10 Causes Of Out Of Control Hunger
Here are some of the common problems related to the experience of out of control hunger. There are several conditions that cause chronic feelings of starvation. They should definitely be the subject of investigation with your physician.
Dehydration
Many times people have dehydration when they are experiencing hunger symptoms. The truth is that with chronic dehydration the symptom for thirst is often misunderstood. Always being hungry combined with not drinking enough fluids, or having enough electrolytes, in your body could mean that you’re actually suffering from moderate to mild dehydration.
The easiest way to check if you’re dehydrated is to look at the color of your urine. Clear to light yellow is a fully hydrated person. Moderate to dark yellow means you definitely need to drink more water. If your urine is orange or dark brown, you should seek immediate medical attention because this is a symptom of extreme dehydration.
“Mild dehydration is often masked as feelings of hunger, when really your body just needs fluids,” says Alissa Rumsey, RD, spokesperson for the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Our brain mistakes our thirst for hunger since both are controlled by the same part of the brain, the hypothalamus. A study carried out by the Journal of Physiology & Behavior found that we mistake our thirst for hunger 60% of the time.
Water is crucial for carrying nutrients to where they need to go, and lack of water means lack of nutrients. This makes our body think it’s running low on fuel and strikes up ‘hunger pangs.’
Hyperthyroidism
If you’re eating more than usual, constantly hungry still losing weight, then you could have a problem with your thyroid. Hyperthyroidism is a condition where the thyroid gland produces too much of the hormone thyroxine. This speeds up everything the body does. This means all of your metabolic processes will run faster than they normally would. It can copy the symptoms of other health problems making it hard to diagnose.
You will find yourself with an insatiable hunger, sudden weight loss, a rapid or irregular heartbeat, sweating, and nervousness or irritability. Having tests run by a doctor for thyroid function is the only way to be sure that you do not suffer from this medical condition.
Your Hormones Are off
Besides hyperthyroidism, several hormonal conditions can affect your metabolic function. Women’s Health Magazine points to conditions like pre-diabetes and diabetes, hypoglycemia, and other insulin and glucose related issues as the main sources of hunger spikes.
Sometimes specialized diets control hunger hormone responses. If your hunger is the result of a high-refined carbohydrate diet, a nutritionist may recommend that you reduce your carbohydrate intake. In fact, if you eat refined carbs, such as white starches and sugar, it is known these cause out of control cravings and an erratic appetite.
Reducing carbohydrates has an effect on the insulin output and uptake in your metabolism. Your hormones handle many things in your body and shouldn’t be ignored.
You Skip Meals
If you skip meals in an effort to burn off some fat, you are making a mistake. When you skip a meal, your body goes into “storage” mode and locks down on the fat cells in case there’s a bout of starvation going around.
Also, ghrelin, the hormone responsible for stimulating your appetite, goes into overdrive when you leave your stomach with no food for a long time. A rule of thumb is not to go without food for more than 4 or 5 hours, and opt for healthy snacks.
You’re Not Sleeping
Sleep is one of the biggest regulators of hormones. Hormones such as those produced during stress (cortisol) relate directly to your sleep cycle. In addition, sleep affecting hormones it can also cause you to have a larger appetite.
Craving high fat and high calorie foods are symptoms of being overtired. Along with craving foods that are bad for you, you may notice a change in mood, clumsiness, difficulty focusing and weight gain.
If you’re having all the symptoms and aren’t sleeping your eight hours every day, it may be time to add some extra sleep into your daily schedule. Once you do, you should see an immediate decrease in the stress responses due to lack of sleep.
You Rush Through Meals
When you don’t use your five senses while eating, you’re likely to eat more than those who pay attention to their food. Even listening to the crunching of your food registers with your brain on some level, allowing for the hormone leptin, which is responsible for the sense of being full, to start working after nearly 20 minutes of eating.
But if you distract by watching TV, or playing on your phone, or working on your laptop, your brain doesn’t register that you’re eating and you eat almost 40% more than you should.
Take your time and practice mindful eating. Our busy lives dictate that we do everything in a rush. We rarely have time to think and reflect, let alone take our time eating. You should spend around 20-25 minutes eating since the hormone leptin starts kicking in after about 20 minutes, giving that feeling that you’ve had enough to eat.
Studies show that those who eat quickly consume 60% more calories than those who take their time with their food.
Too Many Carbs
Eating a meal full of carbohydrates means you flood your bloodstream with sugars, especially glucose, which then alerts insulin release in huge amounts to take in all that glucose. And since insulin moves fast, it takes away the sugar quickly, leaving you with a sudden drop in blood sugar levels.
This triggers hunger pangs and out of control cravings. Steer clear of refined carbs, including sugar, white breads, rice, and pasta. Opt for whole grains and eat a clean diet filled with whole food, which also improves digestion and boosts metabolism.
You Stress Out
Usually when we stress, we lose our appetite. However, that’s only temporary, because prolonged stress increases the release of the hormone cortisol, which triggers our sense of hunger. Cortisol takes out lipids from our bloodstream and stores them in fat cells, adding on the pounds, thus increasing stress levels.
Not Enough Protein
Lean protein takes some time to fully digest, which means you feel full longer. What’s more is that lean protein provides your body with an appetite-suppressing effect.
Protein comes in many forms, such as eggs, meat, poultry, and fish. However, there are also other sources of protein, which you can consume any time of the day, such as quinoa, hummus, and peanut butter.
Medications
Some medications could be increasing your appetite. Any medication is a chemical, which can create a discrepancy in your body’s natural chemical balance.
Wrap Up
These listed causes are the most likely reasons for chronic hunger symptoms. The best thing that you can do is start by drinking plenty of water and getting enough sleep. If you do both of these then you may have a problem that needs addressing by your physician.
If your blood tests show normal hormone levels, your hunger may be psychological rather than physical. You can get help to learn how to control your appetite. There are support groups like overeaters anonymous and also you can learn through mindful eating techniques.
Learning how to control your hunger when there is no physical ailment will help you succeed in not continually thinking about food.