So I Just Eat Whatever I Want
Intuitive Eating is a bit more nuanced than that.
With Intuitive Eating, even with prescription medication, you have full permission to eat whatever you want, wherever you want, without fear or shame around those choices. This is how you break free from the chronic dieting mentality that assigns morality to food choices.
Food is not good or bad, right or wrong: food is just food.
But at the end of the day, eating is an activity that we want to feel good, both mentally and physically. Sometimes my snacks are ice cream , sometimes theyre protein bars . It depends on what Im craving and how I want to feel afterward.
Keep in mind that part of your body is your brain. Intuitive Eating uses your whole body including your noggin to make decisions about what to eat and when. This means that youre not just at the whim of current cravings or bound by food rules.
Our brain is a great problem solver when you give her a chance! The trouble with dieting is that weve been shushing her . When you get the signals that your body needs fuelor storming past her signals to stop eating when youve reached fullness, youve ignored her. With Intuitive Eating, you and your brain are friends again, working together, instead of frenemies.
Here is your full intro guide to Practical Hunger, a valuable tool in your Intuitive Eating toolbelt: Practical Hunger: What It Is & How To Use It.
Back to meds: what about these potential changes in appetite?
Do Antibiotics Make You Hungry Intuitive Eating On Meds: Your Ultimate Guide
by Colleen | July 3, 2022
So here you are: youre on board with Intuitive Eating and getting in tune with your body and your hungerbut then you also take prescription medication and begin to wonder: do antibiotics make you hungry?
Can birth control pills make me gain weightand is that bad?
How am I supposed to eat intuitively if something else is influencing my appetite? Yikes!
Hang in there, Gorgeous: this post is for you. Well talk through some of the most common questions that I get with regards to eating intuitively when medications might change the game.
And dont worry: you can still be successful with Intuitive Eating and find food freedom!
Questions Your Doctor May Ask About Loss Of Appetite
- How long have you been experiencing a loss of appetite?
- Do your symptoms interfere with your usual eating patterns?
- How often do you eat during the day?
- Are certain foods particularly appealing/unappealing?
- How do you feel after eating?
- Do you experience any other gastrointestinal symptoms?
- Have you recently lost weight?
- Have you experienced vomiting?
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To Help The Body Process The Meal
Medicines for diabetes that are taken by mouth should usually be taken around meal times. This is to reduce blood sugar levels after eating and to avoid a very low blood sugar .
Enzyme supplements, which can be used to help people with chronic pancreatitis, should also be taken with food to help the body process the meal.
Always Take Probiotics While On Antibiotics
“Antibiotics can affect natural organisms in the gut as well, causing some people to have fungal or yeast infections,” explains Calapai. “Here is where probiotics come into play as a balancing agent to control normal intestinal flora. This is also why there is a common recommendation to take probiotics while you’re taking oral antibiotics.”
People have experienced some weight loss when taking a probiotic due to the improvement of their digestion and overall health.
“Probiotics are good for your bacteria and provide many health benefits when ingested,” Raj agrees. “Probiotics have been linked to weight loss due to their ability to balance gut bacteria, improve better digestion, decrease inflammation, which is a result of less bloating, and help to better absorb nutrients from food. They have also been linked to faster metabolism and increased immunity. People have experienced some weight loss when taking a probiotic due to the improvement of their digestion and overall health.”
Both Calapai and Raj believe all people should consult their doctor before heeding any of this advice.“If antibiotics are medically necessary, then work with your doctor on ways to support digestive health during and after your course of treatment,” explains Raj.
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Can Antibiotics Make You Feel Fatigued
If you’re sick and you’re feeling really, really tired, it may not be just the illness itself that has you dragging. It could be the antibiotics you’re taking to cure it that is the problem. Amoxicillin, which is used to treat bacterial infections in various parts of the body, can cause tiredness or weakness as a side effect, and patients should alert their doctor if that happens . The antibiotic Azithromycin also can cause extreme tiredness as a side effect, and again, patients should seek medical assistance if they experience it . Patients taking ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic that became famous as a cure for anthrax poisoning, also should get medical help if they experience unusual tiredness .
Unfortunately, while researchers have known for a long time that some patients who take antibiotics experience debilitating fatigue as a result, they haven’t yet figured out why. One problem is that the result has been difficult to duplicate in experiments. In a study published in European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology in 1993, for example, 50 healthy military trainees aged 18 to 25 were given a variety of antibiotics, in addition to placebos.
Antibiotics aren’t the only medications that may cause this sort of problem. Diuretics, anti-anxiety and anti-seizure medications, antihistamines, antidepressants and other types of medicines also can lead to tiredness, according to Dr. Armon B. Neel Jr., who writes the AARP website’s Ask the Pharmacist feature .
Take With Or Without Food
Check the label on your antibiotics. Does it recommend taking them with food or on an empty stomach?
In either case, follow the directions. Some antibiotics are better absorbed on an empty stomach, so you dont want to limit their effectiveness. But if the label says, Take with food, taking your pills with a meal might help ease stomach issues.
Beyond the specifics above, good old-fashioned advice for treating diarrhea still applies. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration, and use rehydrating beverages high in electrolytes if needed. Avoid alcohol and caffeine if theyre making your diarrhea worse. Keep in mind alcohol may actually cause severe reactions while you are taking certain antibiotics, so check the label for that information, as well. Eat a more bland diet than you might normally eat.
Its better to use caution than get hit with unpleasant side effects.
Common sense would say you are going to disturb the natural balance with antibiotics, Dr. Rabovsky says, so anything else that causes you GI symptoms could make side effects even worse.
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How Do I Get My Appetite Back After Antibiotics
Your appetite may spring back a few days after your antibiotics are completed. As diarrhea can be a common side effect, give your body time to adjust and do your best to stay hydrated. Drink enough fluids throughout the day so that youre going to the bathroom at least every few hours and have pale-colored urine , not dark yellow .
The Gal Behind The Recipes
Hi! Im Colleen and Im a food lovin registered dietitian butIm not a regular dietitian. Im an Intuitive Eating dietitian here to free you from diet culture once and for all! Because you deserve peace with food, eating, and your body.
5 Steps To No Food Rules!
Whether youre brand spanking new to Intuitive Eating or youve tried it before, youll identify your next stepsor the missteps that left you bingeing and thinking Intuitive Eating wasnt so intuitive for you!
Did we just become best friends??
I think so! If youre a fan of spontaneous kitchen dance parties, cute puppy dogs eating peanut butter and, of course, food freedom, be sure to check me out on Instagram and YouTube!
Ready to eat with no food rules?
Dont spend one more day getting bullied by diet culture into living a life you dont love.
Recommended Reading: What Type Of Antibiotics Are Used For Strep Throat
What Foods To Not Eat While Taking Antibiotics
There are some foods you should avoid while on antibiotics, either because they interfere with absorption or because the combination can make you feel sick.
In most cases, these foods simply interact poorly and make the antibiotics less effective.
Foods to avoid include:
- Grapefruit You should avoid both the fruit and the juice of this sour citrus product. It contains compounds that can keep the body from properly absorbing your antibiotics as well as other medications, too!
- Excess Calcium Some studies show that excess calcium interferes with absorption. For best results, stick to fermented dairy products until you are finished with your antibiotics.
- Alcohol Mixing alcohol and antibiotics can lead to a host of unpleasant side effects. The most common of these are
- Increased nausea
- Abdominal pain
- Dizziness
- Heart rate issues. You should avoid alcohol throughout the duration of treatment and for 48 to 72 hours after treatment ends.
What To Do If You Feel Tired And Sleepy From Antibiotics
So you have at this point ruled out other medications and treatments as being the culprit. You are sure that the fatigue is not caused by the illness or other medicinal interactions. Now it is time to determine if the antibiotics are making you tired. Perhaps you are at a point where fatigue is keeping you from doing your job correctly. Or maybe you are unable to focus when driving. Perhaps you are unable to do your normal favorite activities due to being drowsy. Drowsiness significantly increases your risk of falling or getting into a car accident. You could find yourself being permanently injured due to this side effect. If you do end up feeling tired and sleepy from the antibiotics, what do you do? The one thing you shouldnt do is immediately stop the medication. This may allow the infection to worsen and can also lead to antibiotic resistance. If you just started to take the medication and the fatigue doesnt fade within the first couple of days, or it gets worse, here are a few things we recommend to do:
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Drug Or Alcohol Abuse
Many people who struggle with drug or alcohol abuse have a poor appetite. A poor diet or nutritional-absorption issues caused by substance abuse can also lead to malnutrition. These issues should be taken seriously. Drug and alcohol abuse can sometimes lead to life-threatening health problems. With proper treatment, many people can recover from their addiction. If you believe that your loss of appetite might be due to drug or alcohol dependency, seek support from a medical professional.
How Do Antibiotics Affect Your Pet’s Gut
The bacteria and other microbes in your pets digestive tract are referred to as its gut microbiome. When an infection is present in or on your pet your veterinarian may prescribe an antibiotic to help fight off the infection.
Unfortunately, oral antibiotics cannot differentiate between the bad bacteria that may be causing a bacterial infection and the good bacteria that support your pets health, so it wipes out both beneficial and harmful bacteria.
For some cats and dogs, this may cause an ongoing imbalance in their gut that down the line could contribute to health conditions like chronic diarrhea, vomiting or constipation.
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Tip : Support A Healthy Appetite
In many pets, antibiotics can cause lethargy, nausea and/or a loss of appetite, which may make your pet less interested in eating their food. But it is crucial that your pet continues to eat, because their body needs the energy to continue fighting infection and repairing damaged cells. If your pet refuses their food, dont force them to eat: wait a few hours and offer the food again. If they continue to refuse, consider adding something to the food to make it more palatable. A low-sodium beef, chicken, or bone broth is often helpful.
In addition, warming the food to bring out the aroma often makes it more palatable to cats and dogs, who rely much more on their sense of smell than their sense of taste when it comes to deciding what is tasty and what is not.
Now lets cover how to help your pet after antibiotic treatment.
Antibiotics Can Cause An Overgrowth Of Bad Bacteria
“Antibiotics cause destruction of digestive flora and bacterial imbalance, one of the most common causes of bloating,” explains Christopher Calapai, DO, a board-certified osteopathic physician in family medicine, anti-ageing medicine, and chelation therapy. “Additionally, antibiotics can cause a change in bowel habits and food and nutrient absorption, which may cause you to feel tired or weak.”
Calapai stresses the importance of not overusing antibiotics: “If mistreated, antibiotics can damage intestinal bacteria, and that translates into metabolic changes. They can damage mitochondria, which affects your weight because mitochondria’s main job is to convert food into energy. Antibiotics can also increase blood levels of the ghrelin, which is a strong appetite stimulant.”
Roshini Raj, gastroenterologist, doctor of internal medicine, and founder of the probiotic-based skincare line Tula agrees. “Antibiotics are a class of drugs that are meant to kill infection-causing bacteria,” says Raj. According to Raj, antibiotics generally also kill off many healthy or good gut bacteria, which can throw the digestive system off balance and allow an overgrowth of bad bacteria that may cause people to gain weight.
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Foods To Eat While Taking Antibiotics
Posted on by Burt’s – Medicine
Antibiotics are a common way to fight infections, but many dont realize there are certain foods to eat while taking antibiotics.
Antibiotic therapy is the first line of treatment for the majority of bacterial infections. Unfortunately, these drugs arent without side effects.
Rarely, they can cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms like
- Bloating
- Nausea
- Abdominal pain
Although these side effects are usually mild, transient, and harmless, they can become severe and signal the need for a change in medication.
Sometimes, patients find they can control these side effects, or even eliminate them completely, with just a few basic diet changes.
In other cases, its the food causing the problem and removing it from their diet is enough.
In this post, well tell you about six of the best foods to eat while taking antibiotics and the four you should always avoid, too.
Can Antibiotics Make You Dizzy
You will be lightheaded, disoriented, unbalanced, or dizzy when there is a deficit in spatial perception. If you check the possible side effects of any prescription drug, most of them will have ‘dizziness’ listed in there. Some studies have found that common drugs, including the ones used to treat hypertension, can cause or intensify dizziness in more than 30% of patients. Should you worry when taking an antibiotic? Let’s find out more about it.
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Gut Microbiome Could Make Weight Loss Easier For Some
Sept. 17, 2021 — If you have a gut feeling something is preventing you from losing as much weight as you would like to, you could be right.
Researchers found that the gut microbiome the bacteria that help digest food and absorb nutrients in the intestines can influence your ability to lose weight.
They identified genes within these bacteria that determine how quickly the bacteria grow, how well people can take advantage of nutrients in food, and whether starches and fiber, in particular, get broken down into sugars too quickly to aid weight loss.
“Some people have a harder time losing weight than others,” study author Sean Gibbons, PhD, says. “For example, some people are able to control their weight through basic lifestyle interventions, while others may not.”
Also, it is difficult to predict who will respond to changes in diet or exercise and who might require more intense strategies.
The study, which was Sept. 14 in mSystems, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology, could bring us closer to an answer.
“We’ve identified specific genetic signatures in the gut microbiome that were predictive of weight loss response in a small cohort of patients following a healthy lifestyle intervention,” says Gibbons, assistant professor at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle.
Antibiotics Affect Gut Health
“Although now banned, for years sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics were added to animal feed to promote weight gain of livestock,” explains Pat Salber, MD, founder of The Doctor Weighs In. “In fact, it has been estimated that more than half of antibiotics produced and sold in the United States prior to the ban were used as an animal feed additive. Although it wasn’t clear how antibiotics were having this effect in animals, we now know that antibiotics have important effects on the billions of bacteria that live in the gut, including the guts of humans. And we know that these bacteria, collectively known as the microbiome, have significant effects on energy homeostasis and control of weight.”
Salber continues, “With respect to the latter, early research found that healthy lean people have a gut microbial population that is highly diverse with many different types of bacteria. Obese people, on the other hand, have less diversity with only a few dominant species of bacteria. These studies seem to confirm that the microbiome is important in the regulation of weight, but they do not answer the question of whether antibiotics cause weight gain.“
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