Hunger - The Final Frontier

Hunger is a primal instinct. It is amongst the first senses you feel when you are born. The satiety after feeding kicks off a lifelong cycle of longing followed by satisfaction! So basic is this need that one never stops to question it.

Obesity is a pandemic in its own right. If we hope to address the overweight problem, we must analyze hunger.

Ask a young child and he or she will tell you that hunger suggests a bodily need for food or fuel. While this is true some of the times, the more common reasons for hunger are surprisingly different.

To understand these reasons, we must have a basic knowledge of a hormone called insulin. Insulin is secreted by a gland called the pancreas (which is in the tummy). The food we eat is absorbed from the intestine and reaches the blood as a fuel (measured as blood sugar level). This is then transported into each living cell by insulin. When we eat food, the body will detect a rise in blood sugar and the pancreas will release insulin which in turn will drive the sugar into the cells and reduce the blood sugar level. The body likes to keep the blood sugar level under tight control with the help of insulin.

Now, if the insulin were to reduce the blood sugar more than necessary, then the body would normalize sugar by initiating hunger. This typically happens if insulin levels in the blood go very high which is called an insulin spike.

Different foods have a different effect on blood insulin. Certain foods like a sugary cola (simple carbohydrate) will increase blood sugar very quickly as there is no digestion. This will cause an insulin spike. The spike will reduce blood sugar more than necessary and that in turn will initiate hunger.

So hunger depends on blood insulin levels. If insulin is spiking too often, we will experience more hunger. And this hunger is not because our body needs food! What we eat will decide how hungry we will become in the next few hours. This is the more common reason for hunger.

If we eat foods that keep the insulin levels stable and avoid spikes, then we won't feel hungry for the wrong reasons. If we don't feel hungry, we wouldn't want to eat as much. In this situation, losing weight becomes easy and possible.

Losing weight is not only about calorie restriction. It is about eating the right type of food, which keeps the insulin levels stable and avoids hunger. Carbohydrates will spike insulin much more than fats or proteins. Simple carbohydrates are the worst. Sugary drinks, sugary deserts, sweets, chocolates, cakes and mithai are classic examples of simple carbohydrates.
So even if you eat a small portion of a sweet desert, not only is it calorie dense but it will ensure more hunger.

Vegetables (cooked or raw) are the best food to keep insulin stable.

This is also the reason why a heavy breakfast is not a good idea. I know this is against traditional teaching but it is time for a paradigm shift. A heavy breakfast (especially if it is carbohydrate rich) will ensure an insulin spike and you will be hungry throughout the day. With so much hunger, dieting or calorie restriction becomes difficult. It's the reason why so many people fail to lose weight.

If we want to lose weight we must first conquer hunger. We must eat the right types of food so that we are in control of hunger and not the other way around. The next time you have an urge to eat a small snack, think about how hungry it will make you!