Questions About Weird Hungry Sort Of Feeling

[Jujbe]

I hope this is the right section of the forum to ask this question. If not, please forgive me & help anyways.

This is hard for me to describe but I'll do the best I can. gluten-free eating is pretty new to me so I don't really know what to expect. Only been at it for a couple of weeks but I've been very strict with NO possible sources of gluten in my foods. I was only diagnosed after I developed dermatitis herpetiformis. While I had some symptoms of gluten intolerance before, it wasn't that severe & it never occurred to me that it was from gluten.

When I was younger, till I was in my 40s really, but more so in my 20s & 30s, I was always hungry & ate LOTS! But I stayed very slim. My normal weight for 115 lb at 5'6" tall. For me, that was 'normal' & I felt good at it, not malnourished. I ate like a lumberjack & could out-eat most guys.

Now, I'm in my 50s & my appetite has decreased a great deal. I also weigh more than I ever did but it's only 126 lb. When I ate, I'd feel full for hours. I only ate twice a day - any more & I felt over-stuffed. And both meals were fairly small compared to many others & what I ate like years ago. I couldn't sleep if I ate any more than 4-6 hours before bedtime too. Compare that when I was young to having to get up at night to eat as my stomach hurt so bad from being empty!

When I was young & went too long without eating, I'd feel extremely grumpy & irritable - felt weird too. Sounds like classic hypoglycemic symptoms but my blood glucose always remained about the same - good normal range. I know 'cause my husband had diabetes & I tested mine on the glucometer a number of times thinking that was the problem.

Okay, no more of that feeling as I got older. In fact, I could go most of the day without eating & feel good (not that I would but in rare cases when I had no choice).

So here I am, eating gluten free - same amount as a few weeks ago or maybe a bit more, but I'm getting that same feeling again. Sort of hungry feeling but mostly this weird sensation of emptiness & bit of a headache & maybe a little light-headed. Does this make sense? Is it because the gluten containing food I ate before stayed in my stomach much longer or what? I have no glucometer to check - husband left years ago. Can anyone relate to this or has anyone read of something similar when switching to a gluten-free diet? If anything, since I started a gluten-free diet, I seem to be getting more headaches than before - not real bad but enough that by bedtime, my head's really hurting. It increases in intensity as the day goes one. Is this part of a healing process or what?

[Guest tamedandfoxed]

So here I am, eating gluten free - same amount as a few weeks ago or maybe a bit more, but I'm getting that same feeling again. Sort of hungry feeling but mostly this weird sensation of emptiness & bit of a headache & maybe a little light-headed. Does this make sense? Is it because the gluten containing food I ate before stayed in my stomach much longer or what? I have no glucometer to check - husband left years ago. Can anyone relate to this or has anyone read of something similar when switching to a gluten-free diet? If anything, since I started a gluten-free diet, I seem to be getting more headaches than before - not real bad but enough that by bedtime, my head's really hurting. It increases in intensity as the day goes one. Is this part of a healing process or what?

Can I ask how much of the food you eat is sugar and / or starch / carbs? (you might check out candida if you've done lots of antibiotics) i find those foods really increase the feelings of emptiness and urgent cravings--like waking up in the middle of the night with hunger pains-- i know that one! It can either be that you are still not absorbing the nutrients you need--OR, if you are eating lots of sugar and starch, you may have a problem with yeast, in which case--sugar and starch is feeding it and making the problem worse. Yeast can also cause headaches, brain fog, dizzyness, and all kinds of stuff. Check out the OMG thread for tons of great info. it's a bit daunting to navigate, but it's all there! Feel free to ask any more questions if i can be of use.

~Katy

[DingoGirl]

I can totally relate. Since removing gluten, just over two years ago, I feel hungry much of the time, and noticeably so......

Before eating gluten-free, I, too, was a bottomless pit, and weighed under 120 all my life (as low as 112 for many years, and I am 5' 7"). I never cared much about food........good food, I loved - there were plenty of great bistros around when I was in the wine industry and I ate out frequently for many years (in Monterey). I always, always ate dessert, tons of bread offered at the table, appetizers w/ dinner etc.....never gained weight.

Now - I watch EVERYthing I eat......I make sure to get plenty of proteins, but barely squeak by with enough veggies, and keep carbs low.....I weigh 140 now - consistently - and can't stand it. If I didn't watch what I eat, I'd be a complete cow. I try to eat small meals, frequently.

I"ve come to conclude that it was all the years of mindless, non-weight-gaining eating that has led to my present feelings of hunger.....I would literally eat a whole bag of potato chips in years past and still be a size 2......so I could be quite full due to quantities of food.......but now - this is not the case. If I binge - I pay. Clothes get tight.

I am 46 years old, and have to retrain decades of bad eating habits. If I made chocolate chip/walnut cookies, for example, I could literally eat the whole batch in two days, and not gain weight.

I MISS BINGE-EATING!

[Jujbe]

Can I ask how much of the food you eat is sugar and / or starch / carbs? (you might check out candida if you've done lots of antibiotics) i find those foods really increase the feelings of emptiness and urgent cravings--like waking up in the middle of the night with hunger pains-- i know that one! It can either be that you are still not absorbing the nutrients you need--OR, if you are eating lots of sugar and starch, you may have a problem with yeast, in which case--sugar and starch is feeding it and making the problem worse. Yeast can also cause headaches, brain fog, dizzyness, and all kinds of stuff. Check out the OMG thread for tons of great info. it's a bit daunting to navigate, but it's all there! Feel free to ask any more questions if i can be of use.

~Katy

Thanks for answering, Katy! All answers are very much appreciated.

No, I'm actually eating less sugar & carbs. Not a lot less but I didn't eat much sugar before either. Still eating my cooked rice &/or potatoes everyday as I LOVE rice & always have. I don't drink pop, rarely drink fruit juices (prefer water when thirsty), don't eat ready-made foods or other foods that may be a source of hidden sugar. Never have. I've been a bit of a 'health nut' (at least to my friends) for most of my life. I used to manage a health food store & even then, I knew lots of the foods sold in them weren't really all that healthy. I do my own cooking from scratch - not hard when you've always done it that way.

Last time I took antibiotics was in the winter of '96. I very rarely get ill so have no need of them except that one time. I only once had a yeast infection & it was then. Took something that cleared it up & it never came back. That doesn't mean I wouldn't have some Candida in my body but it can't be much - unless eating gluten could've fed it? Don't know - can it even if one didn't eat sugar or lots of carbs?

Is it possible that I'm simply eating less total calories? I know you wouldn't know as you can't watch me eat but I wonder if I've cut back the total amount of fats & carbs without realising it. I guess I need to keep a calorie count of what I eat. I just wondered if eliminating gluten might cause the way I'm feeling as part of a healing process.

[aikiducky]

When I first went gluten free, for a few months I really had to take care to eat every couple of hours or I would get symptoms of low blood sugar (light-headedness, headache, nausea).

Eventually it went away and nowadays (three and a half years gluten-free) I can go for seven-eight hours without food if I need to. Though I like to eat so I seldom do...

So I think it might be part of the healing process for some people. Also, pre-gluten free, I used to feel a bit bloated all the time, which gave a kind of a "full" feeling. Once that was gone I had to get used to feeling more empty inside in a way, but that was just the absence of bloating really.

Oh, somewhere along the way I went casein free as well, I don't remember if the blood sugar issues resolving coincided with that or not. But I thought I'd mention that just in case.

Pauliina

[Guest tamedandfoxed]

Thanks for answering, Katy! All answers are very much appreciated.

No, I'm actually eating less sugar & carbs. Not a lot less but I didn't eat much sugar before either. Still eating my cooked rice &/or potatoes everyday as I LOVE rice & always have. I don't drink pop, rarely drink fruit juices (prefer water when thirsty), don't eat ready-made foods or other foods that may be a source of hidden sugar. Never have. I've been a bit of a 'health nut' (at least to my friends) for most of my life. I used to manage a health food store & even then, I knew lots of the foods sold in them weren't really all that healthy. I do my own cooking from scratch - not hard when you've always done it that way.

Last time I took antibiotics was in the winter of '96. I very rarely get ill so have no need of them except that one time. I only once had a yeast infection & it was then. Took something that cleared it up & it never came back. That doesn't mean I wouldn't have some Candida in my body but it can't be much - unless eating gluten could've fed it? Don't know - can it even if one didn't eat sugar or lots of carbs?

Is it possible that I'm simply eating less total calories? I know you wouldn't know as you can't watch me eat but I wonder if I've cut back the total amount of fats & carbs without realising it. I guess I need to keep a calorie count of what I eat. I just wondered if eliminating gluten might cause the way I'm feeling as part of a healing process.

Gluten wouldn't feed Candida unless there was a reason for it to get out of control--then it would, definitely. i would wonder, like Carla said, if you have enough fat in your diet. Avacados are an excellent addition to any salad! I would pay attention to making sure you are getting the right proteins an fats. As for healing, yeah, i think that's a valid point-- when your insides have been hurting for so long, it may take them some time to wake up and realize what it's like to be happy and hungry again. And there is a detox period after going gluten-free, I have found, for some people who ate lots and lots of it.

Good luck!