11 Reasons Why You’re Always Hungry + How to Stop It!

#SugarBalancedLiving

So, you’ve got the munchies... again, you’re tired of that grumbling tummy, you’re tired of feeling greedy, and you’ve finally asked Google "why am I always hungry?". If this is you, you’re in the right place. If constant sugar, carb, or even general food cravings are bothering you, I’ve got you covered with the reasons behind your cravings and the steps you need to beat them!

You no longer need to feel guilty or greedy for feeling hungry - if you keep finding yourself constantly snacking, eating excessively large meals just to feel full, wandering the office kitchen to find a bag of chips or an old muffin after you’ve eaten lunch - well, there could be underlying health reasons.

And thankfully, there are easy steps you can take right now to curb that nonstop appetite, start feeling satisfied, and actually start working to toward more abundant health.

No more searching the kitchen cupboards asking yourself ‘why am I still hungry’, almost crying hopelessly as your stomach growls.

Constant Hunger: You’re Not Just Greedy

Release your mind of the thought that it’s just you being greedy - because it’s NOT you, its your body trying to communicate what it needs or doesn't need, and we’re going to decode those growling signals, figure out what's causing your never-ending snacking, implement simple, easy and actionable steps to crush those cravings, and get our bodies working efficiently.

The Purpose of Hunger Signals

Now, of course, hunger is an innately useful and totally necessary human function. Hunger is a drive to eat food, and food is resource that none of us can live without. Eating keeps our brain functioning, bones healthy, muscles building, and basically keeps us alive.

What I'm saying is that hunger is a normal experience, and an increased appetite after a long period of physical activity, or during your menstrual cycle, pregnancy, or breastfeeding is again totally normal. But what is not normal is to constantly suffer hunger for no apparent reason - that’s when your body is telling you something might be up.

This used to be me; chronically hunger all the time, yelling at myself in my mind for being greedy, gluttonous, self-indulgent and grasping for food, particularly carbs and sugary foods. This constant suffering certainly put me in an awful negative place - not just physically, but mentally. Always feeling guilty, and having negative binge habits with foods can really put you in a very negative head space. But what I've learned is that we need to cut free of those labels of greed, and self-indulgence, and start listening to our bodies.

Figuring Out Constant Hunger

To cut a long story short, after a long journey of health discovery, research, digging through google, trying and testing tactics, I eventually got to the root of the issue, and healed myself. So, in this post today I’m going to use my experience to help you rid yourself of unwelcome hunger.

We’re going to figure out what's causing your never-ending snacking, and go through some of the most common reasons you’re hungry all the time. Then we’ll use actionable steps for preventing and permanently avoiding it, by tweaking some of your daily habits that’ll work to readjust your appetite - so you’ll only feel hungry when you’re truly and actually hungry.

Let’s break it down shall we? This is why you feel hungry all the time and how to stop it:

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Constant Hunger Cause #1: You’re Not Balancing Nutrition

You need a balanced meal… because not eating the right nutrients is the easiest way to perpetuate a hunger cycle. When your body is deprived of the nutrients it needs, it will call for you to eat in hope of getting what it needs. But sadly, many people in western culture don’t eat the nutrients needed.

This can actually form into another form of malnutrition: over-nutrition. This is when someone's diet contains an excess or imbalance of energy, protein and micronutrients, and that can lead to obesity.

And, sadly this is all to common… 75 percent of Americans say they eat healthily — despite evidence pointing to the contrary.

A third of U.S. adults are obese, and 80 percent of adults are not eating enough fruits, veggies, whole grains, and the right protein and healthy fats.

No wonder so many people are wondering, “why am I always hungry?”

Here’s What to Do:

To eat a balanced and satisfying meal, we need three balanced components.

I call them the magic trio: fiber, protein, and a little healthy fat. All three can help slow digestion, which keeps blood sugar stable and keeps you full for longer.

• Firstly, protein. Protein is a key macronutrient to staying healthy, and naturally fills your body with a sense of satiety or fullness. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues, make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals - basically, protein is a very important building block in your body. I highly recommend you try and include some in every meal. Goods sources of protein include: lean free range chicken, fresh water fish, organic non gmo tofu, beans, lentils, cottage cheese, seeds, nuts, and eggs.

• Secondly, we have fiber. Fiber is truly king. Eating fiber slows the absorption of the foods you eat in your body, helping to curb sugar and junk food cravings by keeping you full for longer. Foods without a lot of fiber will move through your digestive tract quickly, leading to hunger coming back a lot faster.

  Whole foods like celery, carrots, and whole grain rice are all great options - they are full of natural fiber. But fresh or steamed veggies are the best option, so make sure to pile them on. ;)

• Lastly, we have healthy fats. Fats also help increase the production of satiety hormones. Healthy fats provide energy, help produce hormones, support cell growth, protect organs, and are necessary for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E. Healthy fat sources include: olive oil, avocados, eggs, hard cheeses, Greek yogurt and nuts.

If you keep up and work on incorporating the balanced magic trio - fiber, protein, and a little healthy fat - I promise you, you’ll be already well on your way to a much more balance blood sugar levels and satiety.

Constant Hunger Cause #2: You Have a Hormonal Imbalance

You may have an insulin-resistance-caused hormonal imbalance causing your increased hunger levels.

When you have insulin resistance, it may lead to some seriously concerning hormonal problems that may cause increased hunger.

Some of these could be low-testosterone, low-libido, general irregular periods, severe PMS, severe menstrual cramping, skin issues, sleep disorder, tiredness and fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, irregular mood, depression, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

For example, for woman of reproductive age with PCOS, excessively high insulin levels cause the ovaries to make more androgen hormones such as testosterone. This can cause increased hunger, body hair, acne, fertility problems, depression, weight gain and difficulty losing weight, and infrequent or prolonged menstrual periods.

Basically, the reason you’re always hungry could be your hormones.

Also, according to a recent article in Psychology Today, “in perimenopause, levels of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin increase, a reason why many women find themselves frequently hungry during this phase. Levels of the hormone leptin, which promotes a sense of fullness, reduce throughout peri and postmenopause.”

While genetics, aging and ethnicity play a role in developing insulin sensitivity, the main driving forces behind insulin resistance include excess body weight, excess belly fat, a lack of exercise, smoking, and largely eating to much sugar and refined carb.

Yes… again, diet plays a massively large role in hormonal imbalances and therefore hunger levels.

Here’s What to Do:

If you’re concerned that you have a hormonal imbalance, negative lifestyle and diet choices may be causing it, and this may lead to some very negative chronic conditions. So, I highly recommend to check out my free in-depth guide Heal Hormonal Imbalance Naturally Guide!

In this guide I've gathered eight powerful steps for hormone healing, combined with my 7 super effective anti-inflammatory diet strategies to incorporate into your daily life, that will help balance hormones and lead to better lifestyle changes like: more energy, glowing skin, better sleep, better digestion, and even some weight-loss!

Constant Hunger Cause #3: You’re Eating & Drinking Refined Carbs and Sugars... And Are Addicted?!

Not eating the right nutrients is the easiest way to perpetuate a hunger cycle. Foods with sugars, hidden sugars and processed carbs can trigger a continuous blood sugar level spiking roller-coaster.

And… unfortunately foods with sugars, hidden sugars and processed carbs are found in our whole diet, starting at breakfast time; for example, most cereals, pop tarts, waffles, muffins, and even biscuits all set up your body for all-day-hunger hunger.

This triggers the blood sugar level roller coaster, making you feel hungry even though you’ve just eaten.

Eating lots of refined carbohydrates - like white bread, pasta, bagels, pastries and sugar - will make it impossible to feel satisfied.

Because when these foods are eaten, they spike your blood glucose levels, giving you a quick rise in energy, then causing the pancreas to release insulin in an attempt to control blood glucose levels making your blood sugar levels to dramatically drop, and leading to the crash which makes you feel tired, hungry, and lethargic continuing a vicious cycle.

To make matters worse, this cycle leads to cravings, binge and overeating habits of sweet foods, refined carbs, sweet beverages, treats or other meals and snacks, which can form into a carb and sugar addiction.

In fact, when sweet and refined carb cravings, overeating or binge eating cycles form, it can be one of the most easily recognizable signs of sugar and refined carb addiction.

Sugar fires up dopamine and lights up your brain in the same manners as drugs, and there’s gotta be a problem with that - especially given the issues that come with high sugar consumption - problems I have had first hand experience with.

I used to have a full blown sugar addiction - I was in really bad shape, both physically and mentally - so I certainly know the signs of an unhealthy relationship with the stuff. Like I mentioned the same goes for our sugary junky foods like refined carbs; junk food is addictive in the same way that heroin or cocaine is addictive too.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that high sugar, high glycemic foods are just as addictive as table sugar.

David Ludwig and his colleagues at Harvard, did a study showing that foods that raise blood sugar even more than table sugar such as white flour, white potatoes and refined starch, have a high glycemic index, and trigger a region in the brain “nucleus accumbens” which is the area in the brain that is ground zero for a drug abuse addiction.

Because foods that spike your blood sugar are addictive, they don’t even have to be traditional ‘sweets’. This includes again: white bread, pasta, bagels, pastries, pretzel, sodas, and even sweeteners like maple syrup and coconut sugar.

When you experience sugar and refined carb addiction, this can of course cause endless hunger and cause you to never feel satiated.

Most people don’t even realize that they have sugar addiction, and that is actually one of the main reasons why you always feel hungry.

Here’s What to Do:

To cut back on sugar and carb addiction and/or cravings, I recommend you head over to my two blog posts: Am I Addicted to Sugar? 8 Ways to Know If You’re a Sugar Addict + How to Stop It and Am I Addicted To Carb? + Here's Everything You Need to Know! are two in-depth blog posts here to help you recognize signs of food addiction, find out whether or not those cravings are in fact sugar or carb addiction, and get the some pretty awesome steps to help in crushing carb and sugar intake.

I also have a free guide that’ll help you get started on effortlessly breaking your sugar reliance/addiction for good with help + support. AND, most importantly, while maintaining a healthy balance between your mind and your body - because low-sugar living shouldn’t feel like deprivation. Check out my FREE ‘Ultimate Guide to Crushing Your Sugar Cravings’ Downloadable Guide below.

Constant Hunger Cause #4: You're NOT Getting Enough Sleep

When you’re tired as heck… you’re throwing your hunger levels straight out of whack!

A lack of sleep increases our desire for food, and increases your risk factor for obesity. Because when you’re NOT getting enough sleep, this causes your adrenals to go into overdrive, resulting in your body searching for quick additional energy, and this affects your hunger levels.

Making matters worse, your body will search for this energy in the form of a quick fuel source:  glucose, which means you’ll crave sugar-laden and comforting carbs foods like pasta, bread, and cookies. This only sets off a hunger roller-coaster, since they give you only give you a quick burn energy rise and crash.

Sleep is closely connected with two very important hunger hormones: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin, which reduces appetite, and ghrelin, which stimulates it, can both cause you a world of trouble when thrown of balance. You see, when you’re sleep-deprived, leptin levels will dramatically drop and ghrelin will soar sky high = omg ravenous hunger = feeling of always being hungry!

This is why learning both how to set up your best sleep conditions, plus tips on how to tackle sleeplessness is a key element in for your health.

Here’s What to Do:

Here are great 5 sleep tips that work efficiently to great healthy sleeping routines:

1. Lower the Room Temperature – The optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 60 to 68 degrees, so if you can don’t let the temperature in your bedroom go up over 70 degrees.

2. Use Your Bed Sleeping Only – No television, phones, tablets or computers in any bedroom! Research shows that it drastically improves one’s ability to go to sleep, and the quality of that sleep. Also, don’t eat, play online games, or work in your bed. It impedes your ability to relax and switch off.

3. Sleep Like a Vampire – Sleep in complete darkness, or as close to it as possible. Any light at all can disrupt your internal clock and your sleep hormones, if necessary use a well-fitting sleep mask, bandanna, or like me a light cotton t-shirt!   

And What to Do If You Can’t Sleep…

1. Boost Your Melatonin – Melatonin is the hormone that is responsible for setting our body’s circadian rhythm meaning our sleep-wake cycle. The best way to naturally boost it is to get exposure to bright sunshine, and eat oats, bananas, tart cherries, walnuts, pineapple and barley - they all help increase melatonin production as well. You can also take a melatonin supplement 60 minutes before you want to go to sleep.

2. Check Your Deep (And Perhaps Hidden) Stressors – Occasional sleeplessness, and particularly insomnia, are most often caused by anxiety, stress and burnout. Of course it makes sense that when we’re going through a pandemic you’re going to feel stressed, we’ll look at that further down the post, but I’m also talking negative stress - coming from your relationships, work, money, health, or from events or traumas from your past that have you caught in a stress loop, zapping your energy and keeping you stuck.

To help you in the short term, you can nab my free 21-day stress cleanse calendar to get you started.

For other powerful backup strategies to help you get to sleep hop on over to my post 12 Simple Tips for Better Sleep, which shares the really helpful "4-7-8" Breathing Method as well.

Constant Hunger Cause #5: You're Stressed

Stress is striking again!

You guessed it… stress increases the body’s production of the hormone cortisol. This fires up the old’ appetite, since your body thinks it needs to prepare to fight or flight, and hits you with a blood sugar level crash later leading to even more hunger.

And… sadly this process also applies to emotional stress. When you’re feeling emotionally stressed out, anxious, tired or depressed, your natural preference and need for sweet or carb rich foods kicks in and starts works against you.

As you crave these junky and sugary foods, you probably indulge and find that eating these foods (or drinks… I'm looking at you soda) make you feel better... but this is only temporary and ends up backfiring on itself, with a roller-coaster of blood sugar level spikes and crashes.

Eventually, it leads to a whole host of both mental and physical health problems.

We lean on food as a coping mechanism while experiencing a life event (both positive and negative), using it to both soothe and distract us from the emotions, and to give us a quick spike of energy. But it only provides a temporary or short-term feeling of satisfaction.

Sugar packed foods and types of carbs (especially refined carbohydrates) are anything but going to make you feel better in the long run.

Here’s What to Do:

If you want to learn more about preventing stress eating and self-medicating, then I recommend you check out my two in-depth blog posts on Curb Stress Eating During A Crisis and Avoiding Self-Medicating With Carbs and Sugar. These posts are full of great and actionable ways to help you reduce stress, emotional eating and steps to curbing symptoms of stress in your life with ease.

For some quick easy tips to decompress, I recommend: hot yoga, meditation, positive thinking, self-care, time with friends, and mantras, these factors can also all help you deal with stress.

This is exactly why identifying all your stressors in your life, particularly unhealthy lifestyle patterns and behaviors, and then focusing on shedding your mind of conscious and sub-conscious negative habits, attitudes and patterns triggering it, is such a huge part of The Stress Reset Course© because it’s SO IMPORTANT for clearing them for good.    

To help you in the short term, you can nab my free 21-day stress cleanse calendar to get you started (plus give you something to focus and do through this self-isolation/quarantine phase and COVID-19).

Remember, stress management and self-care is NOT a luxury, it’s a necessity. Period.

Constant Hunger Cause #6: Your Diabetes Aren’t Being Managed

In uncontrolled or unchecked diabetes, blood glucose levels remain abnormally high (hyperglycemia), in which glucose from the blood cannot enter the cells – due to either a lack of insulin or insulin resistance – meaning your body isn’t able to convert the food you eat into energy. This lack of energy causes an increase in hunger.

The body basically believes it is starving. So, you end-up feeling ‘always hungry’.

Here’s What to Do:

The first step is to get your blood sugar checked, in an attempt to figure out whether type 2 diabetes should be a concern, and then a doctor's visit can help you determine next steps.

A note here though: diabetes is often treated by pushing medications that reduce blood sugar levels and help your body use your insulin more effectively, but switching up your meal plan and simply eating foods that don’t raise blood sugar very much is absolutely essential for keeping blood sugar levels steady, and can even reverse pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

You can manage, heal, and reverse pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes without medications and even manage your blood sugar levels if you have type 1 diabetes - all using the power of nourishing foods.

CLICK HERE to find out how to escape the cycle caused by medications and injections often required when dealing with the insulin based condition, by switching up your meal plan and learning how to deal with your blood sugar levels - naturally!

Constant Hunger Cause #7: Your Thyroid Is Overactive

An overactive thyroid - also diagnosed as hyperthyroidism - is a hormonal disorder where the thyroid gland produces too much of the hormone thyroxine, which can disrupt such things as heart rate, body temperature, and basically all aspects of metabolism. This increase of metabolism is what causes increased hunger,

Signs of hyperthyroidism include: rapid or irregular heartbeat, menstrual pattern changes, hair loss, anxiety, persistent thirst, tremors, sweating, fatigue, and weight loss.

Here’s What to Do:

If any of these symptoms sound like you, definitely talk to your doctor. Hyperthyroidism can cause serious issues like heart problems and brittle bones if left untreated.

Constant Hunger Cause #8: Your Medication Has Side Effects

Many of the common medications prescribed for different conditions can cause increased appetite. Popular medications that cause increased hunger include: corticosteroids, certain antidepressants, other steroids, and anti-seizure medications.

Here’s What to Do:

If this sounds like you, and you suspect that your medication may be causing your insatiable appetite, then I recommend you log any symptoms that you are experiencing and talk to your physician about your concerns. If switching to another medication isn’t an option, then work towards carefully being mindful of when you’re truly hungry or if it’s just a craving, and be sure to keep your meals balanced.

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Constant Hunger Cause #9: You’re Dehydrated

Curb cravings and hunger by staying hydrated.

Sugary and junk food cravings and increased appetite can occur as a result of being thirsty. Replenishing the water in your body is often a quick little trick to kick yo' cravings, so you don’t opt for that Oreo as snack to fulfill your craving!

Here’s What to Do:

Whenever you get a craving, sip on a cup of pure water, wait 15 to 20 minutes and to see if that helps!

Drinking about seven to eight glasses of water every day is optimal, and make sure your water is as pure as possible – no sweetened flavored waters please.

Constant Hunger Cause #10: You’re Not Paying Attention

When one is distracted with work tasks, texts, emails, apps, etc. attention is not paid to the food and the task of eating, which can lead to you make poor food choices. You can also shovel food down too quickly without knowing it, which can both cause that ravenous eating cycle.

Basically people who eat while distracted will tend to have a higher desire to eat more and feel less full throughout their day.

Here’s What to Do:

Mindful eating is the key to breaking poor attention habits when eating. When you’re eating mindfully and actually focusing your attention to what you’re eating, instead of throwing something in your mouth and off to go do something else—you’ll be giving your body time to register when it’s hungry or not by recognizing fullness signals.

And… when you sense when you’re hungry, you can help your body decide if the food is even satisfying, and identify if this hunger is even hunger or just dehydration or stress.

Constant Hunger Cause #11: You’re Not Eating Enough and Your Diet Is Too Restrictive

This may sound like a sound counter-intuitive one, but if you’re trying to curb your eating by spacing out large gaps between your meals, this can lead constant hunger. Plus, this also applies to diets that cut calories too drastically/quickly, which can also lead to fatigue.

When your stomach is left empty for too long, your body releases more ghrelin (appetite-stimulating hormone) which is what leaves you ravenously hungry and tired. This, over time, leads to overeating.

Here’s What to Do:

Take a good hard look at what you are and aren’t eating, when you’re eating, and how much you’re eating. Make sure to eat a meal or snack every three to four hours and keep a protein filled emergency snack on you, like peanut butter or a boiled egg.

Why are you always hungry? Wrapping it all up…

There is no longer a need to aimlessly search the kitchen on the brink of tears trying to find a snack and figure out why you can’t seem to stop feeling hungry.

You’re not greedy!

Break the shackles in your mind of the thought that you’re being greedy, because it’s NOT you. Like I said, it’s your body communicating what it needs or doesn't need, and now we’ve gone through this list to decode those growling signals, by now you should have some idea of what's causing your never-ending snacking and hunger.

Now, all you have to do is start to implement some of these simple, easy and actionable steps, and I promise you that once you start you’ll see fantastic improvement in not just satiety, but also mood, and overall vital health.

And… while we’ve gone through a big list of causes, I highly recommended implementing reducing sugar and refined carb intake and adding balanced nutrients, along with the steps for any other sign you may have, as these two factors are the biggest cause of not just hunger cycles, but poor nutrition, and health crises.

Again this is serious stuff. I repeat: not eating the right nutrients and eating excess foods with sugars, hidden sugars and processed carbs is the easiest way to perpetuate wrecked hormones, acne, weight gain and general poor health and chronic conditions and even cancer!

Of course, I recognize just how hard it is to reduce refined carb and sugar intake, as its addictive hold, cravings and hidden sugars can make it extremely hard to reduce.

I get you, and I also know how hard it is to beat.

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There are ways to help you break your food addiction and stop these cravings - for good. I used to be addicted to sugar, and when my health was at its worst, I started researching sugar and how to reduce it in my diet. But no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find anything that could really help. Out of desperation, I set about developing my own system that would help me heal myself and my sugar addiction.

This is why I know and care so much about this issue.

So to do my best to help out my community, give back, and want to give you some extra help, I’ve put together some really useful, actionable and easy, hacks on cutting back sugar for good.

Check out my FREE ‘Ultimate Guide to Crushing Your Sugar Cravings’ Downloadable Guide.

It’ll help you get started on effortlessly breaking your sugar reliance/addiction for good with help + support. AND, most importantly, while maintaining a healthy balance between your mind and your body - because low-sugar living shouldn’t feel like deprivation.

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It’s your turn!

When do you find yourself feeling over-hungry? Do any of these causes stand out to you? What was the most surprising cause of chronic hunger?

Let me know in the comments or on Instagram @itsisabellem using #SugarWithIsabelle!

That’s it from me, 👋

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