LOW APPETITE? HERE’S WHY & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Appetite can be quite the controversial topic.
What should it look like? When should we be hungry? When should we be full? Larger vs. smaller meals?
Plenty of questions and “what-if’s” can shroud our judgment and make it difficult to objectively listen to our bodies. Living in our fast-paced society - one that praises caffeine and bats an eye to proper sleep - can make tuning into our natural hunger and fullness cues increasingly difficult. Many of our daily nutrition and lifestyle choices can lead to a larger appetite, but it’s those same choices that can also flip the script in the opposite direction. Stress, sleep, food fears & myths, and chronic undereating can all contribute to an appetite that leaves much to be desired.
We often see tips for curbing an increased appetite, but what about those of us that consistently struggle with a lower appetite?
HABITS TO HELP YOU NAVIGATE A LOW APPETITE
MANAGING STRESS
It’s neither good nor bad, but it is all around us. I often talk with clients about their stress cup - where it begins and what fills it up. If we aren’t aware of what contributes to our stress cup throughout the day, we risk it overflowing, leading to not-so-fun feedback from the body (check out more about how stress impacts our body and fat loss goals). Our bodies do not know if the stress we are experiencing is coming from work, our personal life, or a giant bear outside of our window that is trying to eat us for his dinner meal. The stressors we experience all cause a similar physiological response in the body.
Do we think our body would want to waste precious time and energy being hungry or digesting food if there was a bear right outside our window? No!
If we do not survive the bear, there is no need to feel hunger or digest food in our bellies. It is in this way that stress can act as a band-aid over our hunger cues. The previous bear example is an example of our bodies being in a sympathetic nervous system (fight vs. flight) state where digestion does not occur (more important = surviving the bear!). When we eat, we want to be in a parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest) state where we can recognize hunger and more adequately digest our food.
How can we promote resting & digesting?
Sit, Chew, Breathe. Make sure you are sitting down when you are eating meals and snacks, chew your food until it is applesauce-like in texture, and breathe in between bites.
Keep Variety Low. If the thought of having to come up with various meals + snacks throughout the week adds to your stress cup, then this is your permission slip to not add variety. Keep meals and snacks relatively the same for the week. If you want to Gordon-Ramsey-it-up, plan to do it on a weekly rather than daily basis to keep food decision fatigue to a minimum. If time is of the essence, don’t hesitate to grab convenience foods: frozen food items or pre-cooked meals from the grocery store.
Plan In Advance. What is your lunch going to be today? If you can’t list it off in the next few minutes, I can promise you it’s not just going to magically come to you five minutes before your lunch break. If it does pop into your brain a few minutes before your lunch break begins, how efficient and effective do we think it will be for your goals? When you can, take a few minutes to plan out what I call a “skeleton template,” or the bare bones of what you know you are going to eat throughout the day. If tracking your food, use the “Copy & Paste” feature in Cronometer or MFP to make planning out future days of eating a breeze.
COMBATTING CHRONIC DIETING
There is a time and place for a caloric deficit, just like there is a time and place for any other nutrition-related goal. The problem arises when we may have intentionally or unintentionally put ourselves in a caloric deficit for a prolonged period of time. As in… no end date in sight. If we have fallen into the chronic dieting category and have constantly looked to lower our caloric intake as a means for body composition changes, then we might run into the problem of feeling abnormally full with any increase in overall caloric intake. Just as our body adjusts metabolically to a decrease in calories, it also has to adjust to an increase in calories. Feeling full can be a slightly scary feeling, especially if we have a few food myths and mindset-related fears to extinguish, but it is simply a new routine of higher food intake that your body (and belly) have to adjust to over time.
How can we make consuming more food a bit easier if our appetite just isn’t there?
Stay Consistent. Our bodies need time and consistency to adjust to anything that may change in our normal routine. Just like with increased water intake, the more consistent you are with reaching overall calorie and macronutrient goals, the easier it will be to create a new “normal” in terms of overall food intake.
Try the One Bite Trick. If you really aren’t feeling hungry and you know it is meal or snack time, try taking one bite of your food and waiting a few minutes. Sometimes just a bite can remind our bodies that it is time to eat (and help get us into that rest & digest mode).
Utilize Higher Calorie Foods. Higher calorie foods (bread, pasta, nuts, seeds, sweets, dried fruit, juices, cereal, etc.) that are lower in volume can be very helpful for decreasing the amount of food that takes up space on your plate. Do yourself a favor and pack in more caloric bang for your buck with each bite.
OPTIMIZING SLEEP
Remember that stress cup analogy we just talked about? It’s back!
The lifestyle habit that dictates the starting level of our stress cup is our quality and quantity of sleep. Less desirable sleep can begin your day with a stress cup that is close to full. If our stress cup overflows, we may experience a lack of appetite, mood swings, and fatigue, amongst other not-so-fun consequences. We want to do everything in our power to first recognize at what level our stress cup begins and then do as much as we can to keep it from overflowing as the day progresses.
How can we optimize sleep & a lower stress cup?
Start With Sleep! 7+ hours is the goal for most as this allows you to get 5 full sleep cycles (the recommended amount). The less you get, the more full that stress cup is going to be upon waking.
Keep Waking Stress Low. If you know your stress cup is starting off close to full, do what you can to minimize stressors throughout the day. Take 5-minute breaks at the top of every hour, phone a friend, read a chapter of a book, go outside for a walk, drink more water than you do coffee (please), and most importantly: don’t forget to EAT. Just because you aren’t hungry, doesn’t mean you do not need to eat.
Begin Your Day With Food. Many of us jump straight to the coffee pot to help energize us after a night of spotty sleep, but caffeine can act as an appetite suppressant (especially on an empty stomach). If you are already dealing with a lower appetite, food first then the all-mighty bean juice.
NAVIGATING FOOD FEARS & MYTHS
Have you ever wondered why you get the nervous sweats around carbohydrates? Or why you only allow yourself dessert once a month after a dinner meal that consists of mostly veggies?
Food fears, food rules, and food myths can follow us from our childhood, the gym, or the Google machine right into our adult kitchen. I encourage clients to think about the first time they can remember learning or implementing their specific food rules and how those rules/thoughts may have manifested into their current thoughts and eating habits.
Approaching food habits with an all-or-nothing mindset can potentially set us up to experience an outcome before it has occurred. If you tell yourself you hate broccoli before you’ve ever tried it, you have a higher chance of actually not liking it or never trying it at all. If you tell yourself that the pie after dinner is going to make you look larger in the mirror or make you bloat, there is a higher likelihood that it will do both of those things (stress is a heck of a drug).
How can we create a more positive relationship with our food choices?
Always Ask Why. The perks of working with a nutrition coach are it allows you to ask why and myth-bust once permanent food rules that may be doing your current self more harm than good.
Take the Emotion Out of Food. Food is neither good nor bad, it all has unique applications. Challenge yourself to think about the macronutrient makeup of a food item rather than immediately categorizing it as a “good” or “bad” food.
Practice Positive Sandwiches. If there is certain body insecurity or food fear that consistently pops up, try sandwiching those more negative thoughts with two positive thoughts to help rewrite the narrative on those previous fears and insecurities (onto brighter & more positive thoughts!).
A decreased appetite does not have to be the end-all-be-all to any lifestyle, nutrition, or physique-related goals.
We want you to work smarter not harder while making changes that support efficient and effective decision-making. Understanding how stress, sleep, food fears & myths, and potential chronic dieting can have an impact on overall hunger and fullness cues is an easy way to get the most out of your food choices and increase that appetite!
If you are looking for more support in your nutrition as you navigate a stressful life full of many different responsibilities, learn more about our 1:1 Nutrition Coaching. We provide high support, unlimited communication, and the guidance you need to work towards your health and nutrition goals even when in the toughest seasons of life.