I Am So Hungry Were You?

[cat3883]

I am one week gluten free. So far I am feeling much better. The brain fog has almost gone away and I dont need 2 naps a day but I am HUNGRY all the time. Yikes I am one of the celiac disease patients that has gained weight. I am about 30 pounds overweight thanks to celiac disease. I dont want to gain anymore. I am trying to only eat healthy non gluten foods but I think I could eat a whole cow!! Please tell me this goes away.

[happygirl]

Apparently, you aren't the only one:

Q: I feel hungry all the time. Is that normal?

Yes, it is very common. Your body is making up for the time it wasn't fully absorbing foods. Hunger levels tend to normalize within the first months after eliminating gluten and beginning a well balanced diet of gluten-free foods.

From: Open Original Shared Link

[ShayFL]

The extreme hunger left me at about 6 weeks. Hang in there!! Try to eat the most nutritiously dense foods you can. Avoid empty starchy carbs. Eat quality protein, lots of veggies, berries and good fats like olive oil, coconut oil and avocado. Nuts are also good in moderation.

Hang in there!! It does get better.

[jerseyangel]

I am one week gluten free. So far I am feeling much better. The brain fog has almost gone away and I dont need 2 naps a day but I am HUNGRY all the time. Yikes I am one of the celiac disease patients that has gained weight. I am about 30 pounds overweight thanks to celiac disease. I dont want to gain anymore. I am trying to only eat healthy non gluten foods but I think I could eat a whole cow!! Please tell me this goes away.

Hi and welcome

I remember when I first went gluten-free, I felt like I couldn't get enough sleep--or food! After a while, you will normalize--you're body is trying to make up for lost time.

[IChaseFrisbees]

I'm also very hungry, I went from eating 5 meals a day with gluten to eating about 4 without it, and I'm constantly looking for things to munch on. I like to carry almonds with me (1 cup has like 28 grams of protein!) and at meal times I try to get a lot of lean meats in, as well as veggies and some sort of good carbs like potatoes.

I'm also a big fan of hardboiled eggs, good protein there.

[melmak5]

About 2-3 months after going gluten-free this slowed down for me. (prior to, I had almost no appetite and had gained weight - I am 1.33 years into being gluten free and things hunger and weight-wise have stabilized and I have been able to exercise and try to keep things in balance)

Good luck!

PS - I also found that I was really really thirsty... I am not sure what that is all about, but the sleep portion makes sense - intestines can only heal when your body is sleeping!

[SGWhiskers]

Eat up on all those healthy foods. Your body needs the nutrients. Avoid sugar, soda, and low nutrient starches. Aside from that, just plan on dieting in two years after you heal. If your weight does not stabilize in a few months, see a dietician. We are all supposed to see one anyway. My insurance won't pay though.

I'm at 7 weeks and starving every waking minute. The first two weeks were the worst though. Week two was all about thirst. I'm eating a lot of fresh fruit. I'm keeping my meat to 3 ounces a day to keep my cholesterol from getting even higher. I'm snacking all day long and eating one big "meal" in the evening. Then I go right on snacking until bedtime. Fruit and sweet potatoes are my best friends.

Funny how our bodies try to make up for everything we have lost. Speaking of losing things, make sure you get your bone density checked. I'm only 33 and have osteopenia. I think most of us have bone loss from this. The doc will prescribe higher levels of Vitamin D and Calcium and weight bearing excercise.

Congrats on getting tested and starting the diet. Here's to your health.

[mamaesq]

That's interesting, because I noticed the opposite problem. I was much hungrier before going gluten free. I've been gluten-free for exactly three weeks and I am finding that I am not ravenously hungry before each meal, and I am not eating as much when I do eat. I used to stuff myself silly. I've lost 8 pounds and the bloat is completely gone. I am thinking that my body held on to weight because I was "starving myself."

The sleeping, on the other hand, I can't get enough of that either! I've slept so much more AND better these last three weeks!

[Amyleigh0007]

That's interesting, because I noticed the opposite problem. I was much hungrier before going gluten free. I've been gluten-free for exactly three weeks and I am finding that I am not ravenously hungry before each meal, and I am not eating as much when I do eat. I used to stuff myself silly. I've lost 8 pounds and the bloat is completely gone. I am thinking that my body held on to weight because I was "starving myself."

The sleeping, on the other hand, I can't get enough of that either! I've slept so much more AND better these last three weeks!

I am the same way. I have lost 10 pounds and my belly is flat, my bloat is gone. I used to eat and eat and eat. I was never full. It actually used to scare me that I never felt full. After I would eat and eat and eat I would spend the next 3 hours in the bathroom then I would be extremely hungry again. I now feel normal.

[Yenni]

I was starving for a long time after going gluten free. I had to eat like very other hour some days. 2 years after stopping with the stuff that bothers me I am back to what I feel is normal.

I think I was hungry like that for a year almost. Or even a bit more than a year even.

[babysteps]

cat3883 - I hope that, like many of us, you will 'stabilize' -- and feel much better -- after a few weeks or months gluten-free.

My experience is similar to mamaesq and Amyleigh0007: I am 42 and have weighed the same since high school. Except the 6 months before going gluten free, when I gained 8 pounds and a bloat and nothing would make it go away. Also, no matter how much (or little) I ate, I was still hungry - prior to this, I had always gotten "full" very quickly - but hungry again soon after.

Once gluten free, my pounds and bloat disappeared within 3 weeks. And I actually felt "full" after normal amounts of food!

Now, if I get glutened, I do get the bloat (temporarily) but am back to weight stability.

One thing I have taken to heart in my whole gluten-free journey is that we each have to listen to our own bodies!

For example, if I tried to limit myself to 3 oz meat a day I would not last. Don't worry SGWhiskers, I have several friends who, through trial and error, have discovered that they feel much better leaving meat out altogether. Nutritional science is imho less developed than some other areas - it's still a blend of what we *think* we know and what studies & practice show.

For example, the high protein/low carb diet that we all "know" can raise our cholesterol, now there have been long term studies that show this isn't true for most people - Open Original Shared Link was published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine and showed that several different diets (including a low carb/high protein one) could help lose weight and cholesterol. But I am sure there are some people where meat = cholesterol (based on my lab results, I am not one of them).

I have been gluten-free for almost a year, and I know that when I am especially "clean" in eating (not just gluten-free, but weeks when I make everything from scratch and stick to fruits, veggies, herbs and protein, not dairy, no grains except brown rice, no salt or teensy bit of sea salt, etc.), I feel slightly off for the first few days - I used to think I was reacting to something (some new sensitivity to a different vegetable or something), now I think it might just be toxins/bad stuff/whatever getting released from my system.

okay, hope that wasn't too much of a soap box moment!

[SilverThea]

Oh my goodness yes... I felt like I needed to eat almost constantly for several months after going gluten free.

Like you, I also had gained weight in the time before hand.

But even with eating so frequently after going to a gluten-free diet, I lost a fair amount of weight!.

Just remember to go for the healthier foods when you want to snack, and try to get in some exercise every day... because (at least from my experience) you CAN now that you feel better!