I recently ate a big lunch and I feel full (even too full) but I also feel hungry somehow. There’s a lot of saliva in my mouth and I have the urge to go to the fridge, but if I do and look inside then the thought of eating any of the foods that I’m looking at feels unappealing. I leave without eating anything but then I feel the urge to go right back again.
This isn’t unusual for me but I don’t know why it happens. Maybe it’s because I’m feeling anxious and the anxious part of me wants to eat to feel better even though my stomach is full? Or maybe I don’t feel satisfied because I didn’t eat the right nutrients?
This might be relevant, but I was like this for almost my entire life until my 30s. Found out I have a kidney disorder that makes me lose potassium way too fast. Started treating that and most cravings went away.
My takeaway was that cravings can be driven by nutritional deficiencies. Figure out what you’re missing and eat more of that, or supplement. The cravings can also be totally wrong about what to eat. I would crave purely salty stuff but what I actually needed were bananas, avocados, and strawberries (bc they’re crazy high in potassium). A lot of the foods I craved were actively worse for my cravings (very starchy foods lower potassium levels; worst offenders are pizza and alcohol).
I’m not saying you have my specific thing, it’s crazy rare; all bodies are unique, however, and yours might be missing something. Keep an eagle eye on what you actually consume and try to correlate cravings to your eating habits.
Completely unrelated, but if you have ADHD you may have also ingrained the “food=dopamine” correlation deep into your psyche. People often use food to regulate their mood unwittingly and it becomes a destructive habit.
Sometimes it can be both of these things. So good luck and godspeed.