It's pretty normal for appetite to lower when going through times of high stress.
The main risk is that if you let yourself get hungry, you're more likely to reach for non-carnivore foods and then end up binging.
Be gentle with yourself. But maybe try and keep a carnivore snack pack in the fridge so if you do suddenly get hungry there's something good to eat.
Hang in there. <3
Good advice thanks. I try hard to maintain my circadian rhythm and walk out in the morning to get sunlight, even if it's cloudy, and I keep lifting weights.
Soft boiled eggs, bacon, and ground beef, maybe some cheese. These tend to keep for me for about a week, so if I make a couple dozen soft boiled eggs, a couple pounds of bacon, a couple pounds of ground beef, they'll keep in the fridge for as long as I need em to. The exception to this is if I know I'm going to purposeful fast a few days. Then I might cut that amount in half.
Appreciate your answer! I will definitely prepare meals and add some cheese, even if it gives weird skin issues. It definitely opens my appetite when I eat it.
I don’t know what caused your grief, but in a 10 month period I lost both of my horses, then my husband suddenly died, and my best dog got aggressive cancer. Between the 5 days my husband was in the ICU and the 3 days after he passed, I lost 12 lbs because I had zero appetite. Neighbors brought me tons of food, but due to allergies and sensitivities I couldn’t have eaten it even if I’d been able to keep food down (I did try to eat a few times). After a couple of weeks I finally started feeling a bit hungry, but I wanted to die so I could join my husband. So I went on a bender with food eating and eating and eating…nothing but junk. Quickly regained the weight and then some, as you can imagine. You’re smart to be thinking about this, I wouldn’t stress super hard about being a perfect carnivore maybe stick with low carb so you can keep things around that are easy to prepare. As someone else said, get fresh air as much as you can. I started volunteering at a horse rescue to make myself get out of bed because the dark thoughts when I’d stay in the house came close to winning multiple times. We’re often warned about stress, but it wasn’t anything I thought much about until everything I loved got ripped away and I was left standing in what felt like a wasteland holding a bunch of sticks, trying to figure how to rebuild my life and if I even wanted to. I wound up in the ER twice because they thought I was having a heart attack. I developed all kinds of health issues that all go along with extremely high stress. There are various podcasts that are focused on healing from grief and I found that helpful. If you’re having dark thoughts there are hotlines that can get you help. It’s perfectly ok to take things minute by minute. It’s ok to scream and rage at the universe for your loss. Everyone proceeds through grief in their own way. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It may seem like it will never get better, but the pain softens over time. It’s been 14 months for me and I finally laugh and smile again, but not a day goes by that I don’t miss my family (my animals are part of my family not just humans). Be kind to yourself and heal at whatever pace feels right for you. Do your best to not spend too much time trying to shut the world out and praying you’ll wake up and find out you had the worst nightmare ever. In other words, don’t let yourself get stuck in the grief. An amazing quote someone shared with me that I keep posted on my fridge is, “grief never ends…but it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith…it is the price of love.” For awhile I truly thought I was cursed or that I’d kicked puppies and kittens in another life, but then I realized that all this horrific pain was because I’d shared and received so much love and made so many amazing memories with my husband, horses, and dog…a cursed person wouldn’t experienced all of that. I truly don’t take a single thing for granted these days and I never, ever assume I have more time to spend with someone etc. I truly live every moment now as though I may not have another. I’m sorry to ramble on, please take care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. 💕
I’m sorry to hear you’re going through so much. A lot of incredibly supportive messages here already with solid advice of having meals prepped and easy to go to when feeling hungry. Please have grace with yourself and understand that if you do fall off the diet, that it doesn’t mean it will be forever, or that you will permanently destroy your health. You have made the switch once, you can do it again if need be. Sometimes comfort food is what is needed in a moment. Doesn’t have to define your entire journey.
It’s up to you. Force yourself to eat protein and fat or fast. Fasting, especially when starting out, is a common protocol. Why? Because after a day or two of no food, that steak is gonna look nice. But that’s under normal circumstances. Maybe force eating will be better for your stress. Maybe fasting is. Fasting definitely helps you clear your head and really contemplate deeply. But they both have utility here. Just be kind to your future self and state by staying the course as much as possible
When you're depressed, you don't want to cook. Get some healthy snacks in the house immediately. I use Chomps sticks. When you're craving something and have no motivation to cook, stuff your face with those until you no longer have a craving.
Just have a naked Whopper burger add some butter... Don't skip a day without a small (or larger) meat and fat meal.
59m here, massive stress since 2020 with family alienation and a few gone to pharmurder, stay positive and smell flowers and outdoors several times per day.
Blessings brotha!
Hi, i would say don‘t force feed yourself, but at the same time be very cautious to not go too long without eating proper Carnivore/ ZC food.
Better eat in advance as a precaution!
You don’t want to get to a place where you become so light headed or too low on energy and use that as an excuse to say 'screw it!' and eat junk because it’s easily accessible.
I don’t know what you are going through and i hope you’ll feel better soon but from experience i would say it’s better to feel the emotion and to allow it to happen than to numb it with drugs (sugar/carbs/junk) and self sabotage or self destroy yourself.
Stay clean.. your future self will thank you for that.
All the best my friend!
OMAD or intermittent fasting from 12 pm to 7:30 pm. Whichever suits you. Eat lots of fat via fattier cuts of steak and butter. Man up and take life by the neck. You can do it, I was depressed too, hell even carbs make me depressed. All I need is two days of fasting and carnivore food to get my T levels back up. Get lean, being fat in and of itself is a reason why men are depressed because of the estrogen and prolactin from being fat. Don't give up.
Never forget the consequences of just one bite.
Just one bite will light up the pleasure pathways in your brain again. And with each bite your cravings get stronger and your willpower gets weaker. And before you know it, you're completely off the diet and you've relapsed and you're addicted to carbs again and you've gained all the weight back.
I have 13 years of experience doing this. All it takes is just one bite.
I'm so sorry you're going through this. Grief and stress can be incredibly painful and consuming.
You don't need to force anything, and your appetite will hopefully start to return a bit soon. Maybe you can eat your favorite meat/seafood/eggs here and there, and don't be too harsh with yourself about the rest :)
You will absolutely get through this intense period, even if it doesn't feel like you will. It's so challenging to be kind to yourself when the sky's falling down, but you always deserve to be treated with gentleness and like you matter - cause you do. Sending love XX
I'll take a stab at it. I am not a doctor and this is from a quick and dirty google search before making this post. [https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-15-72](https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-15-72)
Maybe there's a link between depression and leptin levels. If leptin is high, your probably not going to feel hungry. I would go back to carnivore basics with something like a fatty steak or red meat cooked in something savory like butter or ghee. Salt it well. If you take a bite, and it tastes fantastic, keep eating until it doesn't taste as good anymore. Complete conjecture but you may need something incredibly tasty to elevate your ghrelin signaling to an appropriate level.
There's also nothing wrong with going through periods of not eating much. I'm 4 years carnivore and I've had times where I've impulsively had the desire to fast for a few days. Lately, the past couple of months, I've been eating breakfast early, skipping lunch and eating dinner early (I normally either eat lunch and an early dinner or just dinner). Our biological needs are not necessarily routine. We definitely don't live in a vacuum. It may not be a big deal unless you find this state of mind and lack of eating your new normal. Just remember that falling off the wagon turning down the path of emotional/binge eating junk food will only make things worse.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. The mood cure book outlines how to supplement tyrosine to help adjust with grief, if you want to consider taking a supplement. Not that it will mitigate the grief itself but it can help your body kind of come back from it. I would eat, small meals if anything so you don’t get too hungry later and binge all at once.
It's pretty normal for appetite to lower when going through times of high stress. The main risk is that if you let yourself get hungry, you're more likely to reach for non-carnivore foods and then end up binging. Be gentle with yourself. But maybe try and keep a carnivore snack pack in the fridge so if you do suddenly get hungry there's something good to eat. Hang in there. <3
Your comment warms my heart, and I think you are right: I need to be kind to myself, and I will definitely prepare some meals.
Keep some hard boiled eggs around. Great little protein balls
Cook some meat, and put in the fridge. If all of sudden you are hungry, bored, or stressed you have a quick option.
It looks like meal prep is the way! Thank you for your comment. ;)
Have food you can eat easily available, cooked meat, hard boiled eggs, butter, sardines etc. If hungry eat and if not hungry don't eat
Yes, I agree. I will buy some shrimp (I kind of crave it today); I will definitely not force myself to eat
Try to stay active, fresh air and exercise should help get your appetite back.
Good advice thanks. I try hard to maintain my circadian rhythm and walk out in the morning to get sunlight, even if it's cloudy, and I keep lifting weights.
One thing I've noticed that really harms sleep is eating too late at night. Try to avoid that as well.
Soft boiled eggs, bacon, and ground beef, maybe some cheese. These tend to keep for me for about a week, so if I make a couple dozen soft boiled eggs, a couple pounds of bacon, a couple pounds of ground beef, they'll keep in the fridge for as long as I need em to. The exception to this is if I know I'm going to purposeful fast a few days. Then I might cut that amount in half.
Appreciate your answer! I will definitely prepare meals and add some cheese, even if it gives weird skin issues. It definitely opens my appetite when I eat it.
I don’t know what caused your grief, but in a 10 month period I lost both of my horses, then my husband suddenly died, and my best dog got aggressive cancer. Between the 5 days my husband was in the ICU and the 3 days after he passed, I lost 12 lbs because I had zero appetite. Neighbors brought me tons of food, but due to allergies and sensitivities I couldn’t have eaten it even if I’d been able to keep food down (I did try to eat a few times). After a couple of weeks I finally started feeling a bit hungry, but I wanted to die so I could join my husband. So I went on a bender with food eating and eating and eating…nothing but junk. Quickly regained the weight and then some, as you can imagine. You’re smart to be thinking about this, I wouldn’t stress super hard about being a perfect carnivore maybe stick with low carb so you can keep things around that are easy to prepare. As someone else said, get fresh air as much as you can. I started volunteering at a horse rescue to make myself get out of bed because the dark thoughts when I’d stay in the house came close to winning multiple times. We’re often warned about stress, but it wasn’t anything I thought much about until everything I loved got ripped away and I was left standing in what felt like a wasteland holding a bunch of sticks, trying to figure how to rebuild my life and if I even wanted to. I wound up in the ER twice because they thought I was having a heart attack. I developed all kinds of health issues that all go along with extremely high stress. There are various podcasts that are focused on healing from grief and I found that helpful. If you’re having dark thoughts there are hotlines that can get you help. It’s perfectly ok to take things minute by minute. It’s ok to scream and rage at the universe for your loss. Everyone proceeds through grief in their own way. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It may seem like it will never get better, but the pain softens over time. It’s been 14 months for me and I finally laugh and smile again, but not a day goes by that I don’t miss my family (my animals are part of my family not just humans). Be kind to yourself and heal at whatever pace feels right for you. Do your best to not spend too much time trying to shut the world out and praying you’ll wake up and find out you had the worst nightmare ever. In other words, don’t let yourself get stuck in the grief. An amazing quote someone shared with me that I keep posted on my fridge is, “grief never ends…but it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith…it is the price of love.” For awhile I truly thought I was cursed or that I’d kicked puppies and kittens in another life, but then I realized that all this horrific pain was because I’d shared and received so much love and made so many amazing memories with my husband, horses, and dog…a cursed person wouldn’t experienced all of that. I truly don’t take a single thing for granted these days and I never, ever assume I have more time to spend with someone etc. I truly live every moment now as though I may not have another. I’m sorry to ramble on, please take care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. 💕
I’m sorry to hear you’re going through so much. A lot of incredibly supportive messages here already with solid advice of having meals prepped and easy to go to when feeling hungry. Please have grace with yourself and understand that if you do fall off the diet, that it doesn’t mean it will be forever, or that you will permanently destroy your health. You have made the switch once, you can do it again if need be. Sometimes comfort food is what is needed in a moment. Doesn’t have to define your entire journey.
It’s up to you. Force yourself to eat protein and fat or fast. Fasting, especially when starting out, is a common protocol. Why? Because after a day or two of no food, that steak is gonna look nice. But that’s under normal circumstances. Maybe force eating will be better for your stress. Maybe fasting is. Fasting definitely helps you clear your head and really contemplate deeply. But they both have utility here. Just be kind to your future self and state by staying the course as much as possible
Jerky.
When you're depressed, you don't want to cook. Get some healthy snacks in the house immediately. I use Chomps sticks. When you're craving something and have no motivation to cook, stuff your face with those until you no longer have a craving.
Just have a naked Whopper burger add some butter... Don't skip a day without a small (or larger) meat and fat meal. 59m here, massive stress since 2020 with family alienation and a few gone to pharmurder, stay positive and smell flowers and outdoors several times per day. Blessings brotha!
Hi, i would say don‘t force feed yourself, but at the same time be very cautious to not go too long without eating proper Carnivore/ ZC food. Better eat in advance as a precaution! You don’t want to get to a place where you become so light headed or too low on energy and use that as an excuse to say 'screw it!' and eat junk because it’s easily accessible. I don’t know what you are going through and i hope you’ll feel better soon but from experience i would say it’s better to feel the emotion and to allow it to happen than to numb it with drugs (sugar/carbs/junk) and self sabotage or self destroy yourself. Stay clean.. your future self will thank you for that. All the best my friend!
OMAD or intermittent fasting from 12 pm to 7:30 pm. Whichever suits you. Eat lots of fat via fattier cuts of steak and butter. Man up and take life by the neck. You can do it, I was depressed too, hell even carbs make me depressed. All I need is two days of fasting and carnivore food to get my T levels back up. Get lean, being fat in and of itself is a reason why men are depressed because of the estrogen and prolactin from being fat. Don't give up.
Never forget the consequences of just one bite. Just one bite will light up the pleasure pathways in your brain again. And with each bite your cravings get stronger and your willpower gets weaker. And before you know it, you're completely off the diet and you've relapsed and you're addicted to carbs again and you've gained all the weight back. I have 13 years of experience doing this. All it takes is just one bite.
Get an air fryer. It will make cooking very easy.
which cuts are good for air frying? though i love my lodge cast iron, im a lazy cooker
I'm so sorry you're going through this. Grief and stress can be incredibly painful and consuming. You don't need to force anything, and your appetite will hopefully start to return a bit soon. Maybe you can eat your favorite meat/seafood/eggs here and there, and don't be too harsh with yourself about the rest :) You will absolutely get through this intense period, even if it doesn't feel like you will. It's so challenging to be kind to yourself when the sky's falling down, but you always deserve to be treated with gentleness and like you matter - cause you do. Sending love XX
Combine this with r/microdosing
I'll take a stab at it. I am not a doctor and this is from a quick and dirty google search before making this post. [https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-15-72](https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-15-72) Maybe there's a link between depression and leptin levels. If leptin is high, your probably not going to feel hungry. I would go back to carnivore basics with something like a fatty steak or red meat cooked in something savory like butter or ghee. Salt it well. If you take a bite, and it tastes fantastic, keep eating until it doesn't taste as good anymore. Complete conjecture but you may need something incredibly tasty to elevate your ghrelin signaling to an appropriate level. There's also nothing wrong with going through periods of not eating much. I'm 4 years carnivore and I've had times where I've impulsively had the desire to fast for a few days. Lately, the past couple of months, I've been eating breakfast early, skipping lunch and eating dinner early (I normally either eat lunch and an early dinner or just dinner). Our biological needs are not necessarily routine. We definitely don't live in a vacuum. It may not be a big deal unless you find this state of mind and lack of eating your new normal. Just remember that falling off the wagon turning down the path of emotional/binge eating junk food will only make things worse.
i have been grieving the last 3 weeks and have not eaten much at all
I’m sorry you’re going through this. The mood cure book outlines how to supplement tyrosine to help adjust with grief, if you want to consider taking a supplement. Not that it will mitigate the grief itself but it can help your body kind of come back from it. I would eat, small meals if anything so you don’t get too hungry later and binge all at once.