Why do i feel like not eating

Reasons You Don’t Feel Hungry

Medically Reviewed by Minesh Khatri, MD on November 27, 2022

Hunger is your body’s signal that it needs fuel. Your brain and gut work together to give you that feeling. So if you don’t feel like eating, a number of things could cause that dip in appetite, including certain medications, emotions, and health issues.

When you get stressed, your body reacts as if it’s in danger. Your brain releases chemicals, including adrenaline, that make your heart beat faster and slow your digestion. That can curb your appetite. This is called the fight-or-flight response, and it lasts only a short time. If you're stressed over a long period, your body releases a hormone called cortisol, and it makes you hungrier, especially for high-calorie foods.

Many medicines can have appetite loss as a side effect. Some of the most common ones include antibiotics, antifungals, and muscle relaxants. Drugs that treat depression, migraines, high blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Parkinson’s disease can also affect your hunger. If you haven't been eating, check with your doctor to see if any of the medications you take could be causing the problem.

When you’re sick, your immune system kicks into high gear. It releases chemicals called cytokines that can make you tired and not eager to eat. It’s your body’s way of telling you to rest so it can get the energy it needs to fight what’s making you ill. But eating a little something can give your immune system a boost. Try a bowl of chicken soup: Research shows that it helps with inflammation, and that can make you feel better.

You’re supposed to be eating for two but don’t feel like chowing down? That’s because many moms-to-be battle nausea, especially during the first trimester. Although it’s called morning sickness, it can strike any time of day. Easy-to-digest foods, like crackers or dry toast, can calm the queasiness. Also, try to eat small meals or snacks often -- an empty stomach can make things worse.

If you have nausea, diarrhea, and cramps, you may have a stomach bug, or gastroenteritis. That’s when a virus, bacteria, or parasite infects your stomach and intestines. Chances are, the last thing you feel like doing is eating. Once the nausea goes away, start with bland foods, like bananas, rice, or toast. And drink plenty of fluids to make sure you stay hydrated.

When eating leads to nausea, diarrhea, bloating, or stomach pain, your appetite can nosedive. This often happens with stomach disorders. One of the most common is irritable bowel syndrome, a chronic condition of your large intestine. Colitis and Crohn’s disease are more serious illnesses that trigger some of the same symptoms. If you’re having these kinds of problems, see your doctor.

This condition happens when your body doesn’t make enough healthy red blood cells. Their job is to carry oxygen throughout your body. If you don’t have enough of them, you may feel tired and weak, and have little appetite. If you have symptoms, which also include chest pain and headaches, your doctor can give you a blood test to see if you’re anemic. If you are, they may recommend iron or vitamin B12 supplements.

A lack of appetite is a common side effect of cancer. The disease and its treatments, like radiation and chemotherapy, might also cause nausea, pain, or dehydration. They can even change the way foods taste or smell. Talk to your doctor if you have a hard time eating enough at mealtime. You may need to have 6 to 8 smaller meals a day.

Up to 30% of older people have less of an appetite than they used to. It can happen for a number of reasons. As you age, your digestion slows, so you tend to feel fuller for longer. Your sense of smell, taste, or vision may also get weaker. This can make food less appealing. Hormonal changes, a chronic illness, and medications can also curb your hunger. Talk to your doctor -- they can help you figure out what’s going on.

If your diabetes isn’t managed well, high blood sugar levels can damage nerves in your body. One of them may be the vagus nerve, which controls your stomach muscles. When this nerve doesn’t work the way it should, food doesn’t move through your gastrointestinal tract as quickly. Called gastroparesis, this condition causes a loss of appetite and bloating. It’s treated with changes to your diet, medication, or surgery.

Your thyroid hormones control how your body turns food into energy. When that gland doesn’t make enough of those, your body functions slow down. The result: You use less energy and your hunger dips. But because you’re not burning as many calories, you may actually gain weight. Your doctor can test for the condition and, if that's the problem, give you thyroid hormone to speed things up again.

A pounding head alone can be enough to make you lose your appetite. But a migraine also can cause nausea and vomiting. And you may not feel like eating even after it goes away. A dip in hunger is common in the day or two after a migraine. Medications can help prevent them or treat them when you have them.

For some people, this can lead to cravings and weight gain. For others, it can have the opposite effect. Depression triggers your brain to release more of a hormone called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). It can make you less hungry. With severe depression, you may lose interest in cooking and eating. If your change in appetite comes with a change in mood, talk with your doctor about it.

A mild form of traumatic brain injury, this can cause dizziness, headaches, and nausea. In some cases, you may lose some of your sense of smell. That can make food less appealing. If you think you have a concussion, see your doctor. They can find out for sure. If it's not serious, they may tell you things to do to help you feel better faster, like get plenty of rest.

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SOURCES:

Angel Planells, registered dietitian nutritionist; spokesman, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Karla Luna, registered dietitian; clinical nutrition supervisor, Baylor Scott & White Healthcare.

Minerva Endocrinology: “Stress and Eating Behaviors.”

Nursing Older People: “An Overview of Appetite Decline in Older People.”

American Cancer Society: “Caring for the Patient With Cancer at Home.”

Cardiff University Common Cold Centre: “Symptoms.”

Chest: “Chicken Soup Inhibits Neutrophil Chemotaxis in Vitro.”

Mayo Clinic: “Morning Sickness,” "Gastroparesis," "Gastroenteritis: First Aid," "Migraines," "Anemia."

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: “Hypothyroidism (Underactive Thyroid).”

Hippokratia: “Hypothyroidism -- New Aspects of An Old Disease.”

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: “Gastroparesis.”

Cedars-Sinai: “Gastroenteritis.”

Neurology: “The Migraine Postdrome.”

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: “Anemia. ”

CDC: “What Is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?”

Cleveland Clinic: “Irritable Bowel Syndrome,” "Concussion."

Journal of Endocrinology: “The role of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in Depression and Anxiety Disorders.”

North American Brain Injury Society: “Olfactory Dysfunction After Minor Head Trauma.”

Why Am I Not Hungry? Causes and Treatment

Hunger is the feeling that our bodies get when we’re running low on food and need to eat.

Under normal circumstances, hunger and appetite are regulated by a variety of mechanisms. In some cases, however, underlying causes can lead to abnormal appetite and hunger levels.

In this article, we’ll explore:

what causes hunger
why you may not feel hungry
ways to increase your appetite

Hunger is the feeling or sensation of wanting to eat. When the body is running low on fuel, feelings of hunger and an appetite for food increase.

Hunger levels are regulated by:

an area of the brain called the hypothalamus
a drop in your blood sugar level
an empty stomach and intestines
an increase in certain “hunger” hormones

The hypothalamus of the brain plays an important role in hunger and appetite. In this area of the brain, a population of neurons regulates function dealing with appetite and the feeling of hunger.

These neurons produce or work in conjunction with certain hormones, such as neuropeptide Y (NPY), agouti-related peptide (AgRP), and ghrelin, to stimulate appetite.

Hunger can feel like a gnawing, empty feeling in your stomach and an increase in appetite.

If you become hungry enough, you may even notice that your stomach makes a grumbling noise. For some people, hunger can also be accompanied by:

weakness
light-headedness
disorientation
irritability

There are many reasons why you might not feel very hungry, even when your body needs to eat.

Anxiety

When you experience anxiety, your fight-or-flight response kicks in and causes the central nervous system to release certain stress hormones. These stress hormones can slow down your digestion, hunger, and appetite.

People with anxiety disorders may also experience other long-term symptoms, such as nausea, that frequently interfere with normal feelings of hunger.

Depression

Depression can also lead to a long-term decrease in hunger and appetite signaling.

In one small research study, researchers investigated brain images of 16 participants with major depressive disorder who experienced appetite loss.

They found that in these participants, the area of the brain responsible for monitoring the physiological state of the body was less active than their healthy counterparts.

Stress

Stress can cause physical symptoms, like nausea and indigestion, that interfere with your appetite or desire to eat.

In addition, research suggests that your appetite levels can be influenced differently based on the type of stress you experience.

For example, acute stress that activates the fight-or-flight response is more likely to lead to a sudden decrease in appetite and hunger.

Illness

Certain illnesses, like the common cold, seasonal flu, or a stomach virus, can cause a decrease in hunger levels.

Respiratory illnesses, in particular, can block your sense of smell and taste, which can make food seem unappetizing.

In addition, both the seasonal flu and stomach viruses can cause nausea, which tends to decrease your appetite.

Pregnancy

Pregnancy can lead to a decrease in hunger, a loss of appetite, and possibly even food aversions.

Certain pregnancy symptoms, like nausea and heartburn, can make it difficult to sense true hunger levels. In addition, aversions to certain foods can have a negative effect on appetite and hunger.

Certain health conditions

There are a handful of underlying health conditions that can cause you to feel less hungry. Some conditions like hypothyroidism cause the body’s metabolism to slow down, which can lead to a decrease in hunger.

Other conditions that may cause a decrease in appetite include:

kidney disease
liver disease
heart failure
certain cancers

Chronic pain

Chronic pain conditions that negatively affect your physical and mental health, like arthritis and fibromyalgia, can cause you to lose your appetite, as well.

This is also part of the reason why some people experience appetite loss during menstruation: The hormonal changes and pain can lead to a decreased appetite.

Medications

Some medications can cause a loss of appetite as a side effect. These medications include:

antibiotics
antihypertensives
diuretics
sedatives

The decrease in hunger caused by these medications can be accompanied by other side effects that influence hunger levels, such as fatigue and nausea.

Some treatment procedures for certain diseases can also decrease your hunger levels.

One example of this is cancer treatments like radiation and chemotherapy, which are known to decrease appetite. Other procedures, such as peritoneal dialysis, have been shown to cause a loss of appetite as well.

Age

Roughly 15 to 30 percent of older people are estimated to experience age-related appetite decline. There are many reasons why hunger levels decrease with age, including:

lower metabolism and energy needs
lowered hormone response
dampened senses of taste and smell
reduced saliva production
poor dental health
acute and chronic illnesses

Mental health disorders, like anxiety and depression, can also affect appetite in older individuals.

In one cross-sectional study, researchers identified a link between appetite loss and poor cognitive performance in older people with major depression.

If you’ve been experiencing a loss of appetite and a decrease in hunger levels, here are some ways to stimulate your appetite.

Make flavorful, delicious meals. If you’re having trouble sparking your appetite, cooking foods with herbs and spices can help you create flavorful meals you’ll enjoy looking forward to eating.
Eat smaller meals with more calories. Instead of forcing yourself to eat huge meals, focus on eating smaller meals with more calories. For example, adding whole grains and heart-healthy fats to a meal can boost calories and keep you full for longer.
Eat more of the foods you love. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your body when you have no appetite is to eat what you can in the moment. This may not always be a nutrient-dense meal, but not to worry. You can focus on those foods once your appetite returns.
Focus on nutrient-dense foods. If possible, try to incorporate nutrient-dense foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, into your meals. This will help ensure that you’re meeting your nutrient needs with the foods you do have an appetite to eat.
Learn to enjoy eating again. Eating is not just for fuel. Sometimes it’s also for enjoyment. When you learn how to enjoy eating again and build positive associations with the act of eating, this can help reignite your appetite for food.
Set reminders to eat. With certain illnesses such as depression and anxiety, it can be easy to lose track of our basic needs. Setting a phone alarm for every few hours can help remind you that it’s time to eat a small snack or another meal.

If you notice that your lack of appetite is accompanied by any of the following symptoms, you should visit your doctor, as you may have an undiagnosed underlying condition:

finding it difficult to swallow food
not eating for long periods of time
not being able to keep food down after eating
any other symptoms that would indicate a more serious condition, such as pain when eating or food getting stuck in the throat
unintentional weight loss

In most cases, your doctor will order some tests to determine if there’s an underlying cause for your lack of appetite.

If there is, your appetite will likely come back over time as you undertake a treatment plan for the underlying condition.

A lack of appetite and a decrease in hunger levels can be caused by a variety of physical or mental factors.

Mental health conditions, like anxiety, depression, and stress, can all have a negative effect on hunger levels.

Other physical conditions, such as pregnancy, hypothyroidism, and more, can also cause a decrease in appetite.

Sometimes even the medications and treatment procedures for certain health conditions can make you lose your appetite.

There are steps you can take to increase your appetite again, including eating smaller meals, cooking foods you enjoy, and setting meal reminders.

If none of these small changes help to improve your appetite or you notice other concerning symptoms, it’s time to visit a doctor to determine if something else is going on.

What causes loss of appetite and what to do?

A healthy appetite is one of the most important signs of a properly functioning organism. If it is missing, the situation cannot be ignored. You need to listen to your own body and find out the cause of the alarming symptom.

Why there is no appetite - not serious reasons?

Anyone can experience loss of appetite, regardless of age or lifestyle. But more often the problem worries the elderly and people who do not care about their health.

The most common reason for the lack of hunger is the wrong way of life. In physical inactivity, energy is practically not consumed, which reduces the need for food. Smoking, alcohol abuse and other bad habits disrupt the functioning of the internal organs, which may make you not want to eat.

Overeating and frequent snacking lead to the fact that during the next meal according to the schedule, the body simply does not need calories and does not react to the aroma and type of food. Fatty, dry, sweet food negatively affects the digestive glands and provokes a failure in the secretion of gastric juice. As a result, reflux can occur - the reverse movement of food and its reflux into the esophagus. In the intestines, the processes of putrefaction begin. There is a permanent discomfort that prevents a person from experiencing hunger at the physical level.

In weather-sensitive people, the appetite is reduced due to the weather. Sometimes - during rains, frosts, magnetic storms. But mostly in the summer. In the hot season, you need to drink more clean water - and then the appetite will remain the same.

The feeling of hunger may not occur in an adult due to overwork, stress, anxiety, depression. If this condition lasts for a day or two, it's okay. But if it has become a habit, it's time to sound the alarm. First of all, it is worth normalizing the regime of the day and rest, having more rest and avoiding stressful situations.

Attention! Lack of appetite in older people is usually age related. The older a person is, the less energy he needs. Therefore, if the phenomenon is not accompanied by other symptoms, you should simply monitor the regularity of nutrition. Smaller portions are normal.

Solutions

If you are only worried about poor appetite, then getting rid of the problem will not be difficult. First of all, adjust your diet. The basis of the diet should be natural products: lean meat, fish, poultry, whole grains, legumes, vegetables, dairy products, fruits, nuts.

Healthy snacks can help you balance your diet. For example, the Wild Berries Beauty Bar from the YooGo online nutrition line. Each bar contains two types of protein, providing the body with an optimal amount of protein, dried cranberries and sea buckthorn, which enrich the diet with slow carbohydrates, as well as natural collagen and natural raspberry juice.

Also a great snack option would be Yoo Go Raspberry and Rosehip Chewable Marmalade - the right source of vitamin C for every day, which has a general strengthening effect on the body, accelerates cell repair and provides antioxidant protection.

Eat Appetizing Foods:

citrus fruits;
blackberries;
cranberries;
sour apples;
raspberries;
grenades;
bow;
garlic;
wild garlic;
radish.

Diversify the menu, sometimes you do not want to eat because of the monotony. In addition, the body needs a whole complex of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients every day that cannot be obtained from just a few foods.

Dishes are best steamed or in water, baked. Add spices to them. They improve the attractiveness of food and are very useful. Many of them improve the functioning of the digestive system, cleanse the body of cholesterol and toxins, and saturate it with vitamins.

Attention! Fractional nutrition helps to increase appetite: 5-6 times a day in small portions. Try not to overeat, so eat slowly, chew thoroughly, and get up from the table with a slight feeling of hunger.

Eradicate bad habits from your lifestyle, normalize emotional health, move more and more often.

Add vitamins and minerals to your diet. So, northern cranberries and B-vitamins - Essential Vitamins help to activate metabolism. A balanced, high-dose complex of essential B vitamins enhanced with wild cranberry's natural antioxidants to improve metabolism, support the nervous system, and improve skin, nail, and hair health.

Loss of appetite as a symptom of illness

Often, loss of appetite occurs against the background of serious illnesses. But in such cases it is accompanied by other symptoms. Possible diseases:

colds, influenza, SARS;
poisoning, intoxication;
pathologies of internal organs;
endocrine disorders;
nervous and mental disorders;
oncology.

What to do?

If lack of appetite is not the only thing that bothers you, do not waste precious time trying to solve the problem at home - consult a doctor urgently.

Why you don't feel like eating and what to do about it

July 21, 2021 Likbez Health

You may need to stay cool for a couple of hours.

Why I don't want to eat

Loss of appetite is not a diagnosis. But this can be a sign of serious health problems or just a misunderstanding. Here are a few common factors that can affect appetite.

1. Age

Appetite often decreases with age. Perhaps this is due to the fact that with age, the metabolism slows down and people simply need fewer calories than in their youth.

But other reasons are not excluded. Scientists suspect that the elderly may not produce enough ghrelin, a hormone responsible for appetite. Or the work of the sense organs is changing, and people do not get the pleasure from food that in their youth (and if so, why eat?).

Research is still ongoing. But it is unambiguously established: the older we get, the less we eat.

2. High physical or mental stress

If you feel like a squirrel in a wheel all day long, you are in a hurry somewhere, you worry about something, and in the evening you fall exhausted from your feet, you should not be surprised at a decrease in appetite.

When you are extremely exhausted, the body is forced to choose what to spend energy on: running around or energy-intensive digestion. If you can’t get out of business, the brain reduces the activity of the gastrointestinal tract. You just don't want to eat.

3. Pregnancy in women

Many expectant mothers face nausea and loss of appetite. Most often this happens in the first trimester.

Kesha Gaither

MD, obstetrician-gynecologist, in a comment to Parents.

Approximately one in two pregnant women in the United States experiences periods of aversion to some familiar food.

The exact cause of decreased appetite during pregnancy is not known. But experts suggest that the matter is in the hormonal restructuring of the body and increased sensitivity to tastes and smells. Perhaps the refusal of a favorite food is an evolutionary mechanism: in this way, the mother’s body tries to protect the fetus from substances that are potentially harmful to its development.

4. Weather

In the summer heat, you want to eat much less than on cold autumn or winter evenings. The fact is that food is part of the body's thermoregulation system. When we are cool, we tend to consume more calories in order to convert them into heat. In the heat, the body does not need additional heating, and therefore neglects food.

5. Mood

Someone's appetite disappears because of nervousness, someone, on the contrary, gets stressed out. Scientists have not yet discovered any common algorithm for all that connects emotions and eating behavior. But it was quite clearly established that the desire to eat largely depends on mood. And for each person, this connection is individual.

6. Smoking

Nicotine has a side effect: it reduces the need for food.

7. SARS and other diseases in the acute phase

Leptin is a hormone that causes satiety. But at the same time, this substance takes an active part in the immune response to infection.

With a cold, flu, exacerbation of other infectious diseases, the level of leptin increases - this allows the body to repel a pathogenic attack. But once the hormone becomes more, there is a feeling of satiety. Therefore, sick people often refuse to eat.

8. Certain medications

Reduced appetite may be one of the side effects of antibiotics. But other drugs sometimes discourage the desire to eat. Painkillers based on codeine and morphine, as well as diuretics, for example, lead to such a reaction.

9. Psychiatric disorders

Loss of appetite can be caused by depression.

Another common mental disorder that is directly related to the reluctance to eat is anorexia nervosa. So doctors call an eating disorder caused by a desperate fear of gaining weight.

10. Diseases of the digestive system

A change in appetite may be one of the first symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease.

11. Viral hepatitis and other liver damage

One of the most important elements in the digestive system is the liver: it is here that blood enters with nutrients processed by the stomach and intestines. The body sorts the substances received, cleanses them of toxins and only then passes them into the general bloodstream. With viral hepatitis and other liver diseases, it ceases to cope with its functions.

In order not to overload the suffering liver and give it a chance to recover, the body reduces the production of hormones, enzymes and other substances responsible for the manifestation of appetite.

12. Cardiovascular diseases

Loss of appetite is one of the symptoms of chronic heart failure. In addition, reluctance to eat may be associated with a developing heart attack and heart defects.

13. Endocrine Disorders

If the thyroid gland produces less hormones than necessary (a condition called hypothyroidism), appetite is greatly reduced. However, the weight may increase.

14. Iron deficiency anemia

Loss of appetite along with weight loss, especially if all this is accompanied by fatigue, a feeling of lack of strength, is one of the most characteristic symptoms of iron deficiency in the body.

15. Cancer

Loss of appetite often accompanies such oncological diseases as:

stomach cancer;
pancreatic cancer;
colon cancer;
ovarian cancer.

Food aversion can also be a side effect of tumor treatment.

Is it necessary to restore appetite

On the one hand, reducing appetite is a convenient thing. Someone suffers on diets, and you reduce the caloric content of the diet by itself.

On the other hand, you should not rejoice at the lack of appetite. At least because with a limited diet, you get fewer nutrients. And this can lead to hypovitaminosis (and even beriberi), a decrease in hemoglobin levels, anemia and more serious problems - with the liver and other internal organs, vision, joints, teeth.

What exactly will be the long-term consequences of a decrease in appetite depends on the reasons that caused such a condition. It's one thing if you don't feel like eating just because you're sad or too hot. And it is quite another if the loss of appetite is associated with damage to the liver, heart, and even more so cancer.

What to do if you don't feel like eating

First, take care of yourself, your well-being, and life circumstances. Perhaps your appetite has decreased for external reasons, for example, due to heat, fatigue, worries. In this case, the desire to eat will return as soon as stress factors disappear.

But if everything is calm in your life, and your appetite has disappeared, or if indifference to food lasts for weeks, try to see a therapist.

See your doctor as soon as possible if you notice that your reluctance to eat is accompanied by sudden weight loss.

The doctor will examine you and ask you about your symptoms. He will definitely ask what medications you take, what lifestyle you lead, whether the loss of appetite is due to stressful events, such as divorce, the loss of a family member or friend.

You may need to do some research.

Learn more