It is natural to feel like your appetite is higher when you are regularly training intensely or if you are pregnant. But when you are always feeling hungry for no apparent reason then something is definitely not right. When you feel like this you need to find out what is triggering your constant hunger. If you don’t it can lead to an unhealthy BMI and body fat, which can later turn into diabetes or a cardio vascular disease. Finding out these triggers sooner than later can save yourself from these and will be a lot less of a painful journey than it would be later down the line. Would you rather try lose the extra 5kg that you have put on now or 15kg at a later stage? My guess is the 5kg now. Here are a few reasons you might be feeling hungry when you aren't.
Dehydration
Majority of the time we mistake dehydration pains for hunger, the part of our brain that regulates our appetite also regulates our thirst. Due to this we often feel hungry when we are actually dehydrated. Next time you feel like you feel that hunger pains are kicking in, grab a big drink of water first and give it ten to fifthteen teen minutes. I guarantee the hunger pains will reduce if not completely go. To help prevent this hunger feeling try and stay on top of your water intake throughout the day, this will drastically reduce those feelings.
Empty Calorie Foods
Ever heard of the term empty calorie foods? This is food that is very high in calories but low in nutrients our body needs, hence the term empty calories. Empty calorie foods will be things like a donut or a bag of crisp, these foods are often very small yet they are loaded with high calories. A donut is around 500 calories which is the same amount of calories as a meal of chicken and rice would give you. One of these fills you up the other one doesn’t I am sure you can guess which one. Try and eat whole foods over empty calorie foods, they will leave you more satisfied and full which will stop you from over eating later on in the day.
High Carb And Low Protein
Most people will load up there plate with carbs (pasta) and only make up a small portion of protein (chicken). A higher protein diet is more likely to keep your hunger at bay, it suppresses your appetite and leaves you feeling more full than carbs would. Protein is also the hardest macronutrient for your bodies to digest and takes more energy, therefor you burn more calories digesting protein over any other food source. High amounts of carbs particularly starchy carbs tend to spike your blood sugar levels up but then soon come crashing back down, when it crashes back down this leads to hunger and cravings for more starchy carbs. Good sources of protein are lean meats, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, beans and dairy.
Eating to Quickly
We are in an era now where everything is a rush, we rush from one thing to the next and do everything at 100 miles an hour. When we rush our food down we don’t give our body enough time to signal that we are full, it takes about 25 minutes to get this signal. When we wolf our food down as quick as we can we are able to eat more cause our brain hasn’t yet signalled that we are over eating. This leaves us to over eat all throughout the day as we constantly rush our food down. Ever rushed a big meal quickly then all of a sudden later you feel like your going to explode and you cant move? That because it has taken that long for your brain to signal that you are full and you have over eaten by a huge amount. Next time you sit down to eat your meal after every mouthful put your knife and fork down chew slowly before picking it back up, this will slow you down and allow your brain to signal you have eaten enough food.
Boredom
Its no secret we all eat when we are bored, we sit down in front of the tv eating empty calorie foods before you know it you have eaten through an entire pot of Pringles. We eat when we are bored to break up the monotony, we have nothing else to do or better to do so we just eat foods that give us pleasure. 1 pot of Pringles is 900 calories!!! 900!!! Thats over half the amount of calories the average woman needs to eat to lose weight and yet how easy are they to eat? To help curb this bad habit you need to try keep yourself active and not let yourself get bored. Try doing something more productive with your time, get up and go for a walk, learn something new, go to the gym, read a book or keep healthier snacks on hand instead of empty calorie food.
Habits
Habit can cause you to eat more, as humans we do things out of habit all the time. If you always eat when your bored or eat crap food during certain times of the day these habits stick with you even if you aren’t hungry. Old bad habits are a nightmare to change but if you don’t change them then neither will your waist line. Okay you enjoy those habits so why change them? But do you enjoy being over weight? Do you enjoy running the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease? Wouldn’t you rather feel healthier, fitter, happier and more energised? Your habits make and break your goals learn what triggers them, learn how to substitute the bad habit for a good one, practise until its better and the new habit will stick as well as the old one once did. Try and change one or two habits at a time, try change anymore and you will set yourself up for failure.
There we have it 6 reasons of why you feel hungry when you probably aren’t, try using the tips from this blog to try curb those fake hunger pains and see how you get on.
Thanks for reading guys, take care :)