Hungry? Well, eat!
But what if the food you eat leaves you feeling more hungry than before?
This is a fairly common question.
“Hunger is the result of different interactions between the stomach, intestines, brain, and pancreas,” says Dr. Decottiis, a weight loss specialist.
The problem is that this circuit can easily be fooled.
Here are 11 foods that will make you feel like you're "going empty" as your stomach fills up:
The white flour (used for white bread) has been stripped of its envelope (the bran). This depletes the grain of its fiber content. Eating white bread increases your insulin levels, says Dr Decotiis.
In a recent Spanish study, researchers tracked the eating habits and weight of more than 9,000 people.
They found that those who ate 2 or more servings of white bread a day were more likely (40%) to be overweight or obese within five years compared to those who ate less.
Fruit juices are a trendy drink. They are very healthy, but contain all the sugar from the fruit. Fiber and pulp are not present enough in your juices.
This means that drinking a glass of fruit juice can cause your blood sugar levels to skyrocket and drop just as quickly causing food cravings.
The best solution is to make a smoothie with whole fruit and add a tablespoon of nut butter. This will help regulate your sugar levels and boost satiety.
Wondering why you crave something sweet after devouring an entire bag of crisps?
The reason is simple.
Chips, pretzels and other salty snacks are simple carbohydrates that are digested quickly and cause insulin spikes and then a rapid drop.
And since your taste buds are linked to your brain, and the need for quick energy is linked to sugar, you'll crave something sweet. And that very quickly after ingesting too much of these salty things.
What's more, thanks to a phenomenon called "specific sensory satiety", you can eat lots of salty snacks and still feel hungry, because only your "salty" stomach is full. Your "sweet" stomach is always empty.
It is for this reason that by eating crackers, you will want to eat twice to fill the 2 stomachs:the salty and the sweet.
Almost every ingredient in fast food is designed to make you eat more.
For example, trans fatty acids inflame the gut, which impairs the body's ability to produce appetite-controlling neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, says Dr. Decotiis.
Meanwhile, the digestive tract absorbs high fructose corn (commonly found in sandwich breads, condiments and desserts) too quickly, causing insulin spikes and even more hunger pangs.
Finally, huge servings of salt can stimulate dehydration. But the symptoms of thirst closely resemble those of hunger. Result, you will then be tempted to refill your hunger.
Alcohol doesn't just reduce your desire to eat healthily, it also treacherously stimulates your hunger pangs.
According to research published in "Alcohol and Alcoholism", just 3 drinks can reduce your body's leptin levels by 30%.
Leptin is a hormone designed by your body to silence your hunger and make you feel full.
Alcohol can also deplete your body's carbohydrates (called glycogen). "It makes you crave carbs to replace what seems to be lost," Dr. Decotiis says. And if you're craving crackers, dehydration and electrolyte loss are kicking in.
White pasta is like white bread, but it deserves its own paragraph. It's so easy to eat too much!
A standard portion of cooked pasta should normally not exceed 120 g, or only half a cup. But restaurants often serve 300g of pasta as a side dish.
When you overload your body with simple carbohydrates, your pancreas will produce insulin in droves. You will have produced so much sugar that your blood sugar level will drop and you will be hungry.
Worse ! What are you going to pour on your pasta? Store-bought sauce? It probably contains even more sugars...
Monosodium glutamate is a flavor enhancer often added to Chinese and Japanese foods.
It's also found in other foods, including canned vegetables, soups, processed meats, and even in beer and ice cream.
A Spanish study suggests that this chemical triggers a 40% increase in appetite.
And according to a study published in the American journal "Obesity", people who consume the most glutamate are 3 times more likely to be obese than those who do not.
The effects of leptin ("the satiety hormone") can be damaged by the adverse effects of glutamate on the hypothalamus," says Dr. Decotiis.
What's more, the effects can get worse over time, so the more glutamate you eat, the more you'll want to eat.
You might think you just picked good, fresh fish, but you're actually eating more rice than anything else, says dietitian Susan M. Kleiner, scientific advisor to USANA Health Sciences. in the United States.
For example:the California roll. It contains more than 30 grams of carbohydrates, it's like eating 3 slices of white bread.
"If you don't eat anything else, sushi rolls are quickly digested and disappear from the stomach. They are not filling like fiber or protein," says Susan M. Kleiner.
Whether they're in your Diet Coke (or Zero) or sprinkled in your coffee, artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, and others) will excite your brain cells into thinking they're about to to get energy from calories. However, this is not the case at all...
Result:You will want to eat more candies throughout the day, to try to compensate for this disappointment.
Over time, this process can even affect the hunger control center in the brain.
Finally, know that artificial sweeteners have also been shown to cause insulin spikes, just like real sugar, which is full of calories.
White flour with a lot of sugar, that's all industrial cereals contain. The sugar in cereals (like Kellogg's and Nestlé) causes insulin spikes and raises your blood sugar levels.
"Eating such a carbohydrate load in the morning when your cortisol levels are at their highest is a double whammy for your metabolism," says Dr. Decotiis.
Why ? Because during the night and in the morning, your body pumps out huge amounts of cortisol. Your body naturally prepares for the stress of the day ahead.
However, a high cortisol level means that your body has a much harder time digesting the sugars you eat. Therefore, even if your blood sugar is high, it may not reach the tissues in your body that need it.
So you will feel tired and you will continue to be hungry for no apparent reason.
Eating cereal in the morning can be a good way to start your day, but for that, opt for a whole grain or bran cereal that contains at least 5 grams of fiber and less than 5 grams of sugar per serving.
You know you can't eat just one slice, no matter how big the pizza.
Why ? Because it is the combination of white flour, hydrogenated oils, melted industrial cheese, and preservatives that will disrupt your blood sugar levels and the production of satiety hormones, according to Dr Decotiis.
As a result, you will still be hungry even if you eat several very greasy slices of pizza!
That said, if you make your pizza at home with whole-wheat dough, lean meat, lots of veggies, and just a sprinkle of cheese, you'll have the perfect fiber and protein meal.
This homemade pizza will prevent you from having a craving in 1 hour!
And There you go ! By avoiding these 11 foods, you will no longer have terrible cravings in the middle of the day, and you will be doing a good thing for your health :-)
