Ok, I packed too small of a lunch today and ended up missing breakfast due to some queasiness in the morning (no, I'm not pregnant, it happens from time to time for some reason since I was little). Anyway, now I'm hungry. When I get hungry for a while I get a little queasy. I've experienced this a few times in the past few weeks (I had a stomach bug and couldn't eat much for two days a few weekends ago). I've found myself...."enjoying" the feeling of hunger. I don't know why and I'm concerned....could this be the start of something unhealthy?

I don't know if I ever enjoy being hungry, but I have definitely embraced it. It took a while to recognize what hungry was, and now that I know true hunger instead of eating out of bored, egc, I guess I could say I "enjoy" that feeling of hunger before mealtimes, because it means I am right noon track.

I get what you mean. For me, it wasn't being hungry that I enjoyed, it was being physically hungry and not just mentally hungry (the former feeling is much more comfortable).

Also, with how I used to eat, I rarely if every experienced actual hunger. It was normally a carb/sugar crash if anything.

So I totally get it, and no I don't think it's bad unless you're going hungry for long periods of time on purpose. But to feel hunger before a meal and to be happy that you're actually FEELING it, I don't think that's unhealthy.

I can't say I enjoy being hungry, but I do tend to make myself get there right now. I actually found myself getting "panicky" the other day because I was hungry and I had to talk myself down- I mean, really, people are starving all over the world and I'm freaking out because lunch is late. It's a good reality check for me.

It's all a spectrum. Getting too much pleasure out of feeling hungry is not good, but neither is being so afraid of feeling hunger that one over-eats at the first sign of hunger pangs.

It's good to be mindful of where you're feeling on the spectrum. But getting to the point of tolerating hunger and not immediately reacting to it (or over-reacting to it) is healthy, IMO.

I think for people who have struggled with eating for the sake of eating getting to the point where you feel real physical hunger is a sign of changes you've made towards a healthier way of life.

I know I enjoy physically feeling hungry, it means two things to me a) yah! I've actually managed to not mindlessly consume calories I didn't need and b) what ever meal I'm going to eat next is going to taste AMAZING no matter what it is.

Realizing that I can feel empty and hungry and it isn't an emergenc, it doesn't get continually worse and unbearable, can definitely make me feel a bit awesome a giddy. But I tend to have tons of energy when I fast, too, and that isn't uncommon. If you don't have signs of disordered thinking I wouldn't worry one bit of embracing your body's cues and recognizing them for what it is. If it was day three of a water fast and you said the same thing, it would be a little bit of a different story!