Does it ever seem like you’re hungry all the time? You eat breakfast, and then, 15 minutes later, you’re back in the pantry, eating cereal straight out of the box. Or it’s ten in the morning and you suddenly get a craving for cookies.
This happens to me all the time. I work from home and I am constantly stopping myself from going into the kitchen and scarfing down whatever happens to be on the counter at the moment.
Why do you get hungry when you’ve just eaten? How do you stop yourself from being hungry all the time? I went to the experts to find out what causes constant hunger, and how to handle it.
You’re bored
One of the most common reasons for hunger is boredom. If you feel like you have nothing to do, often the default becomes grabbing a snack. Dr. Helen Odessky, PsyD, licensed clinical psychologist, and author of Stop Anxiety From Stopping You, told me, “Boredom can make someone feel hungry. We often reach for snack or food when we are bored and that can lead you to feeling hungry throughout the day.”
Erin Oprea, celebrity fitness trainer and USANA ambassador agreed. She said, “Boredom is literally a no-brainer. Being hungry because you have nothing else to do is a leading cause of my clients snacking while sitting on the couch. The kitchen is a natural place to hover around when you have nothing else to do.”
I can relate. I often find myself scarfing down crackers when I know I’m not actually hungry. Luckily, you can easily combat your boredom by getting out and moving your body. Oprea told me, “Movement is the biggest key to breaking this boredom eating. Just going for a walk will quite often quench that fake hunger trigger.”
You’re depressed or lonely
If you’re feeling depressed, you may look to food to ease your unhappiness. Dr. Odessky told me, “Some people crave food all day long and feel hungry when they are depressed. When we are lonely, we may use food as a substitute for human connection and to numb our pain and that can lead us to feeling hungry all day.”
In addition, if your depression is chronic, you may lose your ability to discern whether you are actually hungry or not. Individual, child, and relationship psychotherapist, Dana Carretta, MS, LMHC, LPC, RBT, told me, “If we are incredibly stressed or have experienced [trauma], there is a disconnect between what we think and what we feel. Our minds may think we are hungry, when in reality, our body is not.”
Carretta went on to describe the effects of long term emotional trauma on the body. “If there is a long history of childhood trauma (including abuse, neglect, s*xual abuse), that may even cause symptoms of dissociation. Dissociation is when we are disconnected from ourselves, including a disconnect from our own thoughts, feelings, and/or physical sensations.”
Instead of focusing on the hunger itself, Carretta suggests, “Work on the underlying emotional issues that drive [you] to feel hungry.”
You’re stressed out
What’s your comfort food? Mine is chicken wings and beer. Not exactly the healthiest choice, but it’s what I go to when I am stressed out. And I’m not alone. Many women translate their stress into hunger.
Oprea shared, “Stress causes so many symptoms in your body that it’s sometimes hard to pinpoint how it is affecting you. From sleep to even hair loss, stress will cause havoc on your health. Stress eating is a real thing. There’s a reason why people choose comfort food instead of broccoli (broccoli is not on the current list of de-stressing foods. Ice cream, however, seems to be the yearly number one)!”
Dr. Caroline Apovian, MD, director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at the Boston Medical Center, agreed. She added, “Chronic stress heightens cortisol, which prompts the body to overeat to refuel after fighting off a stressor.”
Dr. Apovian recommended that women manage their stress in a healthier way. She said, “Find healthy ways to cope with stress, such as seeking out social support, minimizing or eliminating stressf
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