To think some amount of pain when hungry is not necessarily a problem?

[Carla786]

So I was talking about food with my DM the other day and I was surprised at the different ways we see hunger.
She feels strongly that if you have gnawing/growling etc feelings in your stomach this is unhealthy and means that acid is hurting your stomach. I argued that some mild amount of this, let's say half an hour before you eat, isn't a problem, provided you have nutritious and filling meals.

Essentially she feels that the only healthy way to feel hungry is to feel a mild empty sensation but not pain, but any amount of pain is unhealthy and means you should eat something straight away or you will harm your stomach, and if it happens often, you should go to the GP to see if something is wrong with the stomach lining.

Who is BU?

This. Being hungry can be an uncomfortable feeling, but pain?...I am baffled and I sometimes fast. I guess dofferent people have dofferent ideas about what pain is, otherwise I cannot understand this

I would never experience it as pain! If it’s actually painful that’s not good.

I could definitely ignore stomach pain but I get really lightheaded when I’m hungry so I can’t actually function properly. I blame my weight issues on this.

Yes - this is why I can’t follow the ‘only eat when you’re actually hungry’ mantra. I feel very nauseous and headachy if I get to that point. It’s horrible.

It’s an article by somebody on a website called Dietlicious and is talking nonsense.

Actual pain? Then you probably have acid reflux or something wrong. I would agree with your mum then it's probably better to eat before getting to that stage. I've had a stomach ulcer before and they are a pita.

Yes, me! I've always thought it was very weird, but I'm glad it's not just me.

We feel hunger for a reason and I think it’s important to listen to it.

Its like taking paracetamol all day to not feel any pain but that’s silly.

Most of the time, when we think we need a snack we’re actually just thirsty.
Some people get acid reflux from it because they’re not drinking enough.

But I don’t think it should be painful and obviously if you’re slimmer and have a faster metabolism or younger or more active, then you’re going to need to eat more regularly and so I think it’s important to feel hunger but not judge people for how often they eat.

If you're drinking enough and eating the right kinds of foods it shouldn't be necessary to feel that hungry. I never find it works well for me to become that hungry and would eat an oatcake or something to avoid it.

Yes! Never felt actual pain but do feel really sick, it then puts me off eating! I also sneeze when I feel sick from hunger but not when I feel sick for any other reason.

I have low blood pressure and am prone to fainting if I allow myself to get too hungry.

I was reading about food, and most of us have no idea what true hunger is! That would be not eating for a couple of days, as we would have done in the past.

I get painful stomach cramps if I wait too long to eat. My DD is the same. I also get lightheaded and shaky when I get hungry.

I get a pain in my left shoulder if I'm really hungry. I've tried looking it up over the years but can never find why this is a thing. Does anyone else get this too or am I a medical marvel haha?

Or else they're just not eating to try to lose weight. I was in pain like that quite a lot of the time for over thirty years, before Mounjaro.

The only time I experienced "pain" when hungry was when I had ulcer caused by an H. Pylori infection. It just got worse and worse for years until I sought treatment.

This isn't pain under the bra area - in the stomach, lower than that..

Is it necessarily bad to feel a bit of hunger sometimes? I'm talking about pangs/twinges of pain & rumbling say half an hour before supper, not continuous pain. I didn't think feeling a bit of hunger for some time was harmful as long as you do eat fairly soon.

How would you define hunger pangs? I would describe the 'pain' as gnawing twinges, not like a continuous pain like a stomach ache. I wonder if some people are describing a similar thing to what I feel but don't describe it as 'pain'. Interesting...

The hungrier I get the worse my choices around food. I tend to eat twice a day but if that first meal is later than I expected I will definitely be reaching for chips.

I would say a hollow rumbling stomach, not actual pain.
I think people have forgotten what it's like to feel hungry because of snacking.
I actually prefer to be properly hungry at mealtimes because I enjoy looking forward to my meal and eating it more if I'm really hungry.

I've experienced this @PullyDog, I presume it's low blood sugar or something.

@Catza I sometimes wonder how on earth our ancestors survived, most of them wouldn't have had regular meals in the way we think of them. Feeling constantly under the weather must've been normal a few centuries ago.

It's fine. When I diet to drop the winter weight I give my tummy a massage and get up and moving and it soon goes away.

Feeling hungry is supposed to be uncomfortable because its how your body reminds you to eat. You can choose to ignore it if it suits you and if you can't access food because you're on shift or something it no big deal.

Historically we wouldn't have been 30 seconds from a fridge and unlimited food and our bodies haven't caught up.

Yes I think it’s difficult to get any idea from other people, because lots of people have mentioned discomfort but I suppose the line between discomfort and pain is a bit blurry - one person’s discomfort is something another person might class as pain and vice versa.

Feeling hungry is normal feeling pain is not