste any of that but also don't particularly want to eat it right now.

 

But sometimes, I buy a $22 specific* cake when there’s a $10 cake available (before I knew about the celiac's)… and go to Kirby Stage of “I wasn’t hungry, but…” and suddenly in three days a cake, half a dozen bananas, a half-pound of strawberries, and a few ounces of raspberries and blueberries were gone. And you know what? Yeah, I did feel better. Guess I needed a tonne of fruit with vanilla flavour.

 

TL;DR: Eat the food. Be good to yourself. <3