How do you lose weight, and be happy, if you’re hungry all the time? I’m referring to people who eat a lot AND feel hungry all the time. There are generally two reasons for this to happen:
- You are eating food that is driving your appetite
- Your emotions are driving you to eat.
This week I’ll focus on the first reason. There are several things that can ramp up your appetite and have you eating far more calories than you need, and one of them is refined carbs.
When refined carbs are eaten they are broken down and absorbed into your system as glucose. This happens really fast. This influx of glucose needs to be dealt with quickly, because high levels of glucose are bad for you. You release insulin to deal with this.
Insulin reduces blood glucose in two ways:
- It converts a small amount into something called glycogen that this is stored in your muscles and liver.
- Most gets pushed into your fat cells and turned into fat
Your body doesn’t like high levels of glucose (that refined carbs cause) so its response can be a bit heavy handed. What ends up happening is that it over shoots the mark and you end up with low blood sugar. You feel hungry at this point.
So this is what happens when you eat refined carbs:
- Most of the calories will end up in your fat stores
- You will be hungry in an hour or two after eating them
If you have a breakfast of white toast or corn flakes (refined carbs), you’re going to feel hungry pretty quickly and have a craving for similar refined food to fix your low blood sugar.
If you ate exactly the same amount of calories but instead had whole grain porridge, or better – spelt toast with eggs, your blood glucose will remain pretty stable, you will function better; it will take longer to get hungry.
If you are intending to lose weight, eating more whole foods and less refined food will help MASSIVELY!
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Have an Uber Healthy week
Dr Julie
Great advice. It is good to see it so well explained.
Thank you Jill
When I have something like a baked potato and beans for my evening meal (and some healthy salad) I have noticed I’m really hungry the next morning and could eat a horse! If I have a proper meal like meat and two veg I feel better the next morning, not desperate for food. Why is that?
Is this why they say bread is fattening?
Hi Scooby
This is exactly why bread is fattening.
It’s ok to eat it now and then but if you’re eating it every day and you’re struggling to lose weight, it isn’t helping you.
PS I really appreciate your regular comments 🙂