No appetite.

[Sheepish1947]

Does anyone else have no appetite? I never feel hungry and could easily go all day without eating but my husband moans at me. I make a menu for the week and just eat what I've planned but rarely enjoy it. I know I need something morning and evening to take my Metformin with but would it be ok to skip lunch?
I'm 152cm and weigh 43.5kg so I'm not underweight yet!
Don't bother posting food ideas as I've heard them all and nothing interests me.

 

[Leadinglights]

There are quite a few people on here who only have 2 meals a day so I don't think there is any reason for you to need to have lunch if you don't want to. Just make sure you stay hydrated so maybe just have a drink. You might then feel more like eating the other meals.
If you don't want to loose weight then you could increase fat and protein in the meals you do have.

 

[Sheepish1947]

Thank you. I now have some ammunition!

 

[Drummer]

Does anyone else have no appetite? I never feel hungry and could easily go all day without eating but my husband moans at me. I make a menu for the week and just eat what I've planned but rarely enjoy it. I know I need something morning and evening to take my Metformin with but would it be ok to skip lunch?
I'm 152cm and weigh 43.5kg so I'm not underweight yet!
Don't bother posting food ideas as I've heard them all and nothing interests me.

I only have two quite small meals a day - but they are 'proper' meals - at least they are when I feel right (I suspect that covid has altered things)
Some weeks I change plans so I cook what I meant to eat for my husband but I am confident that what I do eat is good nourishment. I can obviously survive on it and look well, so no one worries.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear about your lack of appetite @Sheepish1947

Has this been something you have lived with for a long time? Or has it only come on since your diagnosis?

How is your mood and state of mind? Lack of appetite can be linked with low mood and depression, which are also associated with living with a demanding long-term condition like diabetes.

Be kind to yourself.

 

[Sheepish1947]

Sorry to hear about your lack of appetite @Sheepish1947

Has this been something you have lived with for a long time? Or has it only come on since your diagnosis?

How is your mood and state of mind? Lack of appetite can be linked with low mood and depression, which are also associated with living with a demanding long-term condition like diabetes.

Be kind to yourself.

Thank you for replying. I had a very good appetite before I got the diabetes diagnosis. At first, Metformin made everything taste like straw then when that had been sorted out I’d lost interest in eating because everything I like is severely restricted and I don’t like much I ‘should’ eat. After seeing a dietician at the surgery and relaxing the rules a bit, my Hba1c went up to what it was at diagnosis. At this point I became anxious about anything I put in my mouth. It’s just easier not to bother, especially since I never feel hungry.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you for replying. I had a very good appetite before I got the diabetes diagnosis. At first, Metformin made everything taste like straw then when that had been sorted out I’d lost interest in eating because everything I like is severely restricted and I don’t like much I ‘should’ eat. After seeing a dietician at the surgery and relaxing the rules a bit, my Hba1c went up to what it was at diagnosis. At this point I became anxious about anything I put in my mouth. It’s just easier not to bother, especially since I never feel hungry.

People often think that they cannot eat anything they ate before when actually by just reducing the portion size and restricting some things to 'treats' that you have occasionally is sufficient to bring down blood glucose levels. Somebody said that the metformin made everything taste metallic. If your taste is restored than just have a look at what you enjoyed eating before and have a smaller portion. Not eating may be pushing your level up as your liver releases glucose to give you energy and to keep you going.

 

[Sheepish1947]

Thank you. I really enjoyed bread when I was normal but a sandwich raises my BG level by rather a lot! I just have one sandwich a week now, no cereal, no potatoes, one portion of fruit a day. I’ve been making ‘cakes’ and ‘biscuits’ with almond flour and xylitol and tend to live on them.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you. I really enjoyed bread when I was normal but a sandwich raises my BG level by rather a lot! I just have one sandwich a week now, no cereal, no potatoes, one portion of fruit a day. I’ve been making ‘cakes’ and ‘biscuits’ with almond flour and xylitol and tend to live on them.

Some people use Burgen Soy and Linseed or Livllfe bread which is lower carb or you could have 'an open sandwich' with just the one slice of bread. It used to be fashionable years ago, I remember going to a cafe in Bowness on Windermere as a kid where they served Danish Open Sandwiches, 1 slice of rye bread with everything piled on top.
I hesitate to suggest anything but you could have a small portion of cereal with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt and some strawberries or raspberries.

 

[Ljc]

You could try Nimble or I think it’s called live life bread, their may well be others that are lower carb.
For fruit, many find fruit that has berry as part of its name are tolerated better .

Have you tried reducing portion sizes of say mashed potato say by half test your glucose levels just before then two hours after eating to see if this works for you.

If you don’t mind telling us what meals you really enjoyed , perhaps we can cast our over it and suggest some changes or we may even suppose you and say that should be fine.

 

[Sheepish1947]

You could try Nimble or I think it’s called live life bread, their may well be others that are lower carb.
For fruit, many find fruit that has berry as part of its name are tolerated better .

Have you tried reducing portion sizes of say mashed potato say by half test your glucose levels just before then two hours after eating to see if this works for you.

If you don’t mind telling us what meals you really enjoyed , perhaps we can cast our over it and suggest some changes or we may even suppose you and say that should be fine.

Thank you to everyone for the food suggestions. The unappealing truth seems to be that I really can’t tolerate carbs. My waking BG level is consistently over 7 and one slice of toast puts it up to 10+ after two hours. No point in telling you what I enjoyed when I was normal; bread, cake, buns, pastries, etc, which are all off limits now. Never mind. I’ll just stick to the sugar free low fat yogurt for breakfast and salad for dinner.

 

[Drummer]

Thank you to everyone for the food suggestions. The unappealing truth seems to be that I really can’t tolerate carbs. My waking BG level is consistently over 7 and one slice of toast puts it up to 10+ after two hours. No point in telling you what I enjoyed when I was normal; bread, cake, buns, pastries, etc, which are all off limits now. Never mind. I’ll just stick to the sugar free low fat yogurt for breakfast and salad for dinner.

The low fat yoghurt might be high carb even if it is low in sugar - you really need to watch what is added when the fat is removed.
If you want to have baked things, making them yourself from low carb ingredients works for many people - wraps made from eggs and cheese for instance, or cake made with almond flour and proper butter....

 

[Sheepish1947]

The low fat yoghurt might be high carb even if it is low in sugar - you really need to watch what is added when the fat is removed.
If you want to have baked things, making them yourself from low carb ingredients works for many people - wraps made from eggs and cheese for instance, or cake made with almond flour and proper butter....

The yogurt I have is Fage 0%. I’ve looked at the nutrition info and it’s the lowest carb I can find. Otherwise, without cereal, porridge, toast I can’t think of anything else for breakfast. Don’t like omelette except for dinner and can’t eat boiled or scrambled eggs without toast. I seem to have BG levels that start around 7 and go up to about 8ish as the day progresses. Maybe I need to eat even smaller portions.

 

[helli]

@Sheepish1947 sorry to read of your loss of appetite.
You say you can’t think of anything else to have for breakfast. Have you tr thinking of breakfast as just another meal.
Some people (without diabetes) have cereal for lunch and evening Mel. Why not turn that on its head and have what you would have for lunch or evening meal as your first meal of the day.

 

[Leadinglights]

You say your glucose levels go up during the morning, this could be because you are not eating enough in the morning for breakfast so your body feels it has nothing to keep your organs functioning so it is releasing glucose from your liver. Giving it something in terms of fat and protein might help. So a higher % fat yoghurt and add some seeds or and a few berries or nuts.

 

[Leadinglights]

There are quite a few breakfast ideas in a recipe book I have, Keto Kitchen but if you search for Keto breakfast recipes on the internet you might find something you fancy like muffins which you could make in advance if time is an issue.

 

[Sheepish1947]

Thank you for all your ideas. I guess I’m just too old to change my habits, especially to things I really don’t want. I’ll just carry on with breakfast and dinner and maybe a bowl of salad midday and see what that does. Haven’t enjoyed eating for three years and don’t have to enjoy it now, just do it.