Why You Are Always Hungry? Tips to Stay Full Longer
Hunger is a sensation that tells your body needs food for energy. Since your body relies on food for energy, it is normal to feel hungry if your stomach is empty for few hours. When your hunger sensation strikes, your stomach may rumble and feel empty, and may lead to another symptoms such as headache, stomach bloating and inability to concentrate.
A lot of medical reasons which can cause you to always feel hungry. The alarming sign that you must check with your doctor is when your stomach is in constant rumble even after meal. Among medical reasons that may possibly be the main culprit for your consistent hunger strike are diabetes, hyperthyroidism, being pregnant, hypoglycemia or low blood sugar level, insomnia or lack of sleep, depression and the effect of certain medications.
Other than medical reasons, there are still numbers of explanation of your hunger. The foods selection to curb your hunger is very important in order to avoid mindless munching of unhealthy and high calorie snacks.
 |
| Image source (link) |
This article will help you to understand the reason of your excessive hunger and how to overcome it.
Skipping Breakfast
Many of us rush to work everyday. That is pretty normal for city folk whose living a hectic life. So,breakfast would be the first thing to throw aside when you are running low of time. Taking breakfast is very important as it serves as your first meal before you start your day and it breaks the fast we've undergone through the long hours of night sleep. When you skip breakfast, your stomach will empty for long hours, and this will activates a hunger hormone called ghrelin, which increase your appetite and this will leads you to overeat in the next meal.(ref). Try to minimize the interval between each meal not more than 4 hours to regulate your appetite.
You are taking too little protein
Filling your plate with protein based food is extremely beneficial to keep your hunger at bay and to control your appetite. When your body breaks down protein substances, it produces the end product known as phenylalanine, which can stimulate the secretion of another hormones to curb hunger and control blood sugar level such as leptin and Glucagon-like-peptide 1 or GLP-1. (ref 1, ref 2). Furthermore, protein is a complex molecule that taking a longer time to digest, compared to carbohydrate based food, and makes your stomach feel full longer.
When you are considering to consume protein based food, try to choose healthy protein based products such as lean meats, eggs, beans, soy and nuts. Taking a protein based breakfast is always a good option to kick-starts your day and try to include protein sources for every meals.
 |
| Image source (link) |
You don't drink enough water
It is crucial to maintain proper hydration for your body to function well. You've probably heard that you are recommended to take at least 8 glasses of water per day to keeps healthy. But this theory has little supportive evidence. The water needs depends on your necessity and your physical activity. The most important thing is to always stay hydrated and drink whenever your feel thirsty. Research has shown that drinking more water does not have any convincing benefits, except it may prevent to occurrence of kidney stone (ref).
Beside its hydrating property, drinking water is quite filling and has potential to curb your appetite when your drink before taking your meal because your stomach is already filled.
Mild dehydration is often disguised as the feeling of hunger, while your body actually just needs water. So, instead of grabbing a glass of water, you choose to munch on snacks, thinking that your stomach is hungry. The best way to prevent this confusion is to always ensure to drink enough water and if you are feeling hungry, try to take a glass of water first to see if your hunger subsides.
You are not getting enough sleep
No matters how busy you are, you aren't a robot and your body needs rest. By having enough sleep, you allow proper functioning of your overall body system, by giving your body systems a good rest to well functioned.
Getting enough sleep is one of the factor to control appetite, as it helps to regulate ghrelin, the appetite stimulating hormone and leptin, a hormone that promotes the feeling of fullness. Sleep deprivation decreased the level of leptin and increase your ghrelin secretion, which will trigger your cravings for sugary foods and high carbohydrates based foods even if you are not really feel hungry (ref 1, ref 2).
Aim for at least 7 to 8 hours of good sleep at night to regulate your hormone and keep you energized when you woke up in the morning. Another tips, try your best to stay away from gadgets and any devices that will distract your sleep.
You are eating too much refined and starchy carbohydrates
Refined carbohydrates have undergone refining process to remove the germs layer. White rice, white flour, noodle, pasta and baked goods made from white flour and refined sugar are among the well- known refined carbohydrates sources. Refined carbohydrates has little nutrients, and easily be digested. The reason why you feel hungry even after eating a lot of refined carbohydrates is because they do not have significant effect in the feeling of fullness. In fact, loading your stomach with refined carbohydrates will cause sugar spike in your blood, which stimulate the increase in insulin to quickly transport sugar into your cells. When a lot of insulin is released at once, this may lead to sudden blood sugar drop which later will signal that your body needs more foods and you feel intense hunger and craving for more sugary foods (ref).
Get away from your sugary and refined carbohydrates cravings by simply replacing with complex and wholesome carbohydrates, such as vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains. They are still high in carbohydrates, but complex carbohydrates have lower glycemic index and contain more fiber than refined carbohydrates, which helps to curb your hunger. Be sure to divide your meal into smaller portions and eat regularly with smaller amount, so that your blood sugar level won't spike.
You eat too little fat
Fatty foods may not be the healthiest diet option, but those rich in polyunsaturated fats have been found to suppress appetite (ref). Similar as protein, unsaturated fat is known to have the satiety effect.
This is because it slower the gastrointestinal transit time as it takes longer time to be digested. Due to this reason, you may feel frequent hunger if your diet is lack of fat.
Add healthy fats in your diet such as avocado, olive oil, eggs, coconut oil and fatty fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel. Experts recommend that the limit of fat intake for adult is 20-35% of their total daily calories.
 |
| Image source (link) |
You are under stress
Who hasn't dealt with stress in the workplace, with the family and partner that give you a hard time, depleting your energy and thus giving into craving for junk foods and sugary snacks for your reward system? But, what does stress has to do with an increase of your appetite?
This is mostly because your cortisol level is high when you are under stress. As cortisol function is to make sure your body have sufficient fuel for energy, during stress response, it prevents the sugar to be stored, stimulate glucose production in the liver and muscles and inhibit insulin secretion. This reaction will cause high glucose floating around in the blood stream. Consistent high blood glucose will cause your cells to crave for energy so one way to get the energy is by signalling your brain to stimulate hunger. Cortisol is also proven to exhibits the effect on appetite and cravings for high- calorie food. That is why you feel hungrier often when you are under stress and tend to grab sugary and high-calorie foods as they are the quickest energy booster.
Keep your cortisol at the optimum level and manage your stress by having enough sleep, exercising and meditations.
You eat too fast
Rushing to eat isn't the best way to enjoy your food. When you wolf down your food, your stomach might be full, but the feeling of fullness haven't be registered in your brain causing constant appetite stimulation. Studies have shown that fast eater tend to have greater appetite with reduce satiety compared to slow eater (ref 1, ref 2).
When you take time to chew your food, your body has more time to signal and convey the fullness message to your brain to release hormone which suppress hunger, leptin (ref 1, ref 2).
Try to eat your food slowly, savoring each bite and enjoying the taste of your food. Then, wait for a while to gives chance for the body to send the signal to your brain and see if your body still demanding for food supply.
You exercise a lot
Frequent exercise burn your calories even at rest and fasten your metabolism. When doing exercise, your food is quickly converted into fuel to supply energy for your muscles and cells. The only way to prevent excessive hunger from exercise is to simply increase your food intake by consuming foods that are high in fiber, protein and healthy fats.
Another option is to reduce the intensity and frequency of your workouts. If you exercise moderately, you probably don't have to increase your calorie consumption.
You are distracted while eating
Who have never eat while finishing assignments in front of laptop? Who have never eating while enjoying favorite movies? It has become a habit to get distracted while you are eating. However, on the long term basis, this habit can actually detriment your mental. Studies have shown that those who enjoy their meal while distracted by other things experience frequent hunger episodes than those who eat without distraction (ref).
The possible explanation for this is because when you are distracted while eating, it reduces your awareness on how much you are actually eating. Distraction prevents you from recognizing your stomach fullness sensation as your mind is unable to recall the amount of food you have consumed (ref).
Try to avoid distraction while eating as much as you can and practice attentive eating to increase memory of food being consumed. By this way, you will be able to reduce the hunger sensation as your brain can easily recognize the feeling of fullness.
You frequently eating liquid based food
There are two ways of consuming your food, it is either in solid or liquid form. Different form of food will affect your satiety and appetite in different way.
When you frequently eat your food in a liquid form such as fruit juice, you will find yourself feel hungrier often than when you eat the fruit in solid form. The possible reason is because food in liquid form is easily digested, hence fasten the stomach emptying compared to digestion of solid food which takes longer. Research have shown that taking solid foods lead to greater and more prolonged reduction of hunger compared to liquid foods which is lower in viscosity. (ref 1, ref 2)
Additionally, along with suppression of hunger, taking foods in solid form also proven to suppress appetite, lower ghrelin (the appetite stimulating hormone) response and insulin level and reduce the desire to eat often . (ref)
To prevent excessive and frequent hunger, you need to incorporating more solid foods, preferably the whole one into your diet.
 |
| Image souce (link) |
You are inundate by food pictures and odors
Advertisements on famous restaurants with delicious foods, fast foods and delicious foods hunting documentary are among those which will stimulate our appetite and craving. Every time we watch tv, surfing or even Facebook sharing of delicious foods and recipes are enough to create your hunger sensation.
This is due to the unconscious influences to your brain and your reward system when you are looking at food, it is called a visual stimulation which stimulate the release of you hunger hormone, ghrelin. (ref)
Besides visual stimulation, the aroma of foods that you inhale whenever you pass by the food stalls are also another factor to generate your hunger and increase your appetite. Moreover, even in your state of fullness food odors appear to elicit their appetizing effects unconsciously along with involuntary physiological reaction such as the increase in salivation and stomach muscle contraction mimicking hunger symptoms. (ref 1, ref 2).
However, you can't totally be able to avoid these stimuli since they are part of our lives. In order to control your food visual and odor stimuli, limit your exposure on watching tv and online food advertisements and staring at the pictures of foods and whenever you are walking, try to find other way rather than passing by in front of hawker or food stalls, so that you won't be able to inhale the aroma of the foods.
You are drinking too much alcohol
Drinking alcohol meant to stimulate your appetite before your meal. Studies have shown that drinking alcohol before meal leads to short-term increase in food intake because the energy from alcohol metabolism inhibit the effect of satiety hormone, leptin and glucagon-like-peptide-1 while enhance the effect of appetite stimulating hormone that is responsible for your reward system. (ref 1, ref 2). Due to this reason, you will often feel hungry if you drink too much alcohol.
To reduce the hunger sensation, avoid drinking too much alcohol. Taking alcohol in moderation is always the best option.
0 comments :
Post a Comment