How To Stop Being Hungry All Of The Time

Written By Nathan Young Jr.

I’m banking on you being of the Homo sapien variety and if my banking is accurate, you’ve had the experience. Restrictive diet or non-restrictive diet.

That feeling in the pit of your stomach.. I can hear the tummy growl from many of animated characters now. Homer Simpson in particular.

Hunger.

Hunger pangs.

That “you need calories now” impulse your brain and body agree upon. That impulse you may or may not want to respond to. May or may not need to respond to.

What do we do about that impulse? How do we get a handle on hunger? What do we do in the moments we don’t particularly care to acquiesce to a hunger pang because there’s a greater goal at hand? How do we control our hunger without breaking diet?

Any competent fat loss strategy will involve some form of caloric restriction, whether it’s one day, two, three or even six days per week. In summation you’ll have to face your digestive desires that don’t exactly take kindly to abrupt change, one way or another.

So in this article we’ll elaborate on what hunger actually is, the causes, simple steps you can take to conquer hunger along your nutritional quest, and there’s even a list of filling foods you can welcome onboard for moral and oral support.

Soon you’ll know exactly what to do about hunger while dieting.

 

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How To Stop Being Hungry All Of The Time

 

What Is Hunger

If you want to stop being hungry all of the time. Or need your toolkit full of hunger replies short of pigging out? We have to start with defining hunger. Let’s create common ground.

Hunger is a sign your body believes it’s time for you to eat again. It doesn’t necessarily mean you should (will be explained later), but the signals in the form of pain or discomfort are to effectuate the consumption of calories.

This stomach pain or discomfort is often referred to as a hunger pang. Zero fun ma’am or sir.. zero fun. If you’re here, you’re like me and would rather ping pong the hunger pang in someone else’s direction.

Also if you’re like me you know too well how it feels to wake up in the middle of a succulent slumber, with that stabbing feeling in the pit of your stomach.. barking biological orders for you to go eat while you’re trying to go sleep.

But if you’re in the game to build muscle and lose overall body fat AKA go on a cut. Or if you’re on a strategic bulk that involves calorie cycling. You will without a doubt have to manage hunger.

Fair warning.

Those hunger pangs couldn’t care less about the goals you have in mind.

Still and still you don’t have to marry yourself to misery while aiming to gain or lose weight. But why does this hunger happen in the first place you ask?

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The Science Behind Getting Hungry

The process of hunger and the symptomatic stimulations are interesting if you like process deconstruction. It’s funny in a peculiar way, how vulnerable we can be to stimuli.

In the wrong moment the mere sight or smell of a food I have on my fancied list will get my body talking. I’m sure you’re the same.

Feels like my lil’ stomach will start grumbling on command.

That grumbling and growling which at times is a hunger pang, is your stomach contracting to push the remainder of food into your intestines.

This whole ordeal is called borborygmus.

Here is where ghrelin (the hungry hormone) colorfully chimes in for you to “go eat”. And leptin (the no longer hungry hormone) fades to black.

Key nutrients in the blood are at their lowest when you’re hungry, under normal conditions. IE glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids. A low amount of these bad boys can negatively impact cognitive function. Anything impacting the brain will affect decision making, focus, impulsiveness, confidence, and make you a bit irritable. Sensitivity heightens.

That’s where the term “hangry comes in” you get hungry and angry. Good humor is based in reality, this is precisely why those Snickers’ commercials keep running that same angle based in “hanger”. It’s truer than true.

But notably, the residuals from the hunger we speak of aren’t too dissimilar from dehydration and sleep deprivation.

Back in the day, the hunt for your own food days, being triggered to consume calories was almost always for survival purposes.. eat while you can. You never knew when the next meal would be around.

Not so much a concern for most people nowadays, although supermarkets are working on getting us back in such conditions with these prices. In modern times, lack of hormonal sensitivity has to be seriously considered along with the potential need for fuel.

Don’t underestimate the power of hunger though. Extreme hunger has been called a milder version of what drug addicts contend with. Particularly with the way sugary foods tap into the same pleasure centers of the brain as hard drugs [14].

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The Science Behind Getting Full

On the other side of this equation is fullness.

When you consume a sizable meal the stomach starts to stretch. Which leads to gut peptides transmitting signals through the vagus nerve to the hypothalamus, the main part of the brain that controls food intake.

If your hormonal sensitivity is where it needs to be, it’ll tell you to back down and you’ll feel the desire to back down. You’d be turned off at the notion of continuing to chow down.

Although this blog is about being full longer it’s really about being satisfied, you don’t necessarily have to be full to not be plagued by hunger.

Fullness isn’t exactly the point because you could fill up on water and it’d hold you temporarily. Which can help to a degree, yet your body wouldn’t take that for too long.

A fitting tip I’ll reveal here is to eat slowly. Chew your food allll the way up. Reasoning? To feel the appropriate fullness by giving yourself time for food to expand in your stomach.

On the other side, eating fast will have your body late recognizing you’ve exceeded your storage limit. By the time food expansion occurs in this scenario you’re full as hell, and that top button on your Buddy Lee jeans is about to pop off and pop the nearest bystander.

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The Hunger Process

Hunger is largely regulated by insulin, ghrelin, and leptin.

The three amigos of the appetite.

How it goes.

You eat, insulin levels spike.

Insulin does its job which is to transport the nutrients you consume for “best use” as your body sees it. That can be anything from muscle repair to fat storage. And all in-between.

Once enough time has passed without another meal? Insulin finishes its job and you reach baseline levels.

Now ghrelin kicks in.

Ghrelin gets on the line with the “aye I’m hungry” message.

The key is knowing this message is a suggestion not a mandate. It’s okay to ignore hunger pangs. In modern times a lot of us have ready access to food. So much that we aren’t foreign to inaccurately programming our relationship with nourishment. As a populus, the hunger signals we receive come from habit more than necessity oftentimes.

So at this point, if you abide by the suggestion and get your grub on to the point of satisfaction your leptin levels will rise. Leptin transmits the “I’ve had enough” signal to let you know you’re full.

If you haven’t developed a leptin resistance, you’ll listen and that’ll be the end of your fork to mouth manifest. If you’ve become resistant to leptin, your body will require a higher number of signals to urge you to back away from the table.

Do your best to avoid or reverse leptin resistance. As you can probably glean.. makes progress a bit harder to come by.

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What Causes Hunger

We covered the science behind this whole little hunger shebang and even spelled out the process. Now let’s get into real world terms. Now the tangible causes of hunger you can sink your teeth into, no pun.

Common Causes Of Hunger:

  • Sleep debt isn’t innocent when it comes to hunger. Insufficient sleep drops leptin levels and raises the prevalence of ghrelin [1].

  • Binging isn’t only the result of hunger, it’s a cause. Binging tends to involve high glycemic foods. These cause an extreme blood sugar hike. Extreme hikes are followed by extreme falls. Then extreme hunger.

  • Your body’s desire for homeostasis. When you’re used to a rhythm, if you skip a beat.. your tummy’s percussion section will start doing a little drumming in the pit of your stomach. Me for example, I eat every 3 hours for the most part. If I go 4 with no meal? My stomach grabs a microphone. Your body likes consistency. So program it with intentionality.

  • Dehydration. Lack of hydration can lead to hunger and/or extreme thirst that can be mistaken for hunger.

  • Early stages of carb restriction. If you’re starting a new nutritional strategy that involves restricting carbs, you’ll feel it quite a bit at the beginning. For the first week or two. If you’re familiar with Dragon Ball, you’ll have the urge to hit the buffet like Goku would. But eventually you’ll adapt, so if this is your gameplan - stay strong and use the upcoming tips.

  • Stress. Although some folks find it difficult to grab a plate when overstressed. There’s a greater number that does not. Here’s where emotional eating comes in. The reason stress stimulates an appetite is the release of cortisol. With prolonged cortisol levels of an elevated nature your will power suffers a slow death. As will plummets, you’ll more than likely give in to the hunger-inducing impact of cortisol.

    But PubMed says it better than me:

    “The effects of chronic stress on food intake and weight may be related to perturbations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. HPA axis activation results in secretion of cortisol, a glucocorticoid that stimulates appetite and increases intake of highly palatable foods.” [2]

  • Low fiber intake. Fiber consumption helps with fullness and helps control blood sugar levels. Low fiber consumption does the opposite.

  • Insulin resistance is also a culprit. If your body doesn’t respond well to the release of insulin, your blood sugar levels will remain high and you’ll continue sending signals in an effort to fix the perceived energy deficit.. AKA more hunger. Your insides think you’re short on consumed calories because you aren’t responding to its built in mechanisms as designed. Leads to a crescendo of hunger, referred to as polyphagia (hyperphagia). An extreme, insatiable appetite.

  • Leptin resistance can’t go without a mention. If your body develops an immunity to leptin’s signals you won’t realize you’ve had enough until you’ve had much more than enough.. and there goes another button on those jeans.

  • High glycemic or refined carbs. As stated in the binge segment. It has a yo-yo effect. Extreme blood sugar spike. Quick blood sugar crash. Body says feed me. Usually sugary foods, since those hit the bloodstream the fastest.

  • Calorie deficit. To lose weight or body fat you’ll have to create a calorie deficit over a period of time. That means to consume less calories than you burn. Clear path to stints of hunger, but continue on and you’ll gather methods to minimize the effects of a calorie deficit. This way you won’t unceasingly suffer when on a cut.

  • Increased calorie burning. When you embark upon an exercise program or increase your usual level of intensity.. your metabolism will increase and that means more hunger. If you aren’t taking preventative measures of course.

  • Low protein diet. Protein has a good deal of satiety and takes longer to digest than most carbs. Less protein usually means more carb intake and heightened hunger risk.

  • Low fat intake. Fat takes even longer to digest than protein, so it promotes fullness like these gambling sites promote the Super Bowl. Also a need for regular hormone levels by the way, if you let those get out of whack you’ll be hungry than a MF. Consume solid sources of dietary fat ladies and gents - you need them.

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Ways To Control Hunger

Hunger happens, it’s a physiological phenomenon to ensure our survival. But being that it can occur at inopportune times that may interfere with our long-term intentions.. we have to be mindful in the ways we manage this physiological phenomenon.

Aside from suggestions that guide you more to the willpower sector of success. Dealing with hunger is much about being full or satisfied for longer periods of time. Or reducing cravings altogether.

Strategies For Managing Hunger

  • Know the difference between true hunger and thirst. Sometimes you’re not hungry, you’re dehydrated. It’s easy to confuse the feelings.

  • Know the difference between true hunger and a mere craving. Foods on your list of top food’s list impact happy hormones in a particular way, similar to that of a drug. They cause a dopamine or serotonin extraction [15]. That extraction may be what you crave in opposition to needing an influx of nutrients. Don’t be swindled by your pleasure centers.

  • Want to know if you’re truly hungry? Ask yourself if you would eat a raw veggie. Love this tactic with my kids. Shout out to the parents. They almost always say no and I almost always save money while we’re out and about.

  • If you have trouble making it to your next meal. Try lowering the amount of calories in each sitting. And add more meals instead. This way you’ll keep something on your stomach and lower hunger risk by giving your blood sugar levels less opportunity for fluctuation.

  • According to the American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition, protein reduces appetite [3]. Satiety baby. We have to use that to our advantage, although this is a mute point.. because you already have your protein intake on point right??? Because you already know the importance of protein intake for allllll fitness related goals right????? Times two if you want any degree of muscle right?????

  • We don’t want adipose tissue, but we do want the fat. Dietary fat continues on the satiety point of protein. But to a higher degree [16][17]. Take advantage of that with healthy fat sources. Also a key to regular hormonal activity by the way. Fat doesn’t make you fat. Bad diets coupled with consuming more calories than you burn without any measure of resistance training does that.

  • Consume your daily fiber. According to Harvard Health Publishing you need 25 grams as a lady and 38 grams of fiber daily as a gent [18]. These numbers drop to 21 and 30 respectively, after your 50th birthday. The wild part is the average American only consumes 10-15 grams in a day. Fiber helps with hunger because it sits in your stomach waiting to pass. Waiting is all it does being that fiber is indigestible [19].. just taking up space. Undoubtedly a formidable copilot on this antihunger journey. Let fiber catch a ride.

  • Avoid skipping meals. The grounds for eating more frequently reversed provide the basis for not skipping meals. If your body is on a clock and expects a degree of predictability due to routine.. breaking that routine will make your tum tum feel broken. Hunger out the wazoo. When you skip meals your blood sugar levels spiral and ghrelin starts hitting opera-worthy notes.  

  • Don’t be too aggressive with your calorie deficit. When losing weight you have to consume less calories than you burn. A story worth repeating. But that doesn’t mean cut as many calories as humanly possible. For one, it’ll lead to a massive loss of muscle tissue which will make regaining the weight closer to guaranteed - due to a reduced metabolism. You burn calories maintaining muscle. For two, you’ll obviously have to live with hunger of a more potent nature. An unnecessarily potent nature I’ll add.

  • Habitually choose lower glycemic carbs. Lower glycemic carbs (when you’re permitted to eat carbs) take longer to digest. Veggies like broccoli for instance. Then mid-lower carbs IE barley, brown rice, and oats are decent choices. As long as you remain within the constraints of your total calorie and macro strategy. Look at me promoting broccoli. The youth version of myself would frown upon this activity.

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How To Satisfy Hunger Pangs Without Food

It’s simple to say “if you’re hungry, eat” and a good portion of the time you are to eat. But the times eating isn’t an option for your goals.. in that it’d interfere with the overarching gameplan. Here’s what to do.

Ways To Suppress Your Appetite Without Eating

  • Chew gum. Popping open a pack of bubblegum is about orosensory stimulation. Orosensory stimulation is the act of firing up oral senses [4]. Such an act can provide satiation that’ll allow you to momentarily delay hunger.

  • Manage stress. We know stress leads to hunger, so managing stress can help make intense cravings reduced cravings right? Right. Try healthy methods to control stress like exercise.

  • Ginger has shown to reduce appetite. There’s an ancient assumption and practice to consume ginger for anti-inflammatory/appetite suppressing powers [5]. PubMed tested that theory and apparently it holds merit. I know I know.. it’s a food source, but I wanted to expand on this one a smidgen.

  • Stay busy. It’s about distraction. If your mind is occupied with task completion, appetite intervention is a back row thought. Partly the case since we all only have so much bandwidth. Partly the case since getting stuff done puts you in a stimulated state that secretes adrenaline.. a known acute appetite suppressant [6].

  • Sleep makes you less hungry. Sleep deprivation lowers leptin and raises ghrelin, so avoid sleep deprivation right? Then there’s the mere fact if you reduce your number of waking hours.. you’ll reduce your number of trips to the fridge. The National Institutes Of Health’s findings showed those that slept longer consumed, on average, 270 less calories daily [7]. Quality sleep is as much of a key as getting 6-9 hours of sleep.

  • The act of exercising temporarily reduces appetite. Two-fold, the adrenal factor and the bandwidth factor that accompanies being busy, as mentioned a few upward scrolls ago. This PubMed study states a wider evidence base is to be sought, yet there are suggestive findings that regular physical exercise upgrades your sensitivity to appetite regulating hormones - [8].

  • Drink water. One, dehydration is often mistaken for hunger. Two, you only have so much room in your tum tum.. put extra water in your tum tum and you’ll be less inclined to go num num [9].

  • Remove temptation. The most efficient move of all is to keep a clean house. Could be difficult if you aren’t the decision maker, but still can be done. When there’s a little distance between you and the foods that’ll have you saying, “I’ll start over Monday”, the yellow brick road has a few less detours. Harder when you have kids too, trust me I know.. there are 1.75 uneaten slices of perfectly good cheese pizza sitting on the dining room table as I edit this sentence.. getting colder by the minute.

  • Harness the power of will. Can’t neglect willpower. At one point or another you’ll be face to face with having to just say no. These listed tactics above and below will help and can get you by more often than not.. but the times they don’t? Willpower. It all starts with you looking at you like:

    “Do I really have no control?”

    “Will I give in this easily?”

    I talk to myself in a more.. to the point.. aggressive fashion, but yo! Hold yourself accountable. Challenge yourself to overcome yourself.

  • Keep the goal in mind. However your diet is structured it’s reason-based (I hope) and breaking the cycle will cause a setback someway somehow, so keep the goal in mind. Remind yourself of how temporary satisfaction pales in comparison to sustained success, the greater good is at hand. Stick to your diet. And if you do slip up, get right back on that horse.

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Is Ozempic A Good Way To Manage Hunger?

Ozempic or Wegovy, AKA semaglutide is the latest craze in the weight loss drug industry. Although Ozempic is not FDA approved for weight loss and Wegovy is FDA approved for weight loss [10]. They both seem to be treated as if they share the approval.

The original use for semaglutide is and was to manage type 2 diabetes.

Helps control blood sugar levels.

Not doing so opens up risk to major cardiovascular events, especially for those with heart disease as you may know. Semaglutide is of service to the pancreas insulin on the insulin manufacturing front.

On the weight loss front, the success of semaglutide is courtesy of a curved appetite. It slows the rate food passes through the digestive tract.. making you feel full. If you feel full more often you eat less.

1+1=2

Less calories, less weight.

Injection is the mode of use.

However..

I’m always weary about measures as such and the long-term impact. In the absence of diabetic concerns. Then the remaining fact that if you stopped semaglutide usage.. and never quite learned how to properly diet?

You’d ultimately lose the impressive progress you made.

It’s not cheap either.

Ozempic costs roughly $968 for a 28 day supply without insurance approval.

Wegovy costs $1,349 for 28 days minus insurance.

Those are my preliminary thoughts though, I’ll likely write a blog on it ‘cause I’m curious. More studies will turn up over time too, I’m sure of it.

My biggest hangup is the newness.

Could be paranoia, but I like history for a new intended use before jumping in. History gives evidence of long-term effects. Safety first.

But in the spirit of fairness, to this point it seems to lack severe side effects when used as prescribed. Other than being a bit of a progress handicap.

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25+ Foods That Stop Hunger

We talked about the mechanics behind satiety. Talked about common causes of hunger. Even went over a fair amount of ways to respond to said hunger.

Now the granddaddy. Of course the chief counter to hunger is to eat. So now a list of foods that’ll sustain you for longer periods.

The Foods That Keep You Full The Longest

  • Almonds and other nuts (mostly a dietary fat source)

  • Peanut butter (mostly a dietary fat source)

  • Avocado (mostly a dietary fat source)

  • Casein protein (slow digesting protein source)

  • Ginger (low in calories)

  • Carrots (low in calories)

  • Whole eggs (dietary fat and protein source)

  • Rolled oats (moderate digesting carb source)

  • Barley (slow digesting carb source)

  • Quinoa (moderate digesting carb source)

  • Apple with skin (moderate digesting carb source)

  • Celery (low in calories)

  • Sweet potato (moderate digesting carb source)

  • Brown rice (moderate digesting carb source)

  • Dark chocolate of 70% cacao or higher (bitter taste signals body to relax the appetite) [20]

  • Green tea (Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) and caffeine act as appetite suppressants) [11]

  • Rolled oats (moderate digesting carb source)

  • Beans (legumes) (slow digesting carb source)

  • Broccoli (low in calories)

  • Asparagus (low in calories)

  • Cauliflower (low in calories)

  • Green leafy veggies (low in calories)

  • Salmon, other fatty fish, and most animal protein (protein and dietary fat sources)

  • Cinnamon (low in calories) [12]

  • Greek yogurt (appetite suppressing protein source) [13]

  • Flax seeds (a lot of fiber)

  • Chia seeds (a lot of fiber)

  • Olive oil (dietary fat source)

Note: The foods and such listed can help, but I’d be remiss to not reiterate the fact it’ll ultimately come down to the power of will. Yet still do all you can to make willpower something you’ll need to enforce less often.

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My Thoughts

I also saw something about if you were to smell peppermint oil you’d turn that hunger sensation off for a section of time. That’s a “funny” one. Not really my thing, but hey if it works. I tend to not like ‘hoaxy’ methods to get things done. Feels like you start to veer away from “I have control over my actions” into “there’s no way I can control my actions” territory. That’s not a place to be.. now I’m picturing myself walking around with a flask of peppermint oil in my sport’s coat like an alcoholic in a movie.

If your mental starting point is “I can’t control my appetite”, as if it’s beyond your perception of possibility.. it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You will not control your appetite. Belief is half of the battle, believe and know you can naturally suppress your appetite. Whether it be to crave less, say “no” more, or make yourself fuller on fewer calories. It’s possible.

Alright “Hunger Pangs”, It’s About That Time

Hunger can be a monster. But every monster can be outmaneuvered. I appreciate you making it this far in the blog as I always say. Hopefully this is a sign that you learned something, confirmed something, and/or were entertained in one way or another. You have my gratitude.

Today we covered the mechanisms behind hunger. The internal and external causes. How you can respond to or prevent hunger on a consistent basis, and you received a list of foods that directly respond to a “how to suppress appetite” query.

If you got something from the column do me a favor and share it with someone you think would benefit. It’s a community thing, Be Great. 

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Nathan Young Jr.
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