Freakishly Hungry.

[sansglutengrl]

Ok. SO it's taken me quite a while to get used to this and so I've had a handful of bad glutening problems in the last year that I've been gluten free. To the point where I gotta tell you, I am not the biggest fan of eating. Comfort food? Not so much! Even the stuff that I know I prepare myself I get scared of - did those beans I just put in the rice come from a company that has a history of CC...?

So eating less is not a huge problem, I lose a little weight, save a little money, it's all good!

However..... I'm RIDICULOUSLY hungry! Like really, it's becoming a problem. I'll eat a meal and I'm not kidding like an hour later I could eat a whole meal again. I tried to much all day instead hoping that would sort of hold the hunger at bay, but no luck! Is this normal? I had my thyroid checked from here to next Sunday, so there's no problems there. Does anyone else have ideas of why this might be happening? Will it go away? Can I do anything about it?

Thanks for your input!

-a very hungry sansglutengrl

[Shamrocks]

Hi. How long have you been "gluten-free" - I mean I am always hungry because I miss the foods I used to eat and I long to eat - but I know better!

I keep a lot of nuts in my house - I find them satisfying.

Um, I was freakishly hungry at one point a few years back - so I went to my doctor - well, I was 2 months pregnant (and I thought it may be my thyroid!) - was I in denial or what - the only thing is I had a 6 month old at home - who would have believed that one! Anyway, if you continue to be famished - if this continues I would do another check in with your MD - they will do a workup and get to the bottom of it!

But now that my boys are 3 and 4 years old - I continue to not be satisfied with the food I eat - I would LOVE to have a regular hot dog and bun! I would love to have a piece of REAL pizza! I would love to have a real beer - but, like you, I am stuck in a gluten-free world, that not many understand!

I am always hungry - I just have to have small meals throughout the day now - where prior to the sans gluten diet I would eat the normal 3 meals. I even need a "snack" before bedtime - san gluten is really rotten - but, for me, it's better to live without the gluten then to live with the ramifications of eating gluten.

[Generic]

From my experience it is somewhat normal to be hungry allot. I could feel physically full and still have hunger pains. That continued on for me, for about 4 years after going gluten-free. I was severlly sick when i was diagnosed however. (My body was shutting down). It will go away with time, however each person is different. So I can't give a definate of how long it will go on for you.

[RiceGuy]

Oh boy, can I relate to this...

I too have been constantly hungry, even after literally stuffing myself to the point where I feel I'm going to puke. However, more recently the hunger has lessened a bit. I attribute this to a magnesium supplement which I've been taking for about the same amount of time. I started taking it in the hopes of getting better nutrient absorption, as that is supposedly something magnesium helps the body to do. From my experience, I think it works, at least to a certain extent. Another thing I've started doing is to put my veggies through a blender until pureed. I figure it should help the digestive process - also seems to help some. Even more recently though, obtaining more variety by baking breads and such. Somehow it seems my body actually does better with it. I'm not exactly sure why though, since the flours are made from stuff I've been eating all along. Perhaps there's a physical impact from the satisfaction and enjoyment. After all, satiety is a brain chemistry thing, according to Open Original Shared Link.

[JNBunnie1]

Oh wow! me too!!! I used to be the little girl babysitters didnt want to have come back because I ate all their food. And I was always underweight too. I still eat more than normal people, but I finally started to gain weight when my stress level went down after a few years. But I finally stopped being RAVENOUSLY hungry after I started added lots of good fat to my diet about six months ago. Fatty organic meat and raw oils, olive and coconut, and lots of avocado, and cod liver oil supplements. Now I really only eat three meals a day! Whoohooo!

[miles2go]

I have been that way since thru-hiking the AT twice 16 & 17 years ago, and that was about 15 years pre-diagnosis. Maybe all those AYCE's along the way helped my brain into thinking this way, but I still struggle with keeping weight on. What seems to work for me is eating all morning long and then another meal in the early afternoon. After that, I feel kind of bloated after chugging large amounts of water and can stave off hunger pangs with a small supper for the rest of the day.

I don't know if this is the healthiest way to do it...I do eat lots of veggies and my vital signs are always good...? Oh and I fast on Saturdays. Maybe that is telling my stomach something, too.

[CarlaB]

I had a huge problem with that in the beginning. Sometimes I would order a second meal at a restaurant! If I didn't, the first thing I'd do when I got home was make myself something to eat. I ate at least double what my husband ate just to maintain my weight.

After 16 months gluten-free, I still eat as much as he does (he's 6'2" tall), but not nearly as much as I used to.

Double check to see if everything you are eating is gluten-free. Also all your cosmetics, shampoos, medicines, supplements, etc. If you're still feeling this way after a year, maybe you're getting some gluten. Everyone heals differently, so you may just be feeling this longer than some of us did.

[miles2go]

I had a huge problem with that in the beginning. Sometimes I would order a second meal at a restaurant! If I didn't, the first thing I'd do when I got home was make myself something to eat. I ate at least double what my husband ate just to maintain my weight.

After 16 months gluten-free, I still eat as much as he does (he's 6'2" tall), but not nearly as much as I used to.

Double check to see if everything you are eating is gluten-free. Also all your cosmetics, shampoos, medicines, supplements, etc. If you're still feeling this way after a year, maybe you're getting some gluten. Everyone heals differently, so you may just be feeling this longer than some of us did.

I agree with Carla, my huge problem has waned a bit and age may play a factor in that, since I think that Carla and I are still both 29. And I still get shampoo in my mouth on occasion, so good advice there! The longer you've had the problem, the longer it will take to heal and just because you might have a fast metabolism, doesn't necessarily mean that you'll heal faster, at least from my own experience.

[little d]

Ok. SO it's taken me quite a while to get used to this and so I've had a handful of bad glutening problems in the last year that I've been gluten free. To the point where I gotta tell you, I am not the biggest fan of eating. Comfort food? Not so much! Even the stuff that I know I prepare myself I get scared of - did those beans I just put in the rice come from a company that has a history of CC...?

So eating less is not a huge problem, I lose a little weight, save a little money, it's all good!

However..... I'm RIDICULOUSLY hungry! Like really, it's becoming a problem. I'll eat a meal and I'm not kidding like an hour later I could eat a whole meal again. I tried to much all day instead hoping that would sort of hold the hunger at bay, but no luck! Is this normal? I had my thyroid checked from here to next Sunday, so there's no problems there. Does anyone else have ideas of why this might be happening? Will it go away? Can I do anything about it?

Thanks for your input!

-a very hungry sansglutengrl

[little d]

Ok. SO it's taken me quite a while to get used to this and so I've had a handful of bad glutening problems in the last year that I've been gluten free. To the point where I gotta tell you, I am not the biggest fan of eating. Comfort food? Not so much! Even the stuff that I know I prepare myself I get scared of - did those beans I just put in the rice come from a company that has a history of CC...?

So eating less is not a huge problem, I lose a little weight, save a little money, it's all good!

However..... I'm RIDICULOUSLY hungry! Like really, it's becoming a problem. I'll eat a meal and I'm not kidding like an hour later I could eat a whole meal again. I tried to much all day instead hoping that would sort of hold the hunger at bay, but no luck! Is this normal? I had my thyroid checked from here to next Sunday, so there's no problems there. Does anyone else have ideas of why this might be happening? Will it go away? Can I do anything about it?

Thanks for your input!

-a very hungry sansglutengrl

[HannahHannah]

Hi everyone .

Yep - I've been having the same problem. I've only been gluten free for three months now (I feel *great*!) so my window of reference is a little narrow.

I remember in the months before I cut out the gluten, when my symptoms started to show (for me, they appeared after a bad viral infection), I felt constantly full up. All I could eat were tiny meals, and nothing seemed to be going down. I started to lose weight and was always tired.

Now I can't get enough food!!! I eat a huge jacket potato and feel stuffed for about 15 minutes, then I'm hungry again!! I know it's my body playing tricks on me - it's probably so happy to be getting food it agrees with, that it's craving more!

I've found that big bags of seed mixes (sunflower, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds) are an absolute godsend. They get rid of hunger pangs, and I'm sure you get all kinds of wicked vitamins .

So to summarise, my tip would be, eat seeds!

[sansglutengrl]

Thanks so much for your input everyone!

I haven't been feeling sick very much so I never went through my shampoo, lotion, and makeup... but it occurs to me that maybe this is a symptom too? so I should probably do that....

Shamrocks - good idea with the nuts, I haven't been eating any recently and I should add that back in - it goes along with what JNBunnie says too about adding fats in... I eat almost no fat so I should start that. Maybe the gluten free crackers and pasta just aren't doing it....

And riceguy - that article is really interesting... I bet it is part of the equation for sure.

And Miles2go, if I thru-hiked the AT I'd be hungry for 17 years too!

Thanks again everyone, good to know others share this issue. I'm off to buy seeds and nuts and oil!

-sansglutenfrl

[StrongerToday]

When I first went gluten-free I was starving! My dietitican told me to eat a small portion of nuts at each meal, that I needed the fat in the nuts - I guess it's heavy and sticks around longer in your tummy to make you not feel so hungry. I was not doing many carbs at the time and was a protien junky. Nuts, hard boiled eggs, Lara bars, etc. were always around me.

[alamaz]

pastas and crackers won't fill you up and keep you satisfied. you need to have some type of protein with your meals. a piece of meat, seeds, nut butters etc. also, right now i'm finding whole nuts to be harder to digest than the seeds (pumpkin, sunflower etc.). although it's shunned i feel soooooo much better when i have red meat 2-3 times a week. my body just needs that extra protein and fat (and even with all the meat and fats i eat i'm still underweight by 10 pounds).

[little d]

Hi my name is Donna, I just started Gluten Free diet this is my second time to start (long story) I tend to get "D" of the fingers when I'm trying to say something. When i eat regular food I get really hungry inbetween meals like 30mins to an hour famished hungry, along with the heartburn, nausea, cant stand it. When I eat Gluten Free I am not as hungry and i stay satisfied between meals, matter a fact I forget when I last ate that is how satisfied that I feel. And when i eat gluten-free i lose weight which is a plus for me because I am overweight by 40 -50 lbs. I know Celiacs Disease and Gluten intolerance affects everybody differently.

Donna from Arlington Texas