'' I could eat a horse! – Popular idiom ''
Hunger and cravings are closely related, but they’re not the same. The thing is – if you’re trying to burn more fat, chances are you’ll have to learn how to control your portions better. Normally, your appetite should match your nutritional needs – which means you would naturally stop eating when you had enough food, enough calories or enough nutrients.But more often than not, various factors screw up your hunger mechanisms and you end up being hungry all the time. The following little-known truths about hunger will help you understand it better and finally take control of your cravings.
Satiation And Satiety Are Very Different
Let me define these two words:
Satiation: the factors which make us stop eating
Satiety: the factors that cause us to feel hungry or not hungry
The tricky thing is – these two processes are very different, and follow very different mechanisms in your body. For example, if all that’s available to eat is cotton candy, you’ll soon be satiated, with no desire to eat more – but you won’t experience satiety, because you’ll still be hungry for real food. This proves once again that taste buds have nothing to do with reduction of hunger. The signal to shut down hunger is actually delivered when nutrients reach your intestinal wall, 2.5 to 3 hours after eating your meal, in some cases. If your body is still screaming for nutrients, it will never send the signal to your body that it’s fed well, and won’t shut down your hunger properly.
Hunger Is Both Physiological And Psychological
Ever felt your stomach growling, your energy dipping and your hands shaking because you skipped breakfast? That’s the physiological part of hunger. No one ever talks about this, but hunger also has a strong psychological base. For example, the mere thought of certain foods that are related with pleasant memories can trigger our “hunger”. That’s where cravings kick in.
It’s OK To Be Hungry
Hunger is not an emergency mechanism that signals famine and a near-death experience. In our society where there’s enough food around to stuff yourself to death, real hunger is nowhere to be found. Do you freak out if it’s 12:01 PM and you usually take your first bite of lunch at noon? It’s about time you learn to deal with hunger. If you’re imprisoned in a state where being hungry is very uncomfortable, I highly suggest you try to fast for an entire 24 hours. You’ll be surprised after you see what happens if you skip meals… exactly nothing. That’s right: You won’t die, your metabolism won’t be destroyed and chances are that your hunger will eventually die off too. A very eye-opening experience for most people.
The size Of Your Stomach Doesn’t Matter
Most people think that their hunger is somehow related to the size of their stomach, and that it can “stretch” out of control until they feel hungry all the time, for the rest of their life. I call B.S. In one study, only 14% of people who had lap-band surgeries maintained their weight loss long-term, which clearly shows that the size of your stomach doesn't affect your food intake or hunger.
Your Hunger Is Triggered By Your Environment
A lot of proponents of the “eat intuitively” mentality say that we should naturally be able to eat foods our body needs, in the quantities it needs. Yes, we should. In reality, a lot of external factors affect how much we eat and how much we feel “hungry” for certain foods:
- The mere sight of food – like on TV ads – can trigger hunger
- Food served in larger plates leads you to eat more. In one study, participants ate 71% more pasta if served in a bigger bowl
- People eat more from a candy dish right in front of them but much less from a candy dish 6 feet away.
Summary
--> Satiety – which means your body sends you the signal that it’s fed – can only happen with the right nutrients intake. In plain English, you can never effectively curb your hunger with processed foods that contain no nutrients.
--> - Hunger won’t kill you.- Doing a 24-hour fast is a very eye-opening
experience. Try it.
--> The size of your stomach as little to do with your hunger.
--> Hunger can be physiological (your body NEEDS food) – but more often than not it’s triggered by psychological cues in your environment.
