How to Support Your Appetite
Believe it or not, appetites are a little finicky. Travel, stress, change in routine, mental health, overly scheduled days, increased demands, intense exercise, hormones, phone distractions, and much more can all impact your appetite significantly. Since its the current season of life I’m in, I’ll go ahead and add postpartum, sleep deprivation, and the enormous task of keeping yourself and another human being alive can all also take their toll on appetite.
You are probably most familiar with conversations about appetite centering on the ideas that a strong appetite needs to be controlled and minimized but as a dietitian, I find its most common that people lack a strong, reliable appetite and/or they are out of touch with their hunger and fullness cues. If you’re thinking a strong appetite is a bad thing - think again! We need our appetite to fuel, thrive, and enjoy life!
These tips to support appetite are for your if:
You have a poor appetite overall
You generally lack an interest in eating or feel overwhelmed by eating
You don’t have an appetite in the morning or feel sick when you do eat breakfast
You go long stretches of time without eating (outside of sleeping)
You don’t feel hungry during the day but you feel ravenous at night
You feel out of control with food
You find your eating patterns have a strong connection to your emotions
You find your eating patterns have a strong connection to your body image
You consistently feel overly full at night
1. Maintain a consistent eating routine
Consistent eating routines support hunger and fullness cues and make them easier to read. Eating enough and frequently helps you avoid ravenous hunger at the end of the day as well.
2. Actively manage anxiety
Anxieties and worries can make us live in our heads and spiraling thoughts and create a disconnection from our bodies. Don’t underestimate the power of deep breaths before and during meals. It’s always a good idea to reach out to your doctor or a therapist if you find anxiety is having a significant impact on your life and well being.
3. Avoid stimulating activities & anxiety-inducing tasks at meals
Amping up your brain at meal times can interfere with hunger and fullness cues and take your nervous system out of the parasympathetic mode that helps digestion and launch you into the sympathetic mode that is activated during stress.
4. Normalize and embrace hunger as a biological human response and need
Vilifying your hunger is a quick way to make your appetite feel all out of sorts. Hunger is a biological signal that communicates a need our body has and keeps us alive. Humans need hunger cues to live so that we feed ourselves and our bodies get nutrients that are important for keeping its intricate systems running.
5. Have breakfast before you have coffee
Caffeine, and even delaying eating, can significantly suppress appetite. This alone may be the culprit for your lack of hunger in the morning or inability to eat a full breakfast.
6. Work on body image
Negative body image thoughts, just like anxieties and worries, can quickly distance us from our bodies and create negative associations with eating and self care. If you find your body image is directly impacting how you eat, your appetite, or how you care for yourself, its a good idea to start working with a dietitian.
Uncovered Nutrition can help you do all of this to support a reliable, healthy appetite and create long term peace with food and your appetite. Check out our services and nutrition counseling packages to get started today.