# Describe being hungry...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-being-hungry/814993>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 28, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-being-hungry/814993 "2018-05-28T20:33:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-being-hungry/814993/1 "2018-05-28T20:33:02Z")

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I’ve been doing the One Meal A Day thing for about a month. I’ve had several people, on hearing this, clutch their mid-sections with a pained expression, like it hurt and they empathize. For years, I used to do a 3-day fast, and while I was aware of being hungry (the first day or two), it never _hurt_. Does it for anyone, in that short a period?

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**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-being-hungry/814993/2 "2018-05-28T22:19:22Z")

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I’ve been hungry for short periods - it has never hurt, other than a moderate headache that goes away. I’ve never been hungry for a long time.

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**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-being-hungry/814993/3 "2018-05-29T01:07:31Z")

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Go look at pictures when you’re hungry. I learned that from Hemingway in **A Movable Feast,**

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**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-being-hungry/814993/4 "2018-05-29T01:26:11Z")

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Yes, it actually physically hurts. Between about L1 vertebra, as I see from a quick check of a spine diagram, and maybe just under the lungs. It’s actually a little difficult to distinguish hunger pains from backache, which I also get at around that area. I have to eat something and see if the pain goes away.

I feel the pain higher than if I’ve got an actual stomachache, but I think that’s just an indication that what we normally call ‘stomach’-ache is actually ‘lower intestine’-ache - I think my hunger pains are a lot closer to the actual stomach.

This is apart from wooziness, general grumpiness, and occasionally nausea (that would be … if I skip lunch on a PMT day). My body reacts _really badly_ to foodlessness.