Stimulating appetite

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I could really use some tips for getting my appetite going again.

Here's the deal: when I become stressed I have a hard time getting enough food into my body. I have always been thin, but right now I am underweight.
I quit smoking and cut my caffeine to a few cups a day about a month back.
I figured that with quitting smoking I would gain some weight - but in that period of time I have lost around 16 pounds. I was at a healthy weight before and the weight I have lost has mostly been ..egads, muscle mass!

I am quite educated about nutrition and exercise and all that crap: but I just can't seem to get the food into me lately!
I want to gain the weight in a 'clean' way; not just McDonalds and milkshakes.
Looking at food I feel completely indifferent. Some actually looks gross.
I don't know what's going on, but I do need to get some more food in my body.

Any suggestions?

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Maybe take things like carrot sticks, or cucumber slices, nuts,raisons to work with you that yuo can nibble on throughout the day.You dont have to eat at proper mealtimes.
Or try fruit smoothies for breakfast,its more like a drink.

I agree, most food does look gross.I tend to eat the same thing day after day and its doing me no good.I tried to cook a healthy new recipe last night, it was a complete disaster and tasted like caca.But I will persist.

Good luck.

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Hmmm.

What foods have ever seemed really delicious to you?
I personally have a very inferior sense of smell ( I still love food). I gather that for many people the aroma wafting from a kitchen can easily stimulate their food appetite.

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Why is your appetite gone? All those things (minus the stress factor) should make you want to eat, and even if they didn't, I don't understand why your normal appetite is gone. Losing that much weight is scary. It happened to me about 2 years ago at the onset of my recently discovered Graves Disease (don't freak out, it's probably not), but I was throwing everything up so my appetite was gone simply because my guts were raw. I lost 18 lbs in a month.

I'd talk to your doctor about why you don't want food. I think its weird and you are right in knowing it isn't healthy.

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Try high calorie, high nutrition foods like nuts. You need protein at this time.

Do you eat meat? Lean beef.

Mix some olive oil in with everything you can, noodles, brown rice, gravy.

also, sprinkle a hard cheese on everything you can.

dried fruit.

There are protein drinks for weight gain out there, but I think they aren't as enjoyable as real food.

Make a large container of your own trail mix.
Nuts, raisens, dried apricots, some m&ms, granola.

Also, buy some powered milk and mix that in where ever possible. Mashed potatos (also add cheese) sauces, had to the milk you already drink to make richer.

Soy milk, roasted soy beans

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I think flushd knows she needs nutrition, but is looking for ways to make food appetizing..

I agree that the appetite loss is odd, and that it would be smart to speak with your doctor as that could have many causes.

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Doesn't a wee glass of wine before a meal stimulate your appetite?

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Like Osso said earlier, you have to look towards your own personal favourites.

Me? The smell of certain foods being cooked is enough to make me hungry.

Frying onions.......bacon being sizzled......anything with garlic being cooked......these work everytime.

I wouldn't worry TOO much about the healthy food/non healthy food at this stage....what you need to do is to get used to eating again, and enjoying the experience.

Then, when that is accomplished, you can tinker with your types of food to make sure you are getting a healthy balance.

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How many meals a day are you eating?

If you force yourself to eat 1-2 additional meals your metabolism and appetite will increase. Your body adapts to how frequently you take in meals.

If I don't eat for 3-4 hours, I'm starving, because I'm used to eating 5 meals a day.

One mistake people trying to LOSE weight do, is cut down number of meals. That slows the metabolism down, because the body is using less meals for energy throughout the day.

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Thanks All!! Very Happy

Yeah Bella; I'm definetly gonna get my butt to the doc. This isn't normal for me. I love food and usually I am in good control of what's going on. It must be something I don't know about (maybe hormonal or something).

Well, I usually eat about 4 or 5 meals in a day; basically a simplified bodybuilding diet bc my metabolism is very fast and I excercise a lot.
I use all the protein drinks, chicken breasts, steak,nuts, whathaveyou....
it's just trying to actually get any of it down lately.

I will try the favorites and allow myself to eat whatever I want for now. I think that was a good idea: maybe I am not being flexible enough and I just need to eat whatever I can at this point. Worry about it later.

thx...gonna make doc. appt today.

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On tastiness, well, tastes differ. I happen to like the savory tastes of herbs in different dishes, and use garlic and onions and shallots a fair amount in my cooking, as well as various kinds of chilis and peppers. You might like mustard, for example, using a bit in a dressing...

Flush'd, you might look up Penzey's online and see if any of their information triggers interest. It's a wonderful - to me - company that has a great catalog with various recipes, and provides lots of information about different spices, etc.

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Ummmm.

Marijauna has been known to stimulate appitite.

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Oh, yeah, that too!

Also, Slappy's take on it sounds right to me, re the more small meals a day.

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OMG!! Pot!! D'oh!!

Gotta dig up my old bong now...that's an idea!! (nobody heard that right?! It's for medical purposes ).

Razz

Penzey's...gonna check that out. Maybe it'll get my buds working again.
Y'all are too great.

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Flushd, I wouldn't want you to post the answer in a public forum, but......<ahem> if your "loo product" is somewhat different, you need to see the doc....definitely.

Among other things, it may be the case that it is something to do with an overactive thyroid, which tends to make one very "loose", so to speak.

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You can tell from stool if you have an overactive thyroid?!
That I did not know!

thanks for the heads up Embarrassed

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It may be something else that causes it, but an overactive thyroid is one thing that does it, yes. Best to see the Doc....he/she will sort you out, if anything is going on.

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flushd,
you would not believe what an overactive thyroid will do to your body. I've been to hell and am on my way back with it and it was not a pleasant trip.

I was diagnosed with Graves disease, which is a chronic condition. You might have an inflammed thyroid which will go away. I'd see your doctor. You just never know.

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Went to the doc today. He noticed a change in my hormone levels which is probably why my appetite has gone to crap. Sad

I've been making myself eat even though it's not great fun right now. There isn't a lot I can do about it right now; except keep increasing how much I eat and wait for my appetite to develop again naturally. From not eating much lately: my appetite got worse, so maybe eating more will help in itself.

This is part of a long-term manageable health thing for me; so I should have known. But I didnt.

Thanks for all the great advice. I can always go down to Domo and pick up a dime-bag if I get desperate Twisted Evil

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Flushd, a few years ago i went through a phase of having low apetite. Food put me off - but i realized there were some foods that i wanted to eat. For me, they were mostly "sour' food - like food spiced with tamarind, or olives or lime. Maybe there is soemthing that will appeal to you too? till your apetite improves?

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Stimulating appetite

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