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I had a weird day yesterday - a better day today (D, only once, cramping is gone, general feeling of having eating a flame thrower is gone)... but I'm not especially hungry for dinner. Is it a bad idea to skip an occasional meal?
I'm a lifelong "three squares a day" kind of eater. I've had light/late meals, but never just... not bothered. I'm not sure whether it's a bad sign of an impending downward spiral. Also, my husband's away, so the sociable aspects of dinner aren't there (shared cleanup duties likewise ) - I have lost a little weight since he left, through the old-fashioned effects of exercising more (this dog doesn't walk himself), and eating less (if you ate with my husband, you'd eat more, too - he's a giant fan of deliciousness).
I feel as though I'm doing something wrong not having dinner, but - I'm not hungry.
Anyone else skip an occasional meal? Does it make the next day worse? (If that's the case, I'm absolutely going to fire up the stove!)
That's a great question - we are such creatures of habit. The more I'm dealing with MC, the more I am learning to tune in to my body, and listen to what it has to say. So, if I was you, I wouldn't eat unless I was hungry. How about just having an appetizing snack instead of a meal? I'm finding that eating small meals throughout the day sits much better with me, as my digestive system never has too much to handle at once. I learned a long time ago that I cannot eat a large meal at night, as it disrupt my sleep.
Sorry you're missing your DH. My late husband was a "social eater", and simply didn't have an appetite to eat when he was alone (and he did not have any digestive troubles). I could never quite relate to that, but had to accept it. We are all so different and have to figure out our own comfort zones. Anyhow, I hope you feel better soon, and I don't think you should worry about skipping a meal if you don't feel like eating.
Love,
Kari
"My mouth waters whenever I pass a bakery shop and sniff the aroma of fresh bread, but I am also grateful simply to be alive and sniffing." Dr. Bernstein
I agree with Kari. I have learned not to worry about skipping a meal occasionally, especially if I'm not hungry. In my experience, I'll usually make up for it later. And if you weren't feeling well yesterday, it may just be your body's way of telling you to take it easy.
Hope you're feeling better and get a nice chat with your hubby!
Well, I've postponed a lot of meals for 3 or 4 hours, or so, simply because I was out making deliveries or something, and it wasn't convenient, (or possible), to eat, but I almost always ate later, anyway, (out of habit). Looking back, though, it probably wouldn't have made any difference if I hadn't eaten later, because by then I wasn't really hungry, anyway, and the next regular meal could have easily picked up the slack.
You can bet your sweet bippy that the paleo people frequently skipped more than one meal, when times were tough. So I doubt that there are any major health risks involved, since that possibility is almost surely programmed into our genome.
I think it's safe to play it by ear. I hope you'll be feeling much better, soon.
Love,
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
(Strangely, my husband told me when he called that he has been starving all day, and just had a giant dinner - maybe we're just averaging out the family calories?)
I had a taste of some turnips I had cooked for a later use, and some seaweed snacks, and I'm going to leave it at that. I can't manage a meal early in the morning, because I'm up and out with the dog. So I bet I'll be plenty hungry by the time I'm wrangling breakfast.
Tex, I read about some researcher fellow who was traveling with some hunter gatherers. Sometimes they'd get up in the morning and just - go hunt/gather. He was so addicted to regular meals, and couldn't really function without breakfast. (The hunter/gatherers found this hilarious.)
Again, thanks - I feel pretty good, just... not dinner-hungry. Not so bad...
I am definitely a meal skipper and it really has not adversely impacted me. My husband is one meal a day at dinner time and there are times I just do not want to eat. Sit with him but disregard the food. I think if one is not really hungry there is no sense in eating.
Love, Maggie
Maggie Scarpone
___________________
Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
Sara,
I'm an ocaasional breakfast or lunch skipper, mostly out of lack of good food options in the moment, but I graze all day on healthy-ish snacks. A banana, a GF nut bar, raw cashews, some chocolate, GF chips, an apple, etc. I find myself looking up at work and realizing it's 3 pm and I haven't eaten a meal! I usually go home and pig out on a safe GF dinner. But this pattern probably explains my gradual weight loss this year. I'm just not that hungry, and I feel like I'm primarily eating for sustenance now. In fact, I do better grazing than eating big meals - they cause more indigestion.
Interesting, Z - the primal/paleo folks believe we should be able to skip a meal, which I could never do when I ate more grains/carbs. Also interesting because we have such different snacks - at this time of year apples are big, and I had one for breakfast with cashew butter (and fish oil - which I actually had a slight desire for - yum!)... but mostly, I don't snack, and when I do, I can't have a banana or chips or fruit/nut bar unless I'm sure to have some fat & protein with it. I'm hoping this will settle down, with more healing.
Some paleo-ish practitioner (I read somewhere) has his patients come in fasting. It makes bloodwork convenient, because it can be done right then, and it also tells him how they're doing, healthwise. If they feel terrible fasting, they have more healing to do.
I often don't feel like eating because meat and potatoes do not attract me even if I am hungry. The thought of them sometimes gets rid of my appetite. But I find that the GERD is worse if I don't eat something. So I do. At least a little.
I do feel terrible fasting, so I guess I have more healing to do.
I am so longing for the day when I can snack on some things that attract me.
When I was eating gluten, I could never skip a meal as I would get a light headed and kind of "desperate to eat" feeling. My accupuncturist said it is not "normal" to feel that way - well it used to be "normal" for me. She said feeling hungry is fine, but simply living with that without "desperately needing to eat" is "normal".
I believe her, because now that I eat much more protein, and no gluten and hardly any sugar, I don't get that feeling any longer. I can go for a good long time without eating anything, with no trouble at all. This is a major benefit for me of eating a protein based diet. Incidentally, I now make it a point to include protein with every single meal (on her suggestion), as it makes me feel so much better.
Love,
Kari
"My mouth waters whenever I pass a bakery shop and sniff the aroma of fresh bread, but I am also grateful simply to be alive and sniffing." Dr. Bernstein
Kari,
I agree. While on gluten and casein, the addiction and the simple sugars keep you on a 2 hour hunger cycle. I used to suffer from hypoglycemia back in those days. I had to eat all the time and I ate ALOT. Now that I'm free of gluten and casein, my body rarely begs me for food, except during PMS -- then I MUST HAVE carbs and chocolate. But it's amazing I'm hardly ever "starving." Protein definitely sticks with me longer, and I need to make more of an effort to include it with every meal AND snack.
That's been my experience as well. I'm wondering whether I'm now in OK shape to slightly reduce the protein - I may have been eating more than I need to 'maintain' health, now that I've got some mileage on the 'regain' phase of the project.
It feels great not to have those crashes - I used go from slightly confused to crabby pretty fast!
I noticed the carb connection, as well. I was prone to hypoglycemia and had to eat every few hours or I would get lightheaded and nauseous. Monday I didn't eat dinner when I usually do because I had a rehearsal from 6:30 till 9:30 and was running the Mom Taxi up until then. My husband was concerned about me, because he's used to me needing to eat more often, but I really felt fine. I was hungry when I got home, but no dizziness. I think it's just more evidence that gluten is BAD for us--whether we have obvious symptoms or not.
Sara
skipping meals has been a regular thing my whole life.
when i get chronic cramping pain the best fix was rest and minimal eating for 24 - 36 hours.
I mostly have liquids and low inflammation easy to digest foods in small portions
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
I Sara I have from time to time skipped a meal without too much of an issue at all. There are times though that if my stomach is feeling acidy that skipping a meal makes things worse. Another case of listening to out bodies.
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) - I have lost a little weight since he left, through the old-fashioned effects of exercising more (this dog doesn't walk himself), and eating less (if you ate with my husband, you'd eat more, too - he's a giant fan of deliciousness).
So I doubt that there are any major health risks involved, since that possibility is almost surely programmed into our genome. 
- at this time of year apples are big, and I had one for breakfast with cashew butter (and fish oil - which I actually had a slight desire for - yum!)... but mostly, I don't snack, and when I do, I can't have a banana or chips or fruit/nut bar unless I'm sure to have some fat & protein with it. I'm hoping this will settle down, with more healing.
