I have an unusual problem with food

[ThePigandPear]

And would love to get some advice that the Dr hasn't been able to offer.

I don't have any disordered thoughts or body image issues regarding food.
But ever since I was young (I am 51 now), I don't feel good if I eat much of a plate. I love so many foods, and particularly vegetables, but if I load more than two on a plate, in any amount, I feel uncomfortable for a good while after eating.

I don't eat fast food and have a decent diet, well balanced, because I make sure of it. I am a healthy weight (8st 4) and am active and happy enough, but mealtimes are a pain in the arse. This is getting old and I just wish I could eat how I want to.

So my preferred way of eating would be : small breakfast with either oats or toast and peanut butter. Fruit for lunch or something equally small (if I am honest I would skip lunch altogether, but don't because I need the calories).
For dinner I would like around 4 wholewheat crackers with olives, a bit of cheese, pickles, nuts and some scattered berries.
Or a bit of sushi rice with two veg and tuna, etc.

So I feel like a small rodent, and deliberately eat more to keep healthy.
When I have let myself eat how I want to, I have lost too much weight.

What I would love to know is, is there a way to enjoy my preferred meal sizes but pack in enough nutrition? To get all that I need per day?
I employ peanut butter, eggs, cheese and decent proteins to keep on top of it, but i struggle with a pile of veg. Tonight we had roast chicken with 4 veg and felt like shit. I do this because I know it is healthy.

I don't like the idea of protein / food shakes at all as I need some crunch and mouthfeel. I think this is just who I always was, and I have spent my life forcing stuff down me that I don't really want just to keep on top.

Any tips or advice welcome.

@ThePigandPear make a smoothie with greek yoghurt, fruit and honey and sip it during the morning, make a soup with liquidised veg and do the same with this in the afternoon

I'd try fitting a couple high calorie protein shakes in through the day.
There's also snack bars and stuff you can get that might be easier to stomach.
Try fitting in a couple extra snacks or small meals and over time your stomach might stretch enough to accommodate it.

I’m your shoes I would look at homemade smoothies (using a nutribullet or similar as you keep all the fibre) for breakfast, and you can add things like peanut butter and protein powder etc for added calories.

For your other meals I would just make grazing plates of small amounts. A lot of cultures eat like this and it isn’t unusual. Maybe even buy a couple of crudite-type dishes especially (the ones with the separate compartments) and include things you will eat. So say some protein (chicken pieces, meat pieces etc in various marinades), a couple of vegetable sections (e.g small stuffed peppers, tomatoes drizzled in olive oil), some crisp breads or breadsticks, a couple of dips etc etc. And just graze on that. Keep mixing and matching so you don’t get bored. Snack on nuts throughout the day with a nice, full fat fruity yoghurt and a piece of fruit alongside and you’ll be absolutely fine calorie and nutrition-wise.

I would just like to remind people offering oP foods, Op has essentially asked how she can eat as little calories as possible and avoid osteoporosis, heart damage etc (the risks of EDs)

She's listed quite bizarre, dull food combinations. Has come up with long, rambling excuses as to why she can't follow usual advise for getting in calories. Has been unable to define "uncomfortable". Has for some reason only just identified what meals they like despite being an adult.

This poster absolutely doesn't need advise on how to eat minimal calories and still get nutrients. She needs professional support.

If it's an appetite issue then I would try to eat more starchy veg, so root veg. Potatoes, sweet potato, carrots parsnips. These are all highly nutritious (seriously, Google the nutrition in potato) but also have plenty of complex carbs which will give you a decent insulin response which will then trigger hunger as it drops again.

So baked sweet potato with butter and rattitoi or tuna or cheese.

Or if you prefer cold then potato salad

Carrot and parsnip soup with buttered bread or croutons.

Looking at your food choices, where is the sugar? There's no chocolate, biscuits, cake or desserts at all other then berries. Obviously overeating these is not a good idea for anyone but you could easily incorporate a homemade (to avoid additives and ultra processed food) baked treat one a day for example. A really decent flapjack (as you like oats) or carrot cake etc.

Why are you skipping lunch everyday? Just not hungry following breakfast?

What about eating breakfast as early as possible? I could fast all day if I didn't eat breakfast as it triggers hunger for the rest of the day. Lengthening the eating window while you are awake could help you digest more and therefore consume more.

Also see lots of emotionally descriptive words around what is a normal healthy plate of food -chicken and veg. Hates plates of meat and veg despite loving veg and wants to consume the same meal in small pots

It's incredibly naive to think there's a single adult in the UK who is so stuffed after 4 wholeweat crackers that they can't follow it up with an apple. Who couldn't possibly eat a tablespoon of rice and some sardines if theyd eaten a carrot 3 hrs earlier. Apparently only desires to eat the calorie requirements of an 18 month old baby, with no underlying medcial conditions and can't work out how to follow their miniscule dinners up with a bowl of fruit and ice cream.

Thank you for the helpful posts with meal ideas and suggestions.
I am otherwise happy with my food, but can get into a muddle with the 10-a-day advice as I don't feel comfortable with larger meals. My only concern is not wanting to loose weight since my fantasy diet is crackers and olives, lol.

Of course I don't restrict or mess around, I always eat what I need to and feel pretty good - just not eating my preferred way and it irritates me.

I think it would be a great idea to batch cook some really nutritious veggie soups. I feel silly not having thought of something so bloody obvious. I would have this for lunch with a crusty bit of bread or add some chicken to it.
This really does seem the best way forward so that I can free up my other meals to enjoy my preferred proteins, and peanut butter toasties etc, without bulk

I am most certainly a slightly weird eater, but the disorder posts are a bit OTT. This type of 'diagnosis' is very typical of online communities and a bit overwhelming. To those who were genuinely concerned - thank you.

Am excited to get going now.
Many thanks.

Not sure either, but some posts here seem to be actually 'angry' with me, or at least passive aggressive, as if the idea of someone having a small appetite is unacceptable or somehow deviant.

Surely I can't be the only one noticing that?

Would there be a similar type of unpleasantness if an overweight women opined about having too large an appetite? There is just a general unfriendliness to the atmosphere in here, analysing my words for signs of mental illness, etc.

If you truly cared about a stranger on the internet having a problem, you would possibly be a little more kind?

Of course, I shall now be told that I am 'over reacting and overthinking' in true MN style.

Some meal ideas would have been fab, and I appreciate those who shared, so I shall leave it there now.

I'm trying to say this gently, but this sounds very disordered.
You're proudly eating very small quantities of food in some attempt to get to the perfect diet.
It all sounds very competitive with yourself, and "Oh I can't possibly eat a morsel more! Too much kale and broccoli!"
I can't see if you've said how tall you are, but 8 stone 4 sounds like a very, very low weight for an adult woman. I'm 5"3 and at my absolute thinnest was 9 stone 3. I was pale, drawn and looked hideous. I was barely eating anything.

OP my comments come from a good place I promise as someone who has disordered eating and struggles with food. It’s upto you if you want to look into it further. If it doesn’t bother you then crack on. If you want to dive into your eating patterns then there’s been some good advice here.

OP, your posts resonated with me especially the "grazing" and eating small bits, lack of veg and so on. I am the same.

I am in my 60s now and had that full feeling a few years back and couldn't eat much at all. Just felt full very quickly. I was still eating, but smaller snacks regularly throughout the day. Annual blood tests all normal and otherwise healthy and not overweight, but not underweight either. So lack of veg didn't do me any harm, and I still don't eat that now.

I had every test under the sun. Turns out it was H Pylori infection with no symptoms other than the full feeling after small meals. Was treated and I'm fine again now, but I still couldn't eat a plateful of food if you paid me! Endoscopy found the HP infection BTW. Have you had that checked?

While I was not eating much I existed on full fat Greek yogurt, Actimel, porridge and fruit/protein powder smoothies. I threw in some kale and spinach but the resulting colour of the smoothie put me right off. So I didn't bother. That feeling lasted from 2019 right through Covid and was diagnosed properly in 2022.

I had dieticians galore giving me this sheet and that sheet, but I just couldn't get the volume of food inside me. Anyway sorry for going on so long. I'm still here, still no veg and still on the picky bits of food, but I'm healthy as an ox. I know what to eat that won't make me unwell and that's better than shovelling stuff into me that makes me feel sick!

You can’t be “checked” for IBS, it’s a diagnosis of exclusion ie you have problems with your digestive system but we can’t find a cause. It’s a “functional” disease, there is no “test”.

Having said that the problem sounds more like your stomach and small bowel that your large bowel if I’ve understood you correctly? IBS normally affects mainly large bowel. Your symptoms sound similar to lactose intolerance which presents in a similar way. So I would try digestive enzymes as it could be one or more of the sugars in fruits/veg that you are struggling to digest.

These are good and cover most of the enzymes needed:

https://enzymedica.co.uk/enzymedica-veggiegest-capsules.html#additional

The fact you can eat smaller but not larger portions fits with it being a (lack of) digestive enzyme issue, as this is commonly the case (that you can cope with small amounts, but larger amounts (and sometimes multiple smaller portions of different foods that contain the same sugar) trigger symptoms - this is known as “stacking”.

You could also try a low FODMAP diet, this involves cutting out all the fruit/veg etc that contains sugars that can be hard to digest for a period and then reintroducing them to see what group of sugars trigger symptoms. This is a big undertaking and you have to be rigorous with it for it work and do loads of research. Given that your symptoms only come on with larger portions, you would have to be super careful to eat portions large enough to induce symptoms when reintroducing. I completely cured my IBS by doing a low FODMAP diet by working out multiple triggers and avoiding them or taking digestive enzyme when I am going to eat them so it’s possible to do but I did tons of research and followed it to the letter.

The other thing I’d consider is SIBO. See if the symptoms fit. It’s often missed/ not tested for so if you think the symptoms fit I’d pursue a test for that.

@ThePigandPear Maybe you’re a ‘grazer’ so the traditional 3 meals a day isn’t working for you. Fill your fridge with little tubs of prepped fruits and veg that you can pick on throughout the day. Tubs of hummus, tzatziki, peanut butter etc are great as dips. Nuts are great for snacking. If you have some cold meats too so you can make a little Scandinavian style sandwich. I could live happily like this and definitely get all the nutritional content I need, DH not so he’s definitely 3 solid big meals a day.
Ask your GP to refer you for a dexa scan to check your bone density or get one privately if that’s an option. That will reassure you if worried about osteoporosis and it’s a valid concern.
Finally think about an all natural protein powder like Purition (it’s the one I use I’m sure there are others). It’s quite textured due to the ingredients and you can add it to all sorts of things. I make a smoothie with greek yoghurt, fruits, avocado etc and it’s high in fibre too.
You do sound a little over concerned with the nutritional content of your diet tbh and you need to avoid it getting more intense. Food is fuel yes but it shouldn’t take too much conscious thought and time in your day

Well you obviously need to do away with the 'three meals a day' maxim.

There's no reason for that really other than industrialisation I suppose.

I read somewhere that some people's eating style is like a bird. That's definitely my DMs style. So you need to eat maybe 5-6 meals a day and you need to eat higher density nutritious foods.

Crackers and cheese ain't gonna cut it lovely.

You need things like avocado, mackarel pate, nuts etc.

I think you would do well to educate yourself on nutrition. What does the body need in a day? How much and what types of nutrients.

Fibre - are you getting enough? Vitamin A? Iron? Etc.

You are massively overthinking. You do have disordered eating. You are scared of putting on weight and that’s why you feel uncomfortable after eating anything substantial. I’m overweight and eating the way you do makes me feel faint! I also have disordered eating…I have a big appetite and feel very uncomfortable with any level of hunger. Your kind of disorder is much more socially acceptable (as seen on this thread) so I’d just enjoy the fact that unlike us fatties you don’t spend most of your life battling a desire for cake.

I don't think vegetable soup should replace your midday meal, it should be an addition- like a starter followed by your crackers, cheese and olives or whatever it is you're choosing. A small portion should be enough to give you the vegetable hit, without filling you up too much.

I went to school with a girl whose sisters and mum were all v thin - they had high metabolism and couldn't eat enough to gain weight. I don't think this is exactly what you are dealing with but there could be something happening. Were you like this when young too?

If you're concerned about osteoporosis, weightlifting is your friend. It may also make you hungrier as a side effect. Worth a punt?