appetite perception

[ratcreature]

I'm wondering how many people are familiar with the situation that you are moderately hungry, but none of the food you have seems appealing in any way, and worse, you have no idea what you'd rather eat just now, even if the food of your choice could appear by magic.

I find this really frustrating. When this happens to me I either don't eat, and wait until I'm hungry enough that I don't actually care much about what I eat (but that sometimes leads to bad eating choices, also it is unpleasant to feel hungry for the time it takes for me to not be finicky anymore, usually about two skipped regular meals) or I just force myself to eat something that I have available. However that is unpleasant too, because I often start to feel sick of the taste of the food I have prepared way before I've consumed the usual amount of food I eat during a meal. Which maybe wouldn't be so bad, my weight being what it is, but then I actually go back to feeling hungry for that elusive unspecified thing not too long after. And it is the same thing all over again with the next meal.

This is really annoying. Also it takes any joy out of eating. :/ Besides, it seems messed up to feel appetite without it being either for something or just indiscriminate for somewhat tasty food. So do others have any strategies for this besides just waiting for the own wacky appetite to become normal again at some point?

Comments

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I hate that!

My coping strategy, which is only partly effective, is to think of what the qualities of the elusive thing are. Is it something salty? Is it proteiny? etc. and narrow it down. Sometimes that leads me to think of what it is, so I can get it, and sometimes it leads me to possible substitutes that I have on hand. (For example, if I determine that the elusive thing is pizza-adjacent, I can usually eat some cheese toast and be happy.)

[ratcreature]

I will try that, though often I seem to be just at a loss.

I like it much better when I have specific food cravings. For example once or twice a year I tend to desire brussel sprouts really badly. Which is just weird because I don't like brussel sprouts all that much normally. I mean, I'll eat them when offered and don't dislike them per se (unlike say fennel), but I don't usually want them all that much either. But at least that has a solution built in, i.e. get some brussel sprouts, and I'm done with it.

[vamysteryfan.livejournal.com]

"What am I hungry for when I don't know what I'm hungry for?" is an all too common refrain chez moi.

My usual solution is some form of easy protein - either eggs or tuna fish. At least then I can feel I haven't wasted the calories.

But sometime I nuke a potato into pretend!baked potato. Because, butter. and salt. and pepper

[ratcreature]

Yeah, sometimes protein works for me too, not today though. I don't eat fish, but I tried eggs mid-morning to no avail. Well, at least my rats were thrilled to get a good part of my scrambled eggs... (I have yet to meet a rat not loving scrambled eggs, with the exception of extremely sick ones who don't eat anything anymore.)

[trewestriandta.livejournal.com]

I have this feeling almost everytime I go to eat. I'm not picky, I just have NO CLUE what I want to eat. But I also often misconstrue hunger pains for nausea. Usually I just pick something I can choke down, i.e sandwich of some sort or soup. I can almost always get soup down because you can drink it.

[ratcreature]

I don't think I've ever had hunger pains, because I never skip more than two meals at most, so I don't fast long enough to be that hungry. I usually don't even loose my appetite while I'm sick, because I rarely have stomach flu or the like.

IIRC I've never experienced this food choice dilemma in a social eating situation like in a restaurant. I guess company prevents me from overthinking this ore something.

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

V8 or tomato juice

[ratcreature]

Heh. Liquid food is not very satisfying for me.

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

I find that a glass of V8 or tomato juice provides sufficient nutrients/calories to then allow me to think more effectively about what I need to eat in an hour or two

[ratcreature]

I guess that works if you have juice on hand. I usually don't because I drink water, not least because I avoid carrying heavy things up five flights of stairs.

[veryclevername.livejournal.com]

Is there anything you're always in the mood for? Like I always want chocolate or ice cream even if that isn't the thing I'm specifically craving, so sometimes if I have that it kind of distracts my body for a little while. Though another problem then arises if I'm completely out of sweet things in the house.
Or on a completely different angle sometimes I get a really intense craving for something unknown when I'm deeply bored.

[ratcreature]

Well, I usually do not have chocolate at home. For a few years I never bought any (a resolution to only eat sweets or snack foods when being invited somewhere) and now I sometimes treat myself, but chocolate never lasts long. I also don't tend to have any cake or cookies or something like that, because I avoid pre-made convenient foods of all kinds, so if I want to eat that I have to make them from scratch. So I usually reserve that for when I'm sure that I want baked goods.