Husband hungry, I'm not

(Dee Nice) #1

Sorry this might be a long post. I’m gonna try to cover questions that might come my way.

My husband & I are retired, in our 60’s & been Keto living since 11/2018. He’s lost 45lbs, me 38lbs. I have 2 cups of coffee & he has 2 diet Cokes in the morning as we read our emails, watch news, etc. Breakfast/lunch is around noon. I cook a couple of eggs with diced ham, spinach & cheese along with 2 pieces of bacon. Or sometimes fruit, protein shakes with spinach, Greek yogurt, etc.

A few hours later he is hungry & I’m TOTALLY not! In fact, I’m pretty much good for the whole day. We have an ounce of nuts mid afternoon, dinner is around 6pm…fish or chicken with veggies.

My question is this…why is he ALWAYS hungry?? He will have a couple slices of turkey to take the edge off.

Exercise is null because of his leg injury in December, surgery, now physical therapy twice a week…we are both pretty much sedentary…me with heart issues.

He says he actually has hunger pangs, me…uh…no. I just don’t get it. I’m at a loss here. What am I doing wrong? Any advice, words of wisdom or personal experience that can help would be greatly appreciated.

(Ashley) #2

Diet sodas, fruit and things like that with sugars and artificial sweetener can cause hunger pangs. ( it does personally make me crave and want to eat stuff). Also I am not sure what type of fruit your eating? Hopefully berries? Most fruit is not Keto friendly. Being male he may also need more caloric intake than you! He could be not eating enough fat at a meal!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

First, congratulations on what you have accomplished so far! Now, to your husband’s constant hunger. Of course, everyone is unique in many ways and it’s difficult to generalize helpfully without more detailed info: ie exactly what he’s eating, how much, when, etc. It may turn out to be something very simple like just not eating enough, you’ve both lost significant weight in six months. So I have to ask what exactly do you mean when you say “Keto living”? Specifically, are both you and your husband eating sub-20 grams of carbs per day. Or not? And if not, how much?

You describe your own experience very much like most people who eat a ketogenic diet describe theirs. Your husband on the other hand seems to be experiencing episodes of what I refer to as ‘carb hunger’. Carb hunger does not happen during ketosis so I suspect that for some reason or reasons your husband is going in and out of ketosis. So I would ask, how many carbs exactly does your husband eat in a day? Also, as @monsterjuice says, some artificial sweeteners and various fruits even in relatively small amounts will trigger insulin with will in turn block fat metabolism. With low glucose, that will trigger carb hunger.

#4

A doc I had years ago said, absolutely avoid Diet Coke(which I loved then), said the aspartame and sucrolose spike insulin in most people and make you feel hungry when you are not. I found this true for myself, I often would seriously crave sugar after diet soda, even when I wasn’t hungry before I drank it :pensive:

(Dee Nice) #5

@monsterjuice, we eat blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. I think you are right about him not eating as much fat as he should. I will give him more this week and see what the results are. Thank uou!

(Dee Nice) #6

@amwassil my husband and I eat exactly the same meals. Keto living to us does not mean a “diet” it’s our new wonderful way of eating. One of which we love, don’t feel “full belly” after a meal, but feel we are eating the perfect amount. Thanks for the compliment on our weight loss, even though our bellies still stick out, ugh.

We stay at 20g or just under for carb count a day. I’m beginning to think the Diet Coke is indeed the issue. I’ll tell him & we’ll see what happens. Thank you for your feedback!

(Dee Nice) #7

@BeStill, I read a book that said Diet Coke was ok on Keto, but @amwassil gave me better insite. He does crave something sweet in the evening…will try no Diet Coke and see how he does! I thank you also for your feedback!

(Full Metal KETO AF) #8

Part of the problem with diet drinks is that it keeps your sweet tooth alive. If he gives himself a chance his taste will change and craving a sweet treat in the evening will go away.

#9

In addition to above…

What kind of protein shakes? Are you using whey powder? That can be insulogenic for someone with a sensitivity to insulin spikes.

(Carl Keller) #10

Someone in the forum wrote about an overweight friend who was addicted to diet soda. All they did was quit drinking them and they began to lose weight.

The problem with artificial sweeteners is that they can cause our hormones to anticipate a rise in blood glucose that never comes. Insulin is sent to work to do a job that just isn’t there. This incomplete sensation can not only cause us to become hungry, it is likely to make us want to eat more when we do eat.

#11

It doesn’t even need to involve an insulin response. Hunger and satiety signals can be sent directly to the brain from the gut via the vagus nerve.

(Carl Keller) #12

Yep. Even the receptors on our tongues can trigger hormonal responses. Insulin is not the only hormone involved. There’s a study that showed:

laboratory rats eating food sweetened with artificial sweeteners ate more calories than their counterparts whose food was sweetened with normal sugar.

It’s rather alarming to think that our hormones might have a worse response to AS than to actual sugar.

(Dee Nice) #13

@David_Stilley he said he will start drinking 1 coke before going cold turkey. Then maybe try the Poweraid Zero that has no carbs. He’s definitely not into water with lemon. Thank you!!

(Dee Nice) #14

@carolT the shakes have either unsweetened Almond or Coconut milk, 2 big spoons of Greek yogurt, a handful of spinach, ground flax or Chia seeds, 2 spoons Whey powder, a little heavy cream and a handful of raspberries or blueberries with ice.

Totals 6 - 8 carbs for the whole pitcher that fits 2 shake containers. We are still, yet slowly, losing weight when that is a meal. I’ll have to check into the insulin thing for sure. Thank you!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #15

How about unsweetened, flavoured soda water? Most grocery chains have their own house brands of at a fraction of the cost of Perrier, for example. I also prefer some flavour and carbonation over plain water so I understand to some extent the desire for cokes, etc. Fortunately, I don’t prefer the sweet although even more fortunately aspartame does not bother me at all so I can drink Coke Zero, Fresca occasionally with no ill effects.

(Dee Nice) #16

@CarlKeller on one of our many fad diets he gave up coke and we stopped drinking beer. After 3 days of massive headaches he was done with Diet Coke. We lost the generic water weight plus some but never lost our belly fat and gained it all back plus 10 when we quit the program(s). I noticed recently he is asking if there is enough for seconds saying he is still hungry.

Everyone is commenting on the Diet Coke so that must be the issue with his hunger pangs. This will be a hard habit for him to quit, like before. Wish us luck, lol.

(Dee Nice) #17

Even Stevia is bad?

(mole person) #18

Is he eating significantly more than you are though? My husband eats double what I do. If he’s not eating more then he may just be hungry because he needs more fuel.

(George) #19

I believe stevia causes an insulin response, which isn’t helpful.

I was using stevia as my sweetener for while and realized that I needed to snack in between meals (this is before i switched to 1 meal/day eating). I decided to cut stevia/all artificial sweetener out cold-turkey. Took about a week or so, but the hunger subsided.

(Dee Nice) #20

@Ilana_Rose the breakfast and dinner is the same amount each. Wonder if I should give him more food. I just try to keep us at or under 20 carbs a day. If I gave him more, than his carb count would be over 20…