Our bodies are supposed to work in a very efficient manner. The digestive system is in charge of making sure the body has the fuel it needs to get through the day. When the body takes in too much, extra is stored as fat. When it takes in too little, that fat is burned. When the body needs more, it sends out a hunger signal telling a person to eat more. Sadly, these things do not always work as they should thanks to malfunctions in the digestive system and in other parts of the body. Hunger and metabolism are supposed to work together. When dieting, this is something to concentrate on.
There is a strong relationship between hunger and metabolism and in an ideal situation both of these would work in harmony to keep you well fed, but healthy. Unfortunately, in people who are either overweight or underweight, metabolism and hunger are no longer functioning together. It could be that you simply are not hearing or understanding the signals your body and brain are sending to you. How well your metabolism is working for you may very well regulate how hungry you are on any given day. Metabolism and hunger are supposed to work together, but many times they do not and there are both psychological and physiological reasons for this.
When your metabolism is working efficiently, your body burns calories, first from the foods you eat and then from the fat stores you have. If you are dieting and restricting calories too much, you are almost always going to feel hungry. Some diets are too low in calories, which not only makes a person hungry all day, but causes the metabolism to slow down. This is the opposite effect a dieter desires. Instead, if you find you are hungry a lot and are restricting calories try adding 100 or 200 more calories a day to ease your hunger. These calories can be in the form of protein, which will also help you to feel full for longer.
You may also notice more hunger pangs following exercise. Your body is using more calories to fuel the workout, so it signals to send more to keep up. In this case, drinking plenty of water during and after exercise will help to rehydrate your body and keep your hunger at bay. A small protein snack, such as a glass of milk or slice of cheese with an apple is also appropriate following exercise because this helps to repair the muscles and replenish your energy.
What you eat can also strongly affect the relationship between metabolism and hunger. If you eat a diet high in processed carbohydrates and sugars your blood sugar and insulin will drastically spike up and then fall rapidly. As your blood sugar falls, your brain will signal your body to eat more even though there are plenty of calories available to it from the This process is rather quick, so you may get hunger pangs when your blood sugar slumps, even though you have plenty of energy in your body to burn. In this case, changing your diet to include more healthy and balanced food choices can help fix the problem.
Another thing to remember when addressing the relationship between hunger and metabolism is that hunger may not have anything to do with a need for food nourishment. You may feel hungry when you are dehydrated, which is why many insist that a person should drink at least eight glasses of water a day. This is also why it is a good idea to drink a big glass of water if you have the urge to snack between meals. Also, another important thing to remember is that it takes approximately 20 minutes for the brain to signal the stomach that no more food is needed. Thus, to avoid overeating at meals, take your time and eat slowly to give your brain and your stomach time to communicate correctly.
About the Author:
Jen Page is a contributing author to Weight-Loss-Center.net, an authority website offering information about Weight Loss, Dieting, Weight Loss Programs and Health.
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This just goes to show how really important it is to watch what we put in our bodies. I’m always starving after working out… never thought much about why.
Found your link about chubbies on someone else’s blog, wanted to stop in. This is a great article and resource… I’m going to send the link to a few people I work with. We’re all forming a weight loss group here at work and I think your site will be a huge benefit.
Once again you’ve produced another post which busts through the nonsense that is out there around health and food.
More needs to be done to encourage people to eat healthily and knowledge is key because the companies selling packaged food are selling a product and not necessarily the truth.
Thanks for sharing such a wealth of knowledge with us. Keep on being controversial appropriately. We need more truth and less hype.