Eating Enough When Appetite is Low
There are many factors which can decrease our appetite. Common ones include hot weather, intense training, stress, certain medications or health conditions, a history of disordered eating, hypothalamic amenorrhea recovery or even just struggling to keep up with high energy requirements (such as when your training load is high or you're aiming to gain weight or muscle mass!).
Keeping up with fuelling yourself properly even when your appetite is low is really important to help you feel your best, keep your energy levels up and support training performance and recovery, or reach those goals of getting stronger and/or gaining weight.
In fact, there’s been studies to show that when training load is high, even though appetite usually does increase, it usually doesn’t increase ENOUGH to account for all the extra energy expended with that high training load. This means athletes or very active people often do have to eat MORE than they ‘feel hungry for’ - and the same applies to eating disorder recovery.
Here are some tips on how to navigate low appetite and make sure your body is still getting the fuel it needs!
Choose more energy dense foods.
One of the most effective strategies to eat more when your appetite is low is choosing more energy dense foods, and ensuring your meals and snacks are based on these. Think pasta, oats, dried fruit, granola, bread, wraps and bagels, baked goods, energy balls, bars, crackers, white rice and other grains - rather than lots of low energy fruits and vegetables, which are very filling and high volume and fibre, yet low in energy. This way, you are getting much more ‘bang for your buck’! For example, this might look like choosing a bar, PB and J on toast, energy balls or handful of nuts or trail mix for a snack, rather than a piece of fruit or veggies sticks with hummus, and adding more rice or pasta to meals rather than a giant portion of vegetables!
2. Add liquid energy.
Liquids are a lot less filling than solid food and you can easily consume a lot more in liquid form than if you were to eat that same amount. Adding a daily smoothie (packed with banana, dates, oats, nut butters etc) and serving meals and snacks with fruit juice, protein shakes, milk or flavoured milk of your choice, or even yoghurt, can be a big help in adding extra energy without adding to much more fullness.
3. Choose foods you really enjoy eating.
This is a big one! We are much more likely to want to eat more when we are eating foods that we enjoy and that taste really good. So make sure you are choosing meals and snacks that you like, and seasoning those meals with sauces, dressings, herbs and spices, and salt, to make them delicious!!
4. Snack more.
Snacks are a fantastic opportunity to get in some extra energy!! Rather than just having 3 meals, aim to have at least 2-3 snacks throughout the day in between those meals, and refer back to tip 1 by choosing energy dense snacks, such as energy balls, bars, yoghurt with granola, smoothies, nuts, trail mix, crackers with hummus or guac, toast with toppings and baked goods. Dessert is a must too!!
5. Add more healthy fats to meals.
A wonderful advantage of fats are that being the most energy dense of the 3 macronutrients, you can easily up the energy content of your meals and snacks without making them too much more filling by adding more of your healthy fats. So think adding more nut butters, nuts and seeds on top of meals, always adding dressings, sauces and cooking with oils, and adding avocado or a good sprinkle of cheese. Bonus points for making food more tasty too!
I hope these tips were helpful, and if you would like any further support in increasing your energy intake and ensuring you are fuelling your body properly for your needs and goals, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a one-on-one consult and nutrition plan here!
