What Drives Your Hunger?

Do you find it difficult to resist overeating? Are you even sensible at times when you overeat? We've all experienced hunger pangs, distinctness being, some of us would eat till satisfaction and others won't stop till it gets uncomfortable pushing in more. How do you know if you've had enough? What actually makes you feel hungry? Get all your questions answered. Also find out tips to keep a check on overeating. Look at the things you already knew in a different light. 

What lights up your hunger? Is it the aroma or just a glimpse of your favorite meal? We shall answer this question with a little more detailed explanation but before we proceed you should know that the feeling of hunger is only for our good. If it was not for our growling stomach, how would we decide when to feed ourselves and procure energy. That said, hunger shouldn't be confused with appetite. Craving for your favorite sweet dish may or may not exist with a feeling of hunger. You would experience physical signals by your body like a growling stomach, lightheadedness and even fatigue in case of prolonged starvation but craving for a piece of cake after having finished your dinner is what we call your appetite for the dish.

Numerous factors may lead to an uncontrolled increase in appetite. Let us count a few of them starting from a festive feast. Who wouldn't end up stuffing oneself when a variety of food is simply lying around ready to be eaten up? From over eating due to boredom to as simple as mere the sight or aroma of a tempting meal, anything can intensify your cravings for the food. How to control the impetuous tongue every time it appeals for some mouth-watering flavor? We shall not leave that uncovered but before that won't you like to know what really makes you feel hungry?

What Makes You Feel Hungry?

Our desire to eat is basically governed by the combined effect of three different hormones namely Ghrelin, Neuropeptide Y and Leptin. Ghrelin is called the hunger stimulation hormone whereas Leptin is known as the hunger suppression hormone. We shall also look at what role does Neuropeptide play but from a surface view our cycle of hunger involves the interplay of two significant hormones i.e 'Ghrelin' & 'Leptin'.  

When you are full and you cannot eat any more, it's the increase in Leptin hormone (coming from the fat cells) in your body that gives you the feeling of fullness and stops you from eating any more. No matter, how uneasy you may feel at that moment, this satiety doesn't last for more than a few hours. When your Leptin level starts to fall and reaches it's lowest door-sill, Ghrelin steps into the game. You can figure out when your stomach is growling in hunger, it's producing Ghrelin. Ghrelin released from the stomach crosses the blood-brain barrier to communicate with the hypothalamus of the human brain and triggers the release of Neuropeptide Y. A rise in the level of Neuropeptide Y is associated with physical signals of hunger like a feeling of emptiness in the stomach, lightheadedness etc. that stimulate appetite. All that has been said of the hunger hormones is more like a cycle.

How Do You Control Your Hunger?

So far, we have discussed the role of hunger hormones in stimulating food intake thereby triggering a positive energy balance. Now we shall review things that we already know that would help us deal with the recurrent overeating habits.

Water Before Meals

Many a time overeating happens in a confusion when your body is dehydrated and needs water but you end up covering up by extra food. You should know that once you are satiated with food, hunger can't strike back suddenly. However, you may start to feel hungry but that would only happen gradually after a few hours. Ensure that you intake a glass or two of water few minutes before having your meal. This would not only prevent overeating but also assure that you meet your daily water requirement without much effort.

Salad With Every Meal

Low in calories, high in nutritional value, a salad of raw veggies is a must include with every meal. Needless to mention, raw vegetables are something that you can eat in abundance and still remain within your calorie limit. Replacing fatty and sweet dish with salad won't sound appealing to everyone but this is definitely a better way to keep healthy in the long run. Adding salad to your meal would also eliminate the need to eat anything else after the meal.

Choose Better Options

A healthy and better life is not a matter of chance, you got to choose it. Someone with an unhealthy gut and a bad habit of overeating has definitely chosen to be so. You can keep reading and watching about health related stuff on the web but it's all in vain until and unless you accustom yourself to a healthy lifestyle and choose health over other aspects of food. Eating whole fruits instead of opting for a glass of juice, replacing simple carbs with complex carbs etc. are some some of the many changes that one needs to make in order to efficiently curb the habit of overeating. Do you know that a glass of fruit juice is deprived of fiber as compared to it's whole fruit counterpart? Whenever given a choice, choose to eat the whole fruit instead of having a glass of it's juice with the fiber and other nutrients already separated in the form of pulp.

Depend On Fiber

Who doesn't know the benefits of including fiber in the diet? Fiber doesn't get digested or absorbed in the body but surprisingly keeps you full for a longer time. It has again and again been proved that eating oats and other food items rich in fiber for breakfast keeps you satiated and moving for long. Keeping a share of fibrous food in every meal you consume, would keep your gut occupied and you energized.

Brush Your Teeth After Dinner

To confront and combat the bad habits, one needs to first of all cultivate some good practices. If you make it a habit to immediately brush your teeth after having your dinner, you could keep a check on your midnight cravings or eating unnecessarily after going to bed. Also after you sleep, the carbohydrates stuck to your teeth is metabolized by the bacteria in your mouth. This process leaves behind an acid byproduct that is the cause of dental caries in people. Hence, brushing your teeth before you sleep is also crucial for your oral health.

Train Your Mind

This isn't as simple as it sounds. No matter whatever you put your hands into, if you haven't trained your mind to coordinate and cooperate, it would turn out to be unproductive. Same is the case with healthy eating. If you want to stick to a healthy diet for long, you need to train your mind to impulsively reject what's not good for you.