Hunger Is Triggered by Natural Signals

Hunger can be triggered by many natural things going on inside of your body but appetite is a more creative process that can include your brain’s response to the sounds, smells, and sight of mouth-watering foods. These triggers can lead to overeating. Feelings of thirst are often mistaken as hunger pangs. That’s because water and fiber work well together to slow your digestion, which allows you to feel full longer. So, you may actually think you are hungry when you’re not.

The stress hormone cortisol is released when you need to deal with your fight-or-flight mechanisms. Unfortunately, it most often triggers an appetite for high fat or sugar laden foods and drinks as an errant hunger signal. Natural feelings of hunger a few times a day are natural cues for your body to manage the food you eat more effectively. Controlling appetite impulses can be tricky until you can distinguish between true hunger and appetite sensations.

When you eat too little food, your brain can sabotage your weight loss efforts. Your brain may be telling you that you are hungry when you really need to curb cravings produced by your appetite. Check out the tips discussed below:

• Stay Hydrated – If you are feeling hungry, it could be thirst instead. Drinking enough water throughout the day can make a huge difference in appetite while eating less food. Always drink a glass of water before meals.
• Protein & Fiber Snacks – So-called high volume foods like fruits and vegetables contain both water and fiber to help fill your stomach. Volumetric food studies suggest you can eat as much as you want of high volume-low density foods.
• Reduce Sugar Intake – A sugar high is all fun and games until the crash occurs. That’s why reducing your sugar intake can help stabilize blood sugar levels. When you need to snack, eat healthy protein and fiber treats.
• Eat Slowly – Since your brain plays a huge role in triggering signals of appetite and hunger, eating slowly gives the stomach the time it needs to communicate with your brain to signal satisfaction.
• Add Spices – Since spices only need to be consume in small amounts, they provide intense flavor to the food item you are eating but do not make a significant contribution to the overall calories in your menu plan.

After you have reached your target weight, hormones released in your brain will continue to conspire to make you feel hungrier and any emotional appetite will continue to produce very creative food cravings that must be controlled. Regardless of how you feel about limiting carbohydrate intake, many processed foods contain unhealthy amounts of refined carbohydrates that convert to sugar. Weight control requires replacing refined carbs with their healthier counterparts.

A temporary return to old eating habits does not have to mean failure. Identifying negative situations and personal difficulties quickly can allow you to discover alternative methods for coping rather than relying on overeating. If you have been looking for long-term strategies that allow you to eat more while managing your new weight, contact the weight loss specialists at Metabolic Research Center. MRC has thirty years of personalizing successful solutions.