foodlover Archives

Do you feel empty all the time? Do you hear your stomach ‘growl’ more than your phone’s notification beep? If you answered yes for these, you may have a feeling that you’re hungry all the time. With all the misconceptions about food and fitness, it can be easy to view hunger as a bad thing. But, the feeling of hunger is as innate as the need for yawn or sleep. It keeps your brain functioning; muscles developing and allows you to gain the energy you need for the day. However, if you find yourself hungry all the time, these may be the reasons,

1. You’re not stocking enough proteins and fibre

We need macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) to ensure the proper functioning of the body. While carbohydrates provide energy, protein, fat, and fibre are necessary for sustaining this energy. Reducing the intake of these essential nutrients often leads to hunger. This is why you need to take foods like avocado, eggs, and berries that are rich in protein and fibre to curb your hunger.

2. You are not concentrating when you’re eating

Rushing your meal and eating while walking, eating, or driving makes you distracted while you’re eating. This will make it harder for your body to recognize that you’re full which will either leads to eating less or overeating. Thus, being mindful of what you eat not only makes you feel satiated but also reduces your food cravings.

Read more: How to stop eating junk foods?

3. Your hormones are spiraling

Some hormones in your body can directly or indirectly impact your eating habits. For example, the stress hormone (Cortisol) can trigger your food cravings and can keep you feeling hungry all the time. Also, some hormones related to Menstruation can also cause a temporary increase in appetite and food cravings.

Read more: Control your hunger while dieting

4. Dehydration

To your surprise, most of your hunger feelings are just a sign of dehydration and you’re just thirsty. It is common in people to confuse hunger and thirst. So, if you are feeling hungry immediately after eating or hitting that afternoon slump, or all the time, try drinking a glass of water. This would help you curb your hunger.

5. You are not sleeping enough

Sleep is not only essential for the brain, but also for your stomach. Sleep plays a major role in regulating the hormones in your body that contribute to an increased feeling of hunger. This is why people having short sleep hours have sugar cravings and junk food cravings as soon as they wake up.

The feeling of hunger is different for a different person. Some people can go several hours between meals before feeling hungry again while some feel hungry right after their meal. So next time you’re feeling hungry, it may be due to one of these above reasons.

When it comes to weight loss, snacking is seen as a taboo. We all know that we deserve a stellar snack after a really tough workout, but unfortunately, snacking is one of the main culprits that disrupt your healthy progress and ruins your weight-loss goals. Of course, there are plenty of healthy options when it comes to snacking, yet we somehow manage to mess it up, sabotaging our fitness program. Here are 5 snacking mistakes you need to avoid to lose weight.

1. Skipping Snacks!

Yes, you’ve read it right. Skipping snacks altogether is the first snacking mistake you need to avoid to lose weight. If you avoid snacking, you get hungry and your mood changes to angry, so now become hangry and go full rampage on high-carb, high-fat snacks. So, snacking healthy foods like peanuts or corn keeps you filled and also prevents you from overeating later.

2. Snacking when you’re not hungry.

There is something so, so good about a pack of chips that sits in the table when we are watching TV. We all tend to reach for something to eat even when we are not hungry. But, over time, these small snacking can do some serious damage to your weight loss goals. Try doing a hunger check before you reach for something to eat, it prevents you from snacking unnecessarily.

3. Careless snacking.

This is a common snacking mistake you need to avoid to lose weight. Snacking healthy foods like peanuts, dried fruits, and avocado slices is good, but you can easily overeat these snacks if you are not careful. These healthy snacks are also nutrient-dense snacks, this means you can gain weight when you consume more of these. So, always be mindful of how much you snack.

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4. Not planning.

How many times have you craved for a pizza or burger when you’re reaching home after work? This is because you didn’t make a snack prep and as a result, you had a lighter lunch for noon and did not pack any snacks. So, always make a snack prep and always have a healthy snack with you even if you’re not hungry.

5. Not having the right Macros.

One thing you need to clearly understand is that both protein and fat are essential macronutrients important for weight loss. The trick is to choose the right amounts. Macronutrients keep us full and satisfied. If you choose only protein, you will be hungry again in a few hours. So, try opting snacks that has both protein and fat like almonds or avocados.

Snacking is not a hurdle for weight-loss. In fact, healthy snacking can improve your weight-loss results. You just need to be mindful of the snacking mistakes to avoid to lose weight.