Why Am I Always Hungry : 10 Reasons to Know

Hunger is a natural phenomenon that tells you that your body needs food and specific nutrients that help subside it. These hunger pangs¹ subside when you fill your stomach. But being always hungry isn’t normal.

So in this blog, I have tried to cover 10 reasons why you are always hungry so that you can learn and tackle these medical conditions to improve your body and health.

Why Am I Always Hungry: 10 Reasons To Know

Being hungry is normal, but extreme hunger and being always hungry is a no-no situation that you should never ignore.

There are many reasons why you are feeling constant hunger, excessive hunger pangs, and stomach churning.

The very first reason why you are feeling hungry all the time is

1. Stress

Stress is a major symptom of why you always feel hungry; excessive stress is known to cause excessive food cravings. 

Stress triggers an increment of cortisol², the hormone that regulates hunger and food cravings. This increase in cortisol can be a reason why you always get hungry when you are in stress.

A study was conducted where 59 women who were detected to be stressed ate more calories the whole day and specifically sweeter foods than those women who weren’t worried.

You should utilize various techniques in your day to decrease emotional tension, such as exercise, which will help engage your mind, and deep breathing to rest your body.

2. Protein

Another symptom of extreme hunger pangs is insufficient protein, a major nutrient that helps control excessive hunger.

Protein contains properties that help reduce hunger and makes your body consume fewer calories throughout the day. It helps boost the hormones that signify fullness and reduce the hunger hormones that trigger constant hunger. 

Due to excessive hunger hormone production, you get hungry frequently, so try incorporating protein into your day-to-day food intake.

A study was conducted on this theory, and the result states that those who consumed higher protein food felt full throughout the day and experienced less obsessive hunger. So try incorporating protein in your diet to prevent constant hunger.

Many animal products, such as fish, eggs, meat, and poultry, are rich in protein. Some dairy products, such as yogurt and milk, also contain protein, and green plants, such as nuts, legumes, and whole grains, also contain high amounts of protein. Please include them in your diet and get rid of excessive hunger. 

3. Sleep

Are you jeopardizing ³your sleep? Obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep is extremely vital for your body and brain fitness. Depriving your body of the rest it needs can lead to many medical conditions, and hunger is one of the many symptoms you get when sleep-deprived.

Sleep is needed for your immune system and brain to function properly, and getting enough sleep lowers the chances of several diseases, such as cancer and premature heart illness.

Moreover, proper sleeping is a component of hunger control, as it helps control ghrelin⁴, a hunger-stimulating hormone. Not sleeping enough triggers increasing ghrelin levels, resulting in excessive hunger pangs. 

In one survey, it was conducted that 15 people who didn’t sleep properly for 1 night were more hungry and took 14% larger food portions than those who took their 8-hour sleep. 

That’s why taking at least 6-8 hours of steady sleep is advised so that you may not struggle with excessive hunger. A proper sleep schedule regulates leptin⁵, a hormone that may make you feel full. 

4. Fat

Fat plays a vital role in maintaining the health of your body and keeping you feeling full. If your diet is low in fat, you are going to feel hungry all the time.

The sense of feeling full is somewhat due to fat passive gastrointestinal transit time, which means that they take longer to digest and remain in your stomach for a long duration. Moreover, fat releases certain hunger hormones so that you may feel full and less hungry. 

The research was conducted on 270 adults who had obesity, and it was discovered that those who consumed meals that were lower in fat had excessive food cravings for higher sugar levels and carbs food. 

You can increase your fat consumption by eating foods with higher fats as their nutrient. Omega-3⁶ fatty acids and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats that tend to make you feel less hungry and keep you full.  

The abundant nutrition source of MCT is found in coconut oil, and omega-3 fatty acids are found in fatty fish like tuna, sardines, salmon, and plant-based foods such as flaxseeds and walnuts.

Other high-fat foods include olive oil, eggs, full-fat yogurt, and avocados.

5. Water

Another symptom of why you are always hungry is due to dehydration. Proper hydration is extremely crucial for your general health.

Drinking sufficient water has numerous health benefits, including proper brain functioning and overall body performance; it also keeps your heart healthy and prevents multiple heart diseases.  

Consuming enough water can reduce excessive hunger, and drinking water before meals will help satiate frequent hunger pangs. 

The research was conducted to test this theory, where 14 people who used to drink 2 glasses of water before every meal they ate consumed 600 fewer calories than those people who didn’t drink any glass of water before eating their dinner. 

Sometimes sensations of thirst can be misunderstood as craving food. If you’re doubtful about it, drink a glass or two of water to check if you are hungry or thirsty.

Include at least 6 glasses of water to drink throughout the day and eat lots of water-rich food, fruit, and vegetables to ensure that you are properly hydrated. 

6. Fiber

Lack of fiber in your diet can be another reason why you are always hungry all the time. Fiber plays an important role in keeping your body functioning, reducing excessive hunger, and releasing emotional hunger hormones to make you feel full. 

Eating higher portions of high-fiber foods helps manage your excessive hunger because these foods take more time to digest than the lower amount of fiber food and will slow the rate of stomach emptiness. 

Moreover, a high fiber intake impacts the discharge of hormones that reduce food cravings and the generation of short-chain fatty acids, which regulate fullness. 

Understanding that some types of fiber are better than others in eliminating your excessive hunger pangs and reducing the chance you are always hungry is valuable. 

Numerous studies have shown that fiber which dissolves in water (soluble fiber) is more effective in keeping you full than those that don’t dissolve in water (insoluble fiber). Foods such as flaxseed, oatmeal, oranges, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes have a rich amount of soluble fiber.  

Additionally, eating a high-fiber diet reduces hunger and has numerous other benefits, such as reducing chances of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. 

Try adding fiber to your daily meals to ensure you are consuming enough. Include plant-based foods such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, whole grains, and legumes, as they contain a high amount of fiber.

7. Carbs

Are you eating more carbs than fiber, protein, or vitamin-rich food? If yes, you are always hungry due to excessive consumption of carbs in your daily diet. Refined carbs do not contain sufficient fiber and vitamins, which alter your blood sugar level. 

So try to avoid eating excessive amounts of carbs to feel full and energized. 

A popular product with refined carbs as its main nutrient is white/all-purpose flour, used in various foods such as pasta, bread, and doughnuts. Refined carbs are also found in processed sugar products such as candy, baked goods, and soda. 

Try to minimize the consumption of these products in your daily meals, as refined carbs lack fiber, which means that these foods get digested faster than those that contain fiber.

This can be another reason you get excessive hunger pangs frequently, as carbs do not promote meaningful emotions of fullness.

Additionally, eating too many refined carbs may increase blood sugar, which leads to an increase in the rate of insulin, a hormone that transports sugar into your blood cells.

When a great amount of insulin is discharged at once in reaction to high blood sugar, it rapidly eliminates sugar from your blood, which may steer to an immediate decline in blood sugar levels, a situation known as hypoglycemia.

If your blood sugar level gets low due to eating too many refined carbs daily, your body will frequently ignite a sense of hunger pangs.  

You can add many foods to your diet to reduce the intake of refined carbs, such as legumes, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; even though they have high carbs, they are rich in fiber. Which will help keep constant hunger managed.

Check out Disordered Eating and Its Types: 4 Important Highlights

8. Eating While Being Distracted

Another reason you are always hungry is not being attentive while eating, as this distracts your mind from the main purpose and makes you eat more than what is needed. Distraction while eating doesn’t ignite the sense of fullness.

Even though it may save you precious time as a busy person, eating while distracted can harm your overall health. It will make you eat great portions of food and increase your weight and calorie intake. 

The main explanation is that distracted eating lessens your attention to how much you eat. It curbs you from perceiving your body’s fullness warnings as efficiently as when you’re not diverted.

Numerous examinations have indicated that those who immerse in distracted eating are always more hungry than those who resist distractions while eating their meals.

The research was done on 88 women who were advised to eat meals while distracted or in complete silence. The result came out that one who ate while being distracted was still excessively hungry and desired to eat more throughout the day, compared to those women who ate in complete silence without any distractions.  

Another observation found that people who ate their meals while being distracted by computer meals were still more hungry than those who did not eat while playing games. Furthermore, another test was done on the same day, and it was concluded that people who ate while being distracted intake 48% more food than those who weren’t diverted. 

So try to avoid this distracted eating. Instead, try to incorporate techniques such as minimizing screen time, mindfulness, silencing your mobile phones, meditating, and eating in a quiet environment. This will enable you to concentrate on your food and make you enjoy it, and it will help you realize the signals of fullness. 

9. Drinking Calories

Another reason why you are always hungry is that you drink your calories. Liquid foods do not comprise the same effect as solid foods in terms of keeping you full. So it can be another reason why you get excessive hunger frequently.

Consuming many liquid foods, such as soups, smoothies, energy shakes, and other types of liquids throughout the day, will make you desire more food, and you will find yourself hungry more often than when you eat solid foods.

The reason is that liquid passes quickly through your stomach and gets digested in less time than solid food.

Similarly, some research implies that eating liquid foods does not hugely impact the suppression of hunger-promoting hormones, as described with solid foods.

Consumption of liquid foods also takes less time than solid food. Chewing is the process that makes your mouth exercise to eat, so drinking your food will make your brain unaware, and your brain won’t give the signals of fullness.  

The research found that people who ate liquid snacks or drinks as their meal felt less full and were more prone to feeling excessive hunger after eating than solid snack eaters. Not only were they hungry, but they also intake 400 more calories throughout the day than those solid snack eaters. 

So, avoid drinking calories to prevent excessive hunger, and try incorporating whole food and solids in your diet to avoid being always hungry. 

10. Eating Fast

Stop eating at a fast pace since the rate at which you eat also plays a significant role in making you feel hungry all the time. Munching quickly doesn’t enable your body to recognize fullness, which may make you always hungry.

Many researchers have expressed that fast eaters have bigger hunger cravings and an impulse to cram more at meals than slow eaters. Those who eat fast are more likely to gain excess weight or become obese.

An analysis was done on this theory, where 30 women who tended to eat at a fast pace ate 10% extra calories throughout the day and still felt excessive hunger compared to those who ate slower. 

Additional research was done on those who had diabetes to check their eating rate. Compared to fast-paced eaters, those who ate their food slowly got full quickly and felt less hungry after 30 minutes of eating their meal.

This effect is due to a lack of awareness and a reduction in chewing when you eat in a fast-paced environment, as these don’t give the feeling of being full. 

Besides, consuming slowly and chewing completely lends your body and brain additional time to discharge anti-hunger hormones and express fullness indications, as these methods are the basis of mindful eating.

So try to consume at a slow and mindful pace, and if you get excessively hungry, try this technique to say goodbye to always being hungry.

Try taking short breaks in your meal bites, taking a few deep breaths, and then eating; try to avoid talking in between the meal and try to focus so that you won’t always get hungry.

Other Symptoms That Makes You Always Hungry Include

• Consuming Too Much Alcohol
• Eating Certain Medication
• Having Medical Condition
• Doing Excessive Exercise

Check out this article to learn more about these symptoms in detail.

Takeaway

Excessive hunger is an indication that your body desires more food intake.

Hunger pangs hardly need medical treatment, as they go away once you have eaten.

Being always hungry is due to imbalanced hunger hormones and not having a healthy lifestyle.

So try including these points in your day-to-day diet that I shared in the blog not to be always hungry and keep your body fit and healthy. 

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Last Updated on July 26, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology