# Does anyone else suffer from: "I'm hungry but I don't know what I want" syndrome?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 3, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008 "2017-06-03T15:35:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/1 "2017-06-03T15:35:18Z")
I have a bad case of this going on right now. I know I’m too lazy to cook anything right now. And I got just about every type of restaurant with in a stone’s throw of my house. But nothing sounds good!
Gah! I hate that!
---
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/2 "2017-06-03T15:36:37Z")
Yeah, I get that. Generally it means I’m bored. I try my best to ignore it.
When I’m really hungry, there’s always something at hand I’m willing to eat. (And I’m usually better off ignoring _that_, too.)
---
### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/3 "2017-06-03T15:40:27Z")
That happens to me occasionally, and I have found that in such situations tacos are usually a good solution.
---
### Author:  [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/4 "2017-06-03T16:25:15Z")
I get that feeling a lot, I don’t really cook and I subsist on takeout, prepared foods, sandwiches, salads and Stouffers.
But I don’t know that it’s completely “not knowing what I really want”. More often, it’s " Oh, I know what I REALLY want but I also really want not to weigh 200 lbs, so I need to modify that desire. Now, I don’t really know what I want that’s not cheeseburgers and milkshakes.
---
### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/5 "2017-06-03T16:26:03Z")
> [@bobot](#):
>
> That happens to me occasionally, and I have found that in such situations tacos are usually a good solution.
Grin! I’m just off to lunch with a friend, and we always seem to play the game of, “Where do you wanna go?” “I dunno, what about you?” A taco joint is our default, if we can’t think of anything else.
Yumz tacos!
---
### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/6 "2017-06-03T16:31:37Z")
Always. I forget to eat when I’m depressed and then I get overwhelmed by what I should eat and sometimes I just give up and don’t eat anything. Not a habit I recommend.
---
### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/7 "2017-06-03T17:07:08Z")
I get it frequently. For me, much of the problem is due to self-imposed rules.
Like, I have this thing about rice. I love it. But I’ve always got in the back of my mind this little [fact](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/arsenic-in-rice_us_589cc1ffe4b09bd304c0b04c). So if I’ve eaten rice, say, three nights in a row, then I tell myself I can’t eat it anymore for the rest of the week. The same with red meat. And I will only allow myself to eat french fries once a week because of this: [Acrylamide Study Warns Burnt Toast & Fries May Be Cancer Causing Food - Thrillist](https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/acrylamide-study-burnt-toast-fries-cancer-causing-foods).
I eat pizza a lot. I could eat it every day if I allowed myself to. I try not to because eating pizza every day would be kind of crazy. So sometimes I’ll capriciously put pizza on the “do not eat” list, even if that’s the only thing I’m having cravings for.
Then I have this rule that “forbids” me to get take-out from the same place on consecutive weeks. So if this week I got a burger at my favorite burger spot, then I have to wait two weeks before going back. I have this “thing” where I don’t like being remembered by waitstaff. I guess the idiot operating my control panel thinks two weeks is long enough for them to forget me.
It can take me hours to make up my mind about what to eat, which is why I tend to plan out my meals well in advance.
---
### Author:  [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/8 "2017-06-03T17:25:21Z")
Yes, I get it, but mostly it’s when I want or need a snack, not ready to sit down and have a meal.
---
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/9 "2017-06-03T19:23:05Z")
I get that. And I either wait until there’s something I really want to eat, or settle for tea and whole wheat bread with butter, or coffee with lots of cream and sweetner.
---
### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/10 "2017-06-03T19:41:01Z")
Never. When I am hungry I am ready to eat anything edible; it’s only when I am not hungry that I get picky about what foods to eat. And it is always less effort to grab something from the house than to go out to eat.
---
### Author:  [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/11 "2017-06-03T20:10:14Z")
I remember when I was a kid, every time someone said they were hungry but they didn’t know what for, someone would grin and say they were really just horny.
---
### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/12 "2017-06-03T20:13:08Z")
We get that all the time at this house. Usually it just means that no one wants what we have here, or that we aren’t hungry enough yet, just kinda hungry. Although sometimes it means that we need to go shopping. Today for instance…
---
### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/13 "2017-06-03T20:23:43Z")
I remember times when I was dieting for a bodybuilding competition and I’d get to a point where I literally couldn’t even eat the diet food because I felt absolutely nauseated at the prospect of choking it down. If I did attempt to choke it down, it felt like my stomach was screaming in agony.
However, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t hungry. I was famished! Food consumed my every thought. And usually, the hungrier you get, the less you care about being picky. But in these instances, the hungrier I got, the _harder_ it became to eat what was available to me. It sucked. Eating broccoli became the most difficult thing in the word. It felt like I was trying to eat an office supply. And _chicken_! Chicken was the hardest thing of all. My body was simply not recognizing this substance as food. Chewing it up and swallowing it became herculean efforts. I’d be working so hard to eat my food and I’d look at my plate and become dismayed that I hadn’t even made it halfway through.
Basically, I was suffering from “I’m hungry and I know what I _ **don’t** _ want”.
---
### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/14 "2017-06-03T20:23:55Z")
I get this way more often than I should, and I absolutely know that having another beer and thinking about it isn’t the best idea.
After 3 or 4 beers I don’t feel like eating anymore.
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk
---
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/15 "2017-06-03T20:42:44Z")
My husband always tells me to have a glass of water when I get this, because apparently your body can get confused between thirsty and hungry. It’s not always thirst, but often enough.
Sometimes I get hungry for some sweet snack but I don’t know what snack; my rule on that is, if I can’t figure out what sweet snack I want, then I don’t really want anything. When I have a true craving, I usually know exactly what it is.
---
### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/16 "2017-06-03T21:12:21Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> My husband always tells me to have a glass of water when I get this, because apparently your body can get confused between thirsty and hungry. It’s not always thirst, but often enough.
People also get confused between hunger and craving.
---
### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/17 "2017-06-03T23:12:58Z")
5 always “know what I want” – ice cream. But I have enough will power to deny it sometimes, and think “I don’t know what else I want.”
---
### Author:  [@bikerdruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bikerdruid)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/18 "2017-06-03T23:15:31Z")
> [@Grrr](#):
>
> I have a bad case of this going on right now. I know I’m too lazy to cook anything right now. And I got just about every type of restaurant with in a stone’s throw of my house. But nothing sounds good!
>
> Gah! I hate that!
All the time, man … I feel your Angst.
---
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/19 "2017-06-04T02:31:34Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> People also get confused between hunger and craving.
Very true. If you can’t figure out what you’re hungry for, maybe wait a couple of hours and get truly hungry.
---
### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008/20 "2017-06-04T03:28:25Z")
When I can’t decide what I want to eat I usually head to Whole Foods. If they don’t have something in their hot/prepared food buffets, I’m probably not that hungry after all.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-suffer-from-im-hungry-but-i-dont-know-what-i-want-syndrome/788008.md?page=2)