forgetting to eat

[erika]

Does anyone else have trouble with forgetting to eat entirely? (It's a med-related side effect.)

It's really hard on my body and on me when I start wanting to throw up because I haven't eaten anything for 36 hours.

How do you work around that?

Comments

[rydra_wong]

I had this one for years.

First and best strategy, for me: schedule eating, using the same sort of system you use for taking meds on time (checklists, beeping alarms, whatever works for you).

If the meds tend to kill your appetite or make you nauseous as well as making you forget to eat, consider scheduling five or six smaller meals instead of three bigger ones. Sounds daunting, but it's basically three meals plus two snacks, and your stomach may find it easier.

If it's exacerbated by lack of spoons, then it might help to compile a list of meals which can be prepared with minimal effort, and stock up on stuff that can be eaten with no preparation at all.

I have an Emergency Tuna Bean salad that can be prepared in under five minutes out of items I always have in the kitchen cupboard, with no cooking or chopping required; it has served me well over the years.

[lilmoka]

Okay, it took me some time to gather ideas but! Here's a list.
(I just don't know how helpful it can be, coming from a person who barely remembers to eat two meals a day >_>)

- Always keep snacks in reach. Even if you don't feel hungry, try to take a bite. Fruit, biscuits, breadsticks, chocolate...
If you have enough spoons you can also prepare them from scratch.

- Set alarms everywhere. Mobile, laptop, clocks, everything that comes to your mind. I usually have my phone set to sound every three hours bc that's the best time for me, but YMMV.
Schedules are you friends.

- Make decision and stay focused. When it's time to eat, do it. Stop what you're doing and if you can go somewhere else to eat. Don't procrastinate, don't say "I'll do it later" or "Just one more minute". Now.

- A friend of mine told me to eat only in one place, never in front of the tv and laptop. She said the kitchen works for her. I didn't work for me, but I'm putting it here anyway.

- Eat stuff you like so can look forward to the moment you eat it.

- Make a list of stuff you know how to cook, maybe ordering it by time it takes to cook/quantity of spoon it requires. Try to buy the ingredients these dishes require, so when you don't know what to cook you can look at the list for inspiration and you don't have to go out to buy them.

- I still live with my parents, so cooking for the family and eating with them makes it easier to keep a schedule. When I went to uni I ate up to once a day, so spending my time at home works better for me.

And... That's about it.

[cpolk]

yeah I do that. when it happens, here's what I do:

fast sugar. fruit juice or better yet a handful of fruit, not gobbled, but eaten deliberately with a glass of water. this is just to get a *little* energy going and to not shock my body with a lot of heavy food, and water, because if I forgot to eat, I also forgot to drink. I am just like that.

something light. maybe a food guide sized serving of whole grain something, 1/3 cup greek yogurt, heat up some vegetable soup, make a salad with seeds and nuts and chunks of cheese. So I don't crash on the sugar rush of the fruit sugars, which process quickly.

something more proteinish. Nut butter. An egg. Hummous. heck, a small serving of meat, even. Taken with some more carbs, like root vegetables.

[majoline]

This is what I do too when I haven't eaten and start to feel bad.

[samphire]

I can easily forget to eat. For me the most helpful thing has been to start a food photo blog on Tumblr, where I take a photo of everything I eat, and post it. Simply knowing I have this food blog reminds me to have three meals a day, and makes me think more about what I eat.

[thegorgon]

Because I live at home, and my Dad is being pretty good about us eating dinner together, I usually have at least one meal a day that I can't possibly forget, because someone else is in charge of remembering. I strongly recommend this method where possible.

Other than that -- well, let me know when you figure it out. I thought I was doing a lot better, but then I got home tonight and it was 7 and my teeth were chattering and my hands were shaking and I was nauseated and I realized, after a moments thought, that it was because I hadn't eaten anything that wasn't liquid and caffeinated all day. So -- it's a work in progress, for me.

One of the things I've found that works is actually posting to this community, because if I do it around the middle of the day and notice, say, that I haven't eaten anything, I remember that I should and can scrounge something up.

The other thing that sometimes works is advance planning, which is a pain in the ass but means I generally know when and what I'm going to be eating regardless of whether or not I'm feeling hungry. I mean there's always the risk that I'll forget the plan or decide on the spur of the moment that it's really not necessary, but as long as I can keep it up, it does work.

Other than that... I am really the wrong person to ask. Good luck!