Thirst
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We have trouble discerning whether we want to eat or drink. And since food also contains moisture, it seems to us that our needs are partially satisfied. Try drinking first and eating a few minutes later. Maybe you won’t even want to eat. And if you want to, you won’t overeat.
Lack of sleep
In the absence of proper sleep, a person becomes hungry. This occurs due to an imbalance of ghrelin and leptin. The first stimulates appetite, the second is responsible for the feeling of fullness. When a person does not get enough sleep, leptin levels drop sharply. The body produces a lot of cortisol, which increases appetite. The body strives to restore energy reserves with the help of sweet and fatty foods.
The desire to eat arises for various reasons. Physiological factors include the activation of the production of cortisol and progesterone in the blood. Increased appetite is noted in diabetes and hyperthyroidism, since the body's metabolism is disrupted. A person does not feel full when taking certain medications, chronic stress, boredom or lack of sleep.
Low blood sugar
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Hypoglycemia is a condition when the body does not have enough fuel.
It can appear due to improper use of medications for diabetes or an incorrect diet, when you eat irregularly, or if you have high stress and a lack of carbohydrates in your diet. If everything is fine with your diet, consult a doctor. You may have to measure your blood sugar levels and look for a disease that causes hunger.
Pregnancy
In early pregnancy, some women have an increased appetite. This occurs due to changes in hormonal levels. A large amount of progesterone is produced, which prepares the female body for bearing a child. Under its influence, the muscles of the uterus relax, which impairs the outflow of blood in the vessels. Salt helps increase blood pressure, which is why you often crave salty foods.
If a woman does not receive nutrients in the required amount, a feeling of hunger will accompany her until childbirth. At the same time, insulin levels increase, which lowers blood sugar. For this reason, in the first trimester you want to eat sweets. It is better to eat dark chocolate, marshmallows, dried fruits and honey. Due to the lack of phosphorus and magnesium, seeds, spinach and nuts are added to the diet.
The second reason for severe hunger is changes in emotional mood. Pregnancy is considered stress for the body, so it is suppressed with food. Often, increased appetite is observed in girls who were on diets before conceiving a child.
Smells and pictures
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The feeling of hunger is not always caused by the needs of the body. Sometimes we succumb to deceptions: we see something tasty or smell something, so we are drawn to quickly get a dose of pleasure from food. If you are hungry all the time, maybe you should go to the kitchen less often and surf cooking sites?
Ways to treat increased appetite:
- Replace large spoons with small ones - this is an old but very effective trick - start using small plates, long, tall glasses that optically increase portions.
- Replace all cutlery with smaller ones.
- When buying products in stores, take them in small packages.
- Junk food should disappear from your sight - walk past sweets and unhealthy processed foods in grocery stores. Just turn your head to the side, don't look at the sweets.
- On the table, replace them with a bowl of fruit. The fact is that sweets cause blood sugar to jump sharply up and down. That’s why you always want to eat after eating delicious sweets.
- Mix less different foods at one time. If you eat protein, try to eat it with vegetables, not grains. This way food is digested faster and you want to eat less.
- Low-calorie fruits and vegetables are harmless, unlike a wide variety of dishes.
- Listen to your body's signals.
- Always eat consciously, understand what the food you eat will bring to your body. Don’t overeat, leave the table half-starved.
- Satiety comes in about 20 minutes. Food will never solve your emotional problems, it will just add another extra kilogram.
- Don't go shopping hungry, buy what you planned in advance.
It’s not hard to guess the consequences of the answer to the question of why you want to eat a lot, and even high-calorie dishes - we get extra pounds. In addition, overeating combined with stress further increases the need for food.
Therefore, if you are concerned about this problem, carefully study the article and try to follow the recommendations. Gradually everything will return to normal.
Sincerely, author of the article: Svetlana E.
Etiology of pathological appetite
What is the reason for constant overeating? Among the reasons that provoke a constant feeling of hunger are:
- Dehydration. Often, a lack of fluid in the body is disguised as hunger, which is associated with a disruption in the functioning of the hypothalamus, where the centers of thirst and hunger are localized.
- Bad dream. With a lack of sleep, the amount of the hormone ghrelin increases in the body, which can increase appetite. In addition, chronic lack of sleep provokes a decrease in the concentration of leptin (this is a hormone that allows you to feel full).
- The predominance of simple carbohydrates in foods, which are quickly absorbed and lead to hyperglycemia, followed by a sharp decrease in sugar levels.
- The desire to lose excess weight, which, if the diet is not prepared correctly, leads to anorexia or, conversely, to bulimia. Therefore, it is worth consulting with a nutritionist who will help you figure out how to lose weight without harm to the body and weight gain again.
- Psychological stress, which produces so-called stress hormones (for example, adrenaline or cortisol), which significantly increase appetite.
- Drinking alcohol because it can dehydrate the body, which in most cases is regarded not as thirst, but as hunger. As a result, a person eats much more.
- Insufficient amount of protein in the daily diet. It is proteins that continue to feel full and suppress hunger, so when they are lacking, you want to eat more often. In addition, unsaturated fats can also relieve a person from hunger for a long time, but their amount should not exceed 35% of the total calories. It is in this quantity that they allow you to feel full, ensure normal cholesterol levels, prevent blood clots and have an antioxidant effect.
- Why do you always want to eat? The reason may be not only incorrectly selected food products in the diet, but also an incorrect regimen for taking them. Thus, significant intervals between regular meals provoke increased synthesis of the hunger hormone (uncontrolled appetite appears).
- If a person takes certain medications (for example, antidepressants or corticosteroids), he may also experience increased appetite. When hunger does not disappear even after eating, it is advisable to consult a doctor and, if necessary, change the medicine.
- Hunger of psychological etiology. Often, increased appetite is recorded among people who endure constant stress, are in a state of chronic depression, as well as with apathy and overwork.
- Excessive physical activity and the recovery period after a serious illness (hunger is a compensatory reaction that allows you to replenish the body’s energy needs in a shorter time).
- People with diseases of the stomach or intestines, diabetes mellitus, certain mental disorders, changes in the functioning of the endocrine system, and hormonal imbalances may suffer from a constant feeling of hunger.
- Pathological appetite is recorded with helminthic infestations.
- Any pathology that disrupts the normal absorption of food.
What to do if you have excess appetite?
Overeating negatively affects not only digestion, but also other processes in the body. Thus, eating large portions of food leads to overdistension of the stomach. People complain of poor sleep, a feeling of heaviness or pain in the stomach, nausea, and possible vomiting. Constant overeating provokes obesity, which in turn negatively affects the functioning of the heart, which is forced to ensure optimal blood circulation under the condition of constant weight gain. As a result, the heart walls thicken (hypertrophy) and blood pressure problems arise.
When overeating, not only does the stomach hurt, but the functioning of the liver, pancreas, and intestines is also disrupted. Food is not able to be completely digested and absorbed, so fermentation processes begin, gastritis, pancreatitis, colitis and other gastrointestinal pathologies develop. In addition, we should not forget about the increased load on muscles and joints due to excess weight, which appears against the background of constant overeating, as well as endocrine dysfunctions, which lead to disorders of the menstrual cycle and sexual sphere.
Difference between hunger and appetite
To understand what exactly is happening to the body, you need to know what provokes the desire to eat - hunger or appetite. These are two different concepts.
- The first condition occurs due to prolonged lack of nutrition. This is a signal that the body gives that it does not have enough nutrients. This is a physiological need for food.
- The second concept is a taste habit, an addiction to a certain food, the sight of which creates a strong desire to consume it. When the smell or sight of a favorite dish appears in the digestive system, a large number of enzymes begin to be produced, which provoke an irresistible craving to eat. This is an individual phenomenon that reflects the lack of certain nutrients and the characteristics of national cuisine. This condition can be selective when there is a craving for certain foods and dishes.
Additional Information! If you develop the habit of constantly satisfying your food cravings, people overeat.
Diseases that increase appetite
Some pathologies completely discourage the patient’s appetite, while others, on the contrary, increase it. Therefore, if normalization of nutrition, wakefulness and rest did not help to cope with the problem, it is better to visit a doctor and get tested to rule out dangerous diseases.
Diabetes
In diabetes, the production of insulin is disrupted, which is why a person experiences a brutal appetite, greedily attacking food, even when not even an hour has passed since the last meal. In addition to the uncontrollable feeling of hunger, other symptoms of diabetes mellitus include:
- Unexplained weight loss;
- Constant thirst;
- Chronic fatigue;
- Frequent urination;
- Vision problems;
- Long-lasting wounds and scratches.
Read:
16 interesting facts about chocolate
Thyroid dysfunction
An unreasonable increase in appetite sometimes indicates the progression of hyperthyroidism, a disease of the thyroid gland in which the production of thyroid hormones that affect metabolism increases.
Due to the increased speed of metabolic processes, energy expenditure increases even at rest. As a result, the person rapidly loses weight. At the same time, appetite becomes uncontrollable. It is necessary to visit an endocrinologist as soon as possible if, in addition to problems with appetite and sudden weight loss, the following symptoms bother you:
- Constant feeling of cold;
- Increased sweating;
- Fatigue, lethargy;
- Anxiety;
- Deterioration of the condition of the skin, nails, hair;
- Muscle spasms;
- High blood pressure;
- Disruption of the digestive system.
Malignant formations
Most often, oncology causes a decrease in appetite, but not always. With the development of some malignant tumors, the level of sugar and corticosteroids increases. As a result, a person experiences a constant feeling of hunger, while weight rapidly decreases. Losing body weight while increasing your diet is a reason to immediately visit an oncologist.
Worm infestations
If an adult or child contracts a parasitic infection, this also affects appetite, as the daily calorie requirement increases. A common parasitic disease transmitted through household contact is enterobiasis. Worms living and multiplying in the intestines disrupt its normal functioning, as a result of which the body does not receive the necessary nutrients. This leads to the patient’s appetite increasing. And if roundworms or tapeworms have settled in the body, in addition to problems with appetite, the following symptoms are observed:
- Unexplained weight loss;
- Lethargy, weakness;
- Iron-deficiency anemia;
- Abdominal pain, intestinal dysfunction;
- Pallor of the skin.
If food has become the main meaning of life and a person constantly feels hungry, it is better not to ignore this symptom and make an appointment with a doctor as soon as possible. Sometimes, to get rid of food addiction, it is enough to adjust your diet and daily routine. But in some situations, increased appetite signals pathological processes that require long-term complex treatment under the supervision of a doctor.
How to get rid of bulimia?
First of all, you should consult a doctor to find out the cause of excessive appetite. The problem may be purely psychological in nature or of organic origin (for example, it may be associated with damage to the brain structures that are responsible for the feeling of satiety).
To combat overeating, you should adhere to a clearly established diet and appropriate physical activity. If necessary, you should undergo a course of psychotherapy. If hunger occurs against the background of other disorders, all associated pathologies should be treated to normalize metabolism.
