Today was… different.
Not in a bad way, but in an “Okay. Where’s the real Amanda, and what have you done with her?” kind of way. It was like… did the sun rise in the west, or what?
[Have you seen this goofy face? Slightly crazy, mostly harmless. Approach freely]
The strangeness started this morning, when I opened my big brown eyes, glanced at the time, and was shocked to see the numbers 6 and 30 staring back at me. I slept in. Yes, I realize that the terms “6:30 AM” and “sleeping in” don’t logically fit in the same sentence (unless you need to be somewhere super early, which I didn’t), but for someone who doesn’t normally sleep past 5:30, that extra hour is a pretty impressive feat. Impressive, but strange; and that was only the beginning.
After getting over my initial shock, my attention was immediately drawn to a certain bodily sensation, or rather, the lack of it. And no, we’re not going the bathroom humor route here – we try to keep things clean around these parts. It was my hunger – there was no trace of it. None whatsoever. I normally wake up more than ready and willing to eat, but this morning? Nothing.
I poked my stomach. I prodded. Hellloooooo? Are you in there? Silence.
I was at a loss. I can’t even remember the last time I had to deal with that kind of thing, and I had no idea what to do. Do I eat? Do I not eat? I know I should eat. But I’m not hungry. Erm. Help? 😕 Eventually, I did decide to eat, which is when another strange thing happened – I didn’t feel like having my beloved almond butter and chocolate pudding oats. Instead I had…
😯 By this point, I was starting to question whether my brain had been mysteriously snatched away in the middle of the night. I mean, I can understand sleeping in and a lack of hunger, but not wanting to have chocolate in the morning? Who AM I?! And while we’re on the topic of food, today was the first day in I-don’t-even-know-how-long that I actually craved something savory when snack time rolled around. See, in my mind, “snack time” is synonymous with “satisfy the sweet tooth time”. But not today, apparently…
[Ezekiel sesame bread, toasted and topped with avocado and sea salt. A nectarine]
I blame Matt for this one. Just the other day, he pictured some toast topped with avocado as part of his daily eats, which reminded me how much I love the combo, so I had to have some myself. And speaking of Matt, I have him to thank for yet another reason that today deviated from the norm…
I got a package!
I won a giveaway that he hosted a little while back, and today I finally got my loot.
[Golden Flax Seeds from Tropical Traditions]
I love getting packages in the mail (who doesn’t?!), but it rarely ever happens. Sad face. The only things I get in the mail on a regular basis are bills or speeding tickets, neither of which I enjoy. But boxes filled with goodies? Now that is something that I’d like to see on a more regular basis 😀
Another thing that’s going to be making more regular appearances? Chia seeds in smoothies…
I know I’ve hated on the little buggers in the past, but I’ve gotta admit that I’m a big fan of them when they’re all blended up. I decided to try something different with my vanilla tofu protein smoothie and added about a tsp. of chias added in. I loved the goopy-ness that the chias gave it. Big fan.
And with that, things pretty much went back to normal. My hunger returned…
[Pumpkin Chili Mexican Scramble]
My chocolate craving kicked in…
[Chocolate pudding & Cookie Dough Ball. Chocolate Chai tea]
Everything was right with the world once more; but who knows what tomorrow will bring.
. – . – . – .
What do you do when you find your hunger absent at times you would normally eat? Or when you find it absent for most of the day? I’d actually like to talk more about this in an upcoming post. I just have to get my thoughts sorted first.
I hate not waking up hungry or not being hungry for lunch when I know I have to eat before work or something like that. I try to roll with it, but when I’m on a schedule it’s a little more difficult. When I wake up and don’t feel hungry yet, I usually just wait it out and soon enough hunger will show up.
Your oatmeals are the best! 🙂
I could not imagine not eating breakfast. So if I wasn’t feeling hungry, I’d probably wait a little but and then eat for sure. Only if eating made me feel worse, or sick of something would I not, but I know my body needs fuel even if my tummy isn’t telling me at that moment. I know it breaks the whole “intuitive eating” thing, but sometimes I think things can get a little off, and the brain doesn’t communicate well with the stomach, sending hunger signals, and that is the time ya just gotta eat cuz you know you body needs food. And those oats, yummmm, look fantastic 🙂
My hunger cues are waaaay off, cause of lack of nutrition/being in starvation -mode. But now that I am refeeding, I am hungry all the time! Contsant rumbling. TIme for a snack.
I find it odd when I crave savoury things too! I’ve found that recently I’m just not hungry anymore. I credit that to the fact that I’m weight restored now and because I’m so used to feeling ravenous, to me, that’s what hunger is classified as. Now I have to recognise different signs of hunger which makes it harder to know what I want to eat and when. But yea, my storyyyyyy.
In the past when I haven’t been hungry I’ve felt obligated to eat because of my ED. But now when I’m not hungry and meal time rolls around, I just don’t eat and wait until I’m hungry. I know that now it’s not because I’m trying to restrict, it’s because I’m trying to learn how to listen to my body. Although if it’s breakfast, I eat anyway. I don’t have the time to wait.
xxx
haha – my belly so often sticks to a schedule that I get really confused when it gets off track
I just love if that you slept in!! yayyy! I eat even when im not hungry- bc i know my body needs the fuel and ill get tired. thats just me tho- i know that goes SO against intuitive eating!! lol!
It’s bad, but if I know I should be eating, and I’m not actually hungry, I often eat anyway. I have to get over the “I haven’t eaten in X hours, I need to now!” I shouldn’t force myself to eat when I’m not hungry, but I do… and usually don’t regret it, but I have to get better at identifying when I’m full
Haha I saw that toast on matt’s blog too and I’ve been wanting to eat it ALL DAY!
My appetite gets out of whack like that sometimes too, and to be honest, whether or not I eat depends on what I’ve done that day. If I’ve done a hard workout, that tends to supress my appetite, and so I eat even though I’m not hungry because I know my body needs to refuel. But if it’s a rest day and I’m just sitting around reading, then I’ll probably wait until I feel hunger to eat…otherwise it’s just not satisfying to me! Oftentimes in the latter case, I do get hungry and get a specific craving for something within 2 hours or so, so I always get the nutrition in that I need…it just sometimes doesn’t happen at the hour it normally does 🙂
Gosh your food looks so delicious!
You know what was straight up YOU about this day?
That you listened to your body. You honored cravings, you cued into your hunger or lack there of with a caring mind. That’s all You, girl!
So, you may say, it was another day in the life of! But with some surprises?
The pondering of what to do in the wake of non-hunger is a mystery to me, as my body is so out of balance at the moment. When I am in a good balance, the absense of hunger means I may be coming down with something so I eat like it’s a job.
Hey love!!
I sometimes, rarely though, wake up. Ot hungry, it’s crazy to me, but I still eat right away, and then like normal I. Starving for lunch at my usual time! So it all works out ; )
Loving the dark chocolate drink for dessert! Yum!
Love ya girl! Xoxo
Interesting… I WOULD do an analysis of your habits and body chemistry during the last several days; but that is weird and stalkerish. So I won’t do that. But I guarantee it would at least present a highly plausible theory about your absent hunger and non-chocolate cravings 🙂 Please don’t judge. Diet analysis and experimenting is what I want to do when I grow up! Dietitian Deborah! Dietitian Maxwell just doesn’t sound as cool!
PS. I might copy you and Matt with the salty avocado toast idea. It sounds so yummy!
I hate when my appetite is off. I never know what to do! Usually if I wake up and I’m not feeling hungry, I eat anyway. My body remembers that it actually is hungry, it’s just a little bit slower to wake up than my mind is. I try to just roll with the punches for the rest of the day, but it’s annoying since i’m trying to gain weight — not feeling like eating doesn’t really agree with that! I push through, but I can’t wait until I can just listen to my body and eat when I feel like it and stop when I don’t!
oh and I’m adding chia seeds to my smoothie next time I have one. I don’t know why I haven’t tried this yet!
I love chia ‘goopiness’ as well. It really thickens things up, which is why I love it in my oats.
The past few mornings I have woken up not hungry like usual. But even if Im not hungry when I wake up.. or at lunch or dinner time, I will still eat anyway because I know my body needs the food.
I think we all have days like that…sometimes were just off. Usually if I wake up not hungry (which happens RARELY) I still eat cause I want to fuel my body after fasting for so many hours and to jumpstart my metabolism for the rest of the day!
Avocado is fabulous with sea salt! Its pretty much incomplete without it!
Gotta say, one the coolest perks about food blogging is the foodie packages. I’d take that over all other kinds of mail ANY DAY. Unless someone decided to send me a new car or something. But other than that, food wins.
I just bought some dates so that I can make your cookie dough balls! I’m probably way too excited but that’s what I do… I get overly excited over food
There’s nothing wrong with getting excited about food, especially cookie dough balls! I’m seriously addicted to them, and I hope you like them as well 😀
Oh, I’d freak out if I woke up at 6.30… you’d think I NEED to get up as early as I do, but I
usually don’t. I’m just incredibly anal about leaving myself enough time, or something.
This is actually why I sometimes like eating by the clock… it takes the thinking out of it. Pros and cons to everything, I guess.
<3 <3
WOW. Your awesome package came from a place that’s literally 5 minutes away from my house. So random that I’m… Speechless! Haha
Small world 😀
This does sometimes happen to me! But honestly, the only times I really notice it are when I’m sick, super busy and don’t have time to notice my hunger, or when I’m outside and it’s really hot. If I’m not sick (when I am, I eat what would be best for how I’m feeling) I try to eat at the same times I normally would- but I don’t force a huge amount of food down either. I try to pay attention to how full I am.
Chia seeds in smoothies are amazing! It helps make it thicker and def helps the hunger monster stay tamed for a little bit.
Your body probably needed more rest from all the new strength routines you’ve been doing. Gutta repair those muscles :). And avocado on toast is heavenly. I usually use hummus with a tomato, but avocado is pretty damn tasty as well.
I have a tendency of not listening to my body and it ends up backfiring. Like I say to myself “I have to eat at ” ” time or else” whether or not I’m hungry. If I’m not hungry and I eat then my stomach will seriously hate me because of my crappy IBS. So if I’m hungry I eat and if not then I’ll wait a bit, it’s weird at first but I hate that full feeling where I feel like I’ll pop. Love your breakfast either way!!
I love those days when youend up seeping in for no apparent reason – i guess your body just needed the extra rest! I lve getting packages – ive actually never tried chia seeds – they look like a gret addition to smoothies – i sually use ground flax -which i love or wheat germ!
Most of the time I’m not really that hungry in the morning until after I workout. I think I’ve conditioned myself for this because I can’t eat for at least a half hour because of my medicine I take. I’m glad your chocolate cravings kicked in. That is just frightening.
I eat at “regular” meal/snacks times even if I’m not hungry because my tummy is extremely unreliable for letting me know it needs food. Yes I do get hungry but more often than not I feel the other physical effects (cranky, shaky, lack of energy) first. I guess you could say my head knows I’m hungry before my stomach? Weird I know, but its what works for me! 🙂
That’s how I know I’m hungry, too. My stomach rarely ever gets grumbly, but the rest of me goes all out of whack.
Baha,6.30, a sleep in ? I slept till 11 the other day, I’m deeeefinitely a night person…
There are quite a few times I’m not hungry when I normally eat. But I’m pretty active, so I eat any way, I figure I need the cals & worry that it will catch up with me later & ill feel lethargic & tired due to reduced energy intake. The fact that I like eating and food is YUMMY makes it a little easier! Pretty sure its normal for hunger levels to differ on a day to day basis anyway.
Getting packages makes my day- wish it happened more often !
Next time I make protein pudding I’m so going to be putting chias in it-you had me at the word goopy.
Xxx
I am definitely giving avocado/sea salt on toast a try, that looks glorious! I always eat breakfast no matter what (and am almost always hungry for it unless i stayed up late the night before and ate something heavy before bed)…and in the case that I’m full I just delay it a couple hours.
Haha I consider sleeping in anything past 8:30 am and I thought I was an early riser…
Oh girl waking up at 6:30 throws me into a tailspin of weirdness – I’m an earlier riser as well. My hunger is always off when I wake up at the wrong time, even if it is later. I usually end up eating something anyway because I know my body probably does need the energy otherwise I’ll be paying for it dearly later in the day.
It actually bothers me when I’m not hungry when I’m supposed to be it’s like where are you hunger pangs?!
Haha that’s something I can definitely relate to. I dislike feeling hungry, but I can’t stand it when my hunger’s not around, either. It’s like where’s my happy medium?!
I have yet to try avacado on toast! it looks so cool! I have had non-hungry days before, I don’t know why really but it happens. I wish I could sleep in more, and dang a whole hour would be great! haha 🙂
I can’t believe 6:30 is sleeping in for you! Although I did suffer from insomnia once, so I know where you’re coming from…and who doesn’t love mail, especially in the form of packages? 🙂
The heat always screws up my hunger–I have to force myself to eat something at meals or else I just don’t get hungry, it’s bad! I’d much rather have some cold weather anywho heehee 😉
I get the same way about packages in the mail, it’s always so exciting and doesn’t happen as much as it should!!
I had to make sure I gave my steel cuts a good stir before I commented because, we don’t want any of those precious little buggers to stick 😉
You know, I’ve been having that issue too. Where I wake up not hungry- and it always happens when I sleep past my usual hour! You know how when you make yourself wait too long to eat and the hunger pangs go away? It seems like that’s what’s happening. I sleep through my hunger for whatever reason, and it gives up on me! HAHA! I always eat anyway when that happens, because I know my body’s hungry- whether it’s telling me in rumbles or not. Eeep!
I’ve never tried flax. Or chia. Perhaps I should get on that… I’m so afraid I’ll pay the money and dislike them!
CHOCOLATE CHAI?!?!?
Oh my gosh. Need. Right now.
<3<3<3
oh my goodness you must try flax and chia seeds (I’m partial to flax)!! If you end up not liking it, I’ll reimburse your purchase and take the extras off your hands! 🙂 I’m confident you’ll fall in love with these little seeds though!
Flax I enjoy, but chia took a little getting used to. I hate it when the whole seeds stick to my teeth, but they’re wonderful ground up 😀 And the added gloopy-ness is just plain fun.
we must lead twinkie lives because the exact thing happened to me today! i wake up at 6am on the dot. everyday. it never fails. today, i slept in till 7:30!! i.was.shocked. i also typically wake up starving. i have a routine of grabbing some fruit then go out for my morning activity, but today. nope. nothing. i was confused on if i should eat it anyway. i didn’t. but came home starving and my body quickly went back to its normal: hi i’m hungry all the time. all is well again. we can do a food swap if you want more packages, i love to buy random things at Whole Foods and can send them your way. Let me know, this girl gets bored and wouldn’t mind the shopping trip! ♥
Glad to have Amanda back 😉 Although the non-hungry Amanda had some preeetty good looking eats too 🙂
My hunger doesn’t disappear all that often, but when it does, sometimes it catches me off guard. I wait for it to come back and then all of a sudden…BAM..I’m struck with a famished feeling where I’m beyond starved. So next time my hunger disappears I know I should eat my meals/snacks according to my normal schedule. That way I hopefully won’t scarf down everything in site the minute it returns.
Ugh that happens to me sometimes too, which is why I eat even when I’m not hungry. ‘Cause when my hunger finally DOES show up, I feel like I’m ready to faint.
I know what you are talking about, girl! This usually happens for me if I get up and go running right away. Particularly when I run long distances, I am not the least bit hungry for breakfast when I get back.
One time I made the mistake of things… oh hey.. not hungry… let’s not refuel after a long run. What a silly, silly mistake. I ran some errands and by the time I came back, I lacked so much energy – and was well past hungry (you know.. to the point where you aren’t even hungry anymore)
I ate my oats… felt a little different..but still not quite right. I didn’t feel normal for a couple of days!
Now – I eat those oats (or whatever it is that I am craving) after a run – hungry or not. My body needs to be refueled!
Honestly, I’m hardly ever not hungry at meal times. There are days when I won’t snack much between meals (usually if I’m really busy) but the only times I’m really NOT hungry is if I am sick.
I saw Matt’s avocado toast too and I definitely need to make that soon.
Hmm do you think maybe you often wake up so early because you’re hungry? Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing! I just know that for me, when I’m exercising hard and possibly not getting quite enough to eat, that I tend to wake up eaaaarly. But if I make a conscious effort to eat a bit more, then I sleep way later (which isn’t always a good thing either haha).
And in regards to your question, my instinct would be to still eat a little something, but just eat a bit less if you’re not all that hungry.
That used to happen to me ALL the time, but then I’d wake up at like 3 with a growling stomach and wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. For a while I thought that my early morning’s might still be due to hunger, but for the most part I think I’m just a morning person and 5:30 is when my body just likes to get up. I definitely notice I change if I start pushing my workouts harder, though… then my morning’s get earlier and earlier until I slow down a bit 🙂
Avocado and sea salt on top of toasted Ezekiel bread may look like one of the best ideas I’ve ever seen in the world of food. I NEED to try this!!
I find it really frustrating when I have no appetite. There never seems to be a long period of time where there’s just a happy medium. I’m either constantly hungry or not at all! It’s so annoying. I try to wait to see what strikes me when the non-hunger phases last but if it’s been over 5 hours I try to just eat a little something.
Avocado on toast is so yummy. Love it! I had an avocado and tomato sandwich today, delicious. Those baked oats also look so good! As for not feeling hungry for me it’s always different! If I am not hungry in the morning I just pack myself breakfast and usually end up eating it on the way to work.
I love me self some chia seeds in my smoothies lately too! The fact that the days have been shorter lately have thrown my morning off a bit, you can blame that on the sleep in. As for the hunger, I imagine your stomach was still just asleep. Maybe it felt like sleeping in a bit longer? When that happens to me I just eat my breakfast as planned 🙂