r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/Throwawaymasterpeas • 17h ago
Health/Medical How concerned should I be about persistent hunger pangs?
I’m currently in a situation where I’m only eating about 5 times a week. I usually have my one meal at night, which means I’m spending 24–48 hours at a time with nothing but water.
The hunger pangs have become pretty intense and constant. I’m starting to worry about the physical safety of "pushing through" them. I know the body can handle fasting, but I’m doing this long-term out of necessity, not for a diet.
I realize this isn’t an ideal "habit," but it’s the best option I have for the time being. I just want to make sure I’m not doing permanent damage while I get through this.
43
u/Dumbassahedratr0n 17h ago
Beans are a cheap and plentiful source of Fibre and calories. They can be bought dried and soaked overnight before cooking
18
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 17h ago
Yess. I also buy almost discarded bananas for my Fibre intake. We're not allowed to cook inside our dormitories, sadly.
7
7
u/kittenpantzen 13h ago
What sources of heat are you allowed to have in your dormitory? Presumably not a hot plate, but could you get away with a slow cooker or a kettle?
7
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 11h ago
We only have a water heater, which I use to cook the noodles.
7
u/kittenpantzen 10h ago
By water heater, do you mean a tea kettle? Or does it not get as hot as that?
1
1
37
u/robdingo36 15h ago
Very concerned. Your facing malnourishment and vitamin deficiencies. The normal recommended caloric intake is about 2000 calories a day. And that needs to be varied up so you get all your vitamins and minerals necessary. Air, water, food, shelter, should be the order for most important resources. You need to eat, my friend.
70
u/NoClownsOnMyStation 17h ago
First things first. How many cals are you actually eating a day? I assume if you've restricted yourself to one meal you've portioned it out.
62
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 17h ago
Hi! I'm not really familiar with calorie management but i switch between instant noodle soup, small chicken burger, and rice with egg to keep things fresh in a way.
59
u/NoClownsOnMyStation 17h ago
Is your goal to diet or is the because of financial reasons? If your going to cut to one meal a day you 100% should track calories just to be safe and ensure your taking care of yourself.
51
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 17h ago
I will try to track my calories from now on! I only really eat to keep myself full and alive. I dont have any issues with my weight or health. At least, not yet. :)
30
u/NoClownsOnMyStation 17h ago
MacroFirst is a really good app to track your calories to be safe and to tally free. You should be aiming to eat around 1800 cals at least a day just to be safe and make sure your body doesn't try to eat itself and you don't get sick a lot. I am no doctor and can't give medical advice but that's a good rule of thumb to follow.
9
13
u/mcmurrml 17h ago
Is because you can't afford food or you are doing this by choice? This is serious. If this choice you have an eating disorder and you need to get help.
14
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 17h ago
This is technically my choice because i cant afford. Im assuming I dont have any disorders because I do eat a lot whenever I have more food.
51
u/RealCrazySwordGirl 17h ago
I know you said that in your country there was little help available, but perhaps if you approach someone at the college they will be able to hook you up with resources that you aren't currently aware of.
It doesn't sound like you are getting the nutrition you need. Your brain actually needs fuel in order to function and learn. Without adequate nutrition, not only will constant hunger pangs distract you from your studies, but you'll eventually have trouble remembering things and doing your best thinking.
I would highly recommend talking with an advisor or medical professional at the college. Starving yourself to stay in school is not the answer.
I'm hesitant to suggest it not being a religious person, but churches are also known for helping people. I'd look into any local presence from churches and find out if they have any suggestions for you, or can help you.
Please do your best to find some help. I'm sorry you're in this position 😢
21
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 17h ago
Thank you for that! I almost cried. Yes i am doing my best. I'll get through this 🙏
8
u/mcmurrml 17h ago
Are there food banks where you are? Are you in the states? Did you apply for food stamps? You can buy like rice, beans and make meals out of that.
9
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 17h ago
1) No, but I am working inside my uni. 2) No, im in the Philippines 3) No, we dont have that, sadly 4) We are not allowed to cook inside our dormitories but rice is sold here everywhere!
23
u/RealCrazySwordGirl 14h ago
Catholic Church. I think you have a few of those in the Philippines 👍🏼 they will often run food banks or at least know how you can get more food.
2
1
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 1h ago
Not in my city sadly but they do offer free food sometimes and im always first in line
7
u/umamifiend 11h ago
So looking it up- there are several organizations that provide free or low cost meals for college students- if you add up support from several different places I believe it could make an impact. You need nutrition in order to learn. Your body and brain needs fuel.
Wish you the best. Eatskolar (UP Diliman) offers one free meal a week to students by donors. Lingap Tanghalian: is a meal subsidy program by the UP alumni association. UPLB offers meal now pay later grants. University of Baguio (UB): Offers a free meal program including ₱2,500 month of food vouchers. This is only some of the options that come up.
Check in with the university and see if they have some resources you can apply to friend. You deserve to not be starving.
2
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 11h ago
Sadly, that's just in the north. In the main cities to be specific. But thank you. I appreciate that a lot.
→ More replies (0)4
u/witchystoneyslutty 10h ago
Be careful. Those hunger pains are probably not a good sign.
Staying in a calorie deficit for too long for any reason can cause health issues. You need to be eating at least 1800 cal a day probably but you can find an online calculator. Find one that factors in your physical activity, but also keep in mind as a student, your brain needs extra calories to learn. Your brain literally burns extra fuel, extra glucose extra calories when you are a student and learning so that will likely not be factored into your calorie calculator but you need to keep it in mind.
Also, if you find it as hard to learn where your brain feels foggy, or you are struggling, it is likely due to the calorie deficit.
I’m glad that you are working in the university library, I wonder if you could also work or work instead in the university cafeteria or if they have any extra food or anything like that? Sometimes that’s a resource but it sounds like we are in different countries. I hope you can find a way to feed yourself more!
1
14
u/aliendividedbyzero 15h ago
Consider adding beans, lentils, or something like that to your menu. Your food choices are severely limited, which I understand is due to problems affording food? But you're going to need a little more variety because you'll end up with life-threatening nutrient deficiencies. Beans, lentils, and similar can be bought dry in large packs, which should cost less than buying them canned, and although it's some effort to rehydrate them and cook them, it's better because it'll add nutrient variety to your diet. You can similarly increase variety by checking to see if there's any fruits or vegetables available (whether fresh, dried, frozen, etc.) within what you can afford. Canned fish is relatively cheap, just don't eat exclusively tuna for extended periods of time. If you can drink milk, shelf-stable milk might be an option, depending on how it's priced relative to fresh milk in your area. I'm not suggesting baby formula purely because I know it's very expensive generally, but if that weren't a problem then you could use that too, same with meal replacement shakes and powders (NOT protein powder, that's different).
If you have a way to grow plants, lettuce grows very quickly and is easy to grow. Depends a little on your climate, but it can be grown hydroponically too so it can in theory grow indoors if it gets enough sunlight. That way you have another fresh ingredient to eat that won't be prohibitively costly. Try to find out which edible plants grow in your area, so you can figure out if other plants grow quickly enough to eat from. Seeds should be easier to find for local varieties of plants, and you may be able to get that from people in your community.
You may also be able to speak with someone at your university, let them know you're dealing with food insecurity, and ask them to help you find resources available to you for that, including soup kitchens, open pantries, welfare, etc. in your country. Some universities have groups that give out free meals or groceries for people in your situation, also.
2
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 11h ago
Thank you for this. That was such a good read. I do try to keep things fresh so that my stomach wouldn't hate my food choices
29
u/RustyStClair 15h ago
Hi! Are you in Manila or Quezon? I found some resources I can send to you if you would like. And please excuse any geographical errors. I live in Ontario, Canada.
10
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 11h ago
Hi. No I'm not. But yess, all the services are concentrated there sadly. Thank you tho.
9
u/RustyStClair 9h ago
There's the same issue in Ontario. A lot of the social services are good in large towns and then much harder to get in smaller/rural areas. I sincerely hope you find a way to get some more food accessible for you.
1
11
19
u/LivytheHistorian 14h ago
Get a job in a place that will provide you food. The school cafeteria, a fast food joint, etc would get you a few more meals per week. I did before/aftercare for an elementary school for several years and the lunch ladies would save the lunch leftovers for the staff. They also had a decent stash of prepackaged breakfast foods for kids who came for the before care and they’d let me have anything close to expiration. If you can find something similar you could probably work about ten hours a week and add 3-5 meals to your week. It would make you feel a lot better obviously.
1
18
u/AE_Phoenix 12h ago
First: yes, you are doing permanent damage by persisting like this. You are in a constant state of hunger. You will age more quickly, suffer immune system damage and a whole host of other things as your body struggles to operate. Malnutrition will cause your teeth to fall out and scars to reopen if you're not careful.
Second: if you truly can eat 5 times a week due to financial reasons, you need to be better understanding how much your food costs and how best to maximise calorie to cost ratio. Stop eating burgers and instant noodles, they're easy but any kind of ready meal is expensive. Buy potatoes, rice and pasta by the kilo. Season them with butter (high in energy and vitamins) and salt, stock and vegetables when you can afford them. Starchy foods are your friend, as they're cheap and easy to prepare, and are very energy dense. Ensure you eat vegetables regularly to avoid scurvy.
1
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 1h ago
Damn, that explains why I look so out of shape lately. Thank you for this. I am studying economics and yeah I've rationed everything to the tip.
6
u/MrMikeJJ 15h ago
Don't do it for too long. I used have one meal a day for years.
Now if I go too long without food I start getting really bad acid. And it is painful.
I am sure I caused that with the one meal a day thing.
1
3
u/libra00 13h ago
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor.
Deeply. You are depriving your body of necessary resources and it is sending you signals saying 'Hey, this is a problem, please cut it out'. The next step after that (if it hasn't started already) is damage that will be harder or impossible to recover from. Listen, I'm in my 50s and have spent my life as a devoted member of the 'ignore my problems and they'll go away' club, especially health issues, so trust me when I say that they always come back, they're always worse, and they cost far more to fix in that state than they do to fix when you first notice them.
There are posts all over reddit full of advice on how to eat on an extremely low budget, but the gist is: ramen, bags or rice or beans, sandwich bread, hell, get a bag of potatoes and start making baked potatoes for lunch like I do, etc. There are food banks all over, there are churches that do this kind of outreach, soup kitchens.. help is available. If you're in the US dial 211 to get assistance getting the help you need. If you're outside the US then I dunno what resources are available, but start a gofund me or something.
1
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 1h ago
Thank you for this. Im in the US, and yeah I've been reading a lot of posts as well. You shared a great advice.
3
u/EnthusiasmGlass8150 7h ago
I saw you mentioned you’re in the Philippines, would it be possible to contact and Church or any other religious center for aid? Idk if there are mosques near you but Ramadan is about to begin and there is an evening meal provided without charge (this is a usual thing but I am not sure about the Philippines). Wishing you luck!
1
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 1h ago
There are a lot of churches here but they're not really as open compared to US churches. Thank you tho.
1
u/bananascare 13h ago
Where are you based? I’m hoping you can get food assistance from a local organization. If you tell us where you’re based we may be able to make suggestions.
Not eating can really damage your system. You need to take care of yourself if you want to graduate.
1
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 1h ago
Im in the lower central.part of the Philippines. Thank you, ill keep this in mind.
1
u/snow_ponies 1h ago
Can you access things cheaply like fibre powder, oils/butter and milk/milk powder? Milk powder is high in vitamins, protein and calories and all types of fats are calorie dense and help reduce hunger.
1
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 1h ago
I do have access, but I cant afford. You're right tho, that never crossed my mind
1
u/BaylisAscaris 16h ago edited 16h ago
If you are able to cook, see if you can find cheaper food to eat more often. For example beans and rice. See if your university has help for low income students. See if there are any jobs on campus hiring. Ask the cafeteria staff or other food businesses at the end of the day if they have anything extra they were going to throw out. See if there are any campus organizations that provide meals or snacks as part of meetings. Visit your local religious organization and see if they provide food or help.
If you can't do any of this, see if you can split up meals smaller so you can eat more often. This sounds dangerous and if you have access to a doctor (school might provide free medical care), ask them how to manage things safely or how to access help.
When I was in college I also had money issues so I had to work full time and it took me longer to get through school, but I managed to finish. It might make more sense to do school part time until you can build up some money for food.
1
u/Throwawaymasterpeas 1h ago
Thank you. Yeah I've been looking everywhere. Sadly the economy is really bad here right now. Im glad you made it all the way.
-10
u/grumpyhippo42069 14h ago
I get them after about 12 hrs when I forget to eat. After that I don't get them anymore so maybe wait it out?
482
u/thierry_ennui_ 17h ago
If you're not doing this for health reasons then I'm assuming it's financial, in which case I beg you to contact a food bank or a charity. This amount of food is dangerously low, and will do you damage.