Part of my eating philosophy is to listen to my body, for when and what I should eat. Sometimes this gets me into trouble, but I find the more I try and "feel" what I want to eat versus eating with my eyes, the better I feel and the closer my weight is to ideal.

One of the things I have noticed however, is a certain shift in the things that I want to eat. I am unsure if this is caused by the Estrofem or the Spironolactone, but it is a bit disorienting. Effectively before I had a pretty high protein low carb diet. I would only really want bread or potatoes once or maybe twice a day, and meat was to be had at almost every meal. I also love chocolate.

Now, however I find I just finished a plate of perogies (or Pierogi or however you want to spell it). Now, a perogie is basically carbs upon carbs, I had 8 of them 4 mushroom and potato, and 4 Spinich, Feta and potato. This is like the ultimate carb dish, and I ate it for breakfast, before I would have like 2 eggs and 2 slices of bacon. I have never had carb cravings before, but, now I have. Also lack of meat in this meal, just didn't bother me, which is a bit abnormal.... Like yesterday I went to Wendy's and bought a ceaser salad and a baked potato, I wasn't even tempted by the baconator.

This worries me, as I generally have been a bit worried about eating lots of carbs, but it has had a most strange effect: I just don't seem to like much sugar at all now. I was kinda expecting my desire for things like chocolate to increase on HRT, not sure why. In truth the exact opposite has happened. I bought a Dove Dark Chocolate bar from the store the other day, I had a small bit of it, and then I was done with it. This is most unheard of for me.

Has anyone else noticed pronounced dietary changes.

I'm going the other way and vegetarian. I eat peanut butter by the jar, eggs more often but not everyday, and cheese(too much). I still eat beans a lot. Sugar is Ok sometimes but it has never been something I cared for. Spuds used to be a common thing or pasta or rice and lot of bread. Now bread will last a week or more.

I'm still a chocoholic, but then I only eat unsweetened or semi sweetened chocolate. I make cocoa without sugar. I never eat salt, unless the food comes with it and even then it has to be low salt or it tastes bad. That has always been since around age 10.

Quite so. Not only did the variety change but the volume changed substantially. Portion size is about a third of what it used to be, and I'm quite happy with only two meals a day. Breakfast and dinner.

I still have the odd craving or two. Like eating an entire can of beetroot, in one sitting. And I'm not pregnant 

Enjoy one of the many changes you're yet to experience.

Huggs
Catherine

My changes:

1. Taste matters more. Simply feeding my body was enough for male me. Female me somehow wants variety and taste. I'm feeling compelled to try new dishes and branch out.

2. Salt cravings. Think this might come from taking spiro.

3. Chocolate tastes the same. But it produces a strange effect on my body...

I didn't noticed any substantial changes  in food preferences, but it seems that lately i am always hungry . Before , i ate as many chocolate cream as i wanted , and basically as much food as i felt . I don't know if my recent unsatiable appetite is only because i slightly reduced the quantity of food per meal (maintaining the same nature of the food ) or if it has something to do with hormones . The bad part is that when i get really depressed , usualy at least once a day , i tend to eat all that i inhibited before , mainly chocolate and bread , so no much weight loss for me .

I was always a chocolate maniac, but HRT elevated that exponentially. I still loves the taste and feeling of chocolate almost the same way, but now my body asks for it. I wake up and I feel that need for chocolate...and when I eat it hmmm I go to heaven    .

Now I know why women love chocolate desserts!

But besides that, most things are the same. I feel I can't eat larger meals as before, but that must be because I lost a good ammount of weight and my stomach got smaller.

I start hrt in about 2 weeks so it will be interesting to see any changes. I have also always listened to what my body wants to eat. Mainly high caloric high protein stuff

I stopped drinking alcohol much. It wasn't a deliberate thing. As time went by I just seemed to never have drank what I had been given.

 I went vegetarian just prior to starting hrt. I wanted to get my weight down as much as possible. I also use to be a salt junkie. My doctor told me my blood pressure was high. So I cut my intake of salt a ton as well. I lost a lot of weight really fast. I never craved sweets much. I don't even eat many fruits. Just an apple almost every morning and veggies, beans or nuts for the other meals. I do find that if I have a piece of chocolate or a donut after not having one in a long time. It is the most amazing thing ever. never really a craving. 

I hear dark chocolate is good as it influences fat distribution, away from the waste.

I didn't make a conscious effort to change my diet, but I find myself eating less junk food, less meat, fewer carbs, and more vegetables. Over all I am eating substantially smaller portions than I used to. The vegetable thing threw me for a loop. Before I started HRT I would eat vegetables about half of the time if they were put on my plate in front of me. Now I find myself craving them and actively seeking them out. Instead of potato chips I find myself going for celery and carrot sticks as a snack. Weird.

This is so funny, everyone is so different!

Pre HRT, I was a vegetarian, my appetite was rarely big. I rarely ate carbs, in-fact I would often go out of my way to avoid them. I also felt bloated quite frequently.
I first started with spiro and progynova, not much change there. Then I switched to microgynon and omg I've never experienced cravings like it!

Almost immediately I started craving carbs, pasta potato, pizza. Then came salt, and I started using different vinegars a lot more. After that was chocolate, I was rather insatiable.
Just when I thought I was getting it all this under control I started craving fish, I hadn't even thought about eating any meats in probably 3 years, so this came as a shock.
Through all of this my portions seemed to increase in size as well. This little circle of cravings when on for around 4-5 months before I started to feel like I had things under control and my I wasn't just existing to eat!

I also used to love juicing. I would juice fast for a day probably once a month pre HRT and would feel great. The first time I tried this post, the hunger I experienced was so intense I lasted around 3 hours. Kale was a favourite of mine to put in but now I practically feel somehow violated if that leaf comes anywhere near me. There was also a few other veggies I turned away from for a while but these
I did gain around 3kg through all of this which for the life of me I cannot move despite being very active and adjusting back to a normal diet and routine but oh well, I feel better than I have in years.

The change in diet and cravings I've found to be an interesting ride that's for sure!

I used to eat manly portions of everything as mostly learned behavior rather than my true bodily need. Some of our eating behavior is a conditioned response. In the morning when we were children mom would get us breakfast, at noon the school bell rang, time to eat! In the evening at around five or so mom would say "dinner's ready time to eat!" No-one ever considered if we were hungry and really needed it and oddly our bodies responded by being dutifully hungry as a learned response. Several years ago I decided to make an effort to drop some weight and get in shape, I lost a good sixty pounds when I began breaking my meals up into four or five small meals a day which is more like grazing. There are days when I only eat once and I don't feel a need to eat again until about 2AM and I just have a glass of water instead and go back to bed. I've been limiting my red meat intake to a small piece only once a day about 4 x 4 inches across and an inch deep which is about 5 ounces if that and I'm thinking about eliminating that altogether. I'm on a plateau weight wise and would like to drop another 20 lbs eventually. The problem about weight loss when you get older though is that your skin has lost it's elasticity and sadly that translates into loose skin. Got some loose skin where my spare tire used to be and it's a bit unsightly to me. So if you're going to make the effort don't wait until you're an old geez, do it while your skin is youthful and still elastic.

For me there has been some interesting changes. I was not a cheese or cheese sauce person at all before now I sort of crave those type of dishes which is odd. I just loved super spicy food and could eat the hottest of the hot and now I can still eat it however I do not go out of my way to find such delicacies anymore. The quantity part has not changed much other than I feel more hungry more often. Red meat I can take it or leave it now where I was a true beef eater before. The most unique thing is an absolute desire for dill pickles and my all time favorite Ketchup potato chips. I always liked chocolate and still do  but my love for ice cream is not so much anymore. Alcohol is the same as before with a total body intolerance most of the time which is not all bad anymore
Maybe a lot of this is because my sense of smell has changed remarkably to the better.

What I find most interesting is that almost everyone experienced some change with no clear patterns.

This makes me wonder if it is similar to the shifts in eating desires that pregnant women see, which begs the question are cravings related to the child or just hormone levels, which would explain how the variation seems so pronounced.

I was never a person that cared that much for sweets, and I hated chocolate. I love them both now, and those dishes that people have on their desks at work with little candy bars or sweets are magnets that pull me in every time. I now totally understand why women love and crave chocolate 

I used to salt everything heavily until my doctor told me to quit because of high BP so I quit. Now I'm on spiro and my salt cravings have gone through the roof so I'm back to using a little salt now.

Heavily spiced/hot food is way more yummy now. Food that used to be spicy/hot to me tastes bland and needs more heat.

Food portions - I cant eat near as much as I used to. I can't remember the last time I pulled through a fast food drive thru, and I usually don't keep stuff like potato chips around. I eat a lot more salad and chicken and an occasional hamburger that I grill. My food bill at the grocery store has gotten pretty cheap these days LOL.....

Alcohol has been almost totally eliminated from my diet. I have maybe a glass or two of wine or a couple of beers in a week, way down from the 6-10 drinks a night I used to down. This was happening before I accepted who I am and I stopped doing that to myself.

I am far more willing to try different food now. Before it was a "Yuck!" thought, now it is a "That sounds interesting, i think I'll try some" thought.

Quote from: Eva Marie on February 22, 2014, 10:03:38 PMI used to salt everything heavily until my doctor told me to quit because of high BP so I quit. Now I'm on spiro and my salt cravings have gone through the roof so I'm back to using a little salt now.

With Spiro, it's ok to eat as much salt as you crave because it reduces sodium retention. If you don't, you might experience adverse effects. In this case, listening to your body is helpful so eat salty whenever you want. There is a reason your salt cravings are through the roof with Spiro, your body is trying to tell you something, you need it!

This probably explains my love of pickles and pickle juice as well as the chips. I usually make no effort to add salt and I will now to see if this curbs the demons, in moderation of course.

Maybe I should stop by a UFA and get a block of salt to just have around

Quote from: Erica_Y on February 23, 2014, 03:33:29 PM
This probably explains my love of pickles and pickle juice as well as the chips. I usually make no effort to add salt and I will now to see if this curbs the demons, in moderation of course.

On Spiro, I don't think it's wise to control (moderate) salt intake. Eat as much as you crave, not more, not less. You are losing more salt and retaining more potassium than average. Imbalances are dangerous for your health.

Salty things. Soup, pickles, kraut, hot sauce. I can make my own in most cases... but sometimes I just need to have someone make me some great soul at a resturaunt.

Spice. I liked things spicy before HRT. Now I can not get enough. I grow ghost peppers now.

Never liked chocolate. Now it is a party in my mouf!

And yes... Vinegars of all kinds... which makes me love hot and sour soups a whole lot!

Fortunately for me, most of these things are relatively cheap or last a long time.

My need for protein has greatly reduced but my love for it remains.