3 reasons you feel constantly hungry.

Boredom.

I googled 'boredom eating' and I found a study that made me laugh so much. The study¹ had two parallel experiments that tested boredom eating and distraction. Groups of people were asked to watch a monotonous clip from a documentary for one hour. This was to induce boredom. One experiment had chocolate in a help-yourself bowl. While the other could freely administer electric shocks. Chocolate or an electric shock.......hmmm?

Hilariously, both distraction methods were used in equal measures. Pain or pleasure, it doesn't matter, bored people will look for any stimulation. The big edjits! Perhaps I should place a small electric fence around my kitchen cupboard?

Our lesson from this is, distract yourself from the treat. Your boredom doesn't really want the chocolate: a pinch will do the trick. Or a glass of water. Or a walk.

A bad mood.

Hey, we can't be cheerful all the time and this is certainly true of lockdown. Nothing gets me crawling towards a box of biscuits better than a black mood. Gedoudamaway!

I googled this as well. It's called 'emotional eating', which is the most patronising phrase in the world. I almost ate a biscuit.

The theory here is that we are all like 'Pavlov's Dog²'. This was the dog that became a metaphor for any mindless conditional response. Like the word 'sale' making you want to go shopping. Pavlov noticed that his dogs would drool when they knew they were going to be fed by his lab assistants. He thought this was interesting and asked the assistants to ring a bell at meal times too. The dogs kept drooling and eating. It became a routine. Then he tried ringing the bell but gave them no food. The dogs still drooled even though there was no food to smell or taste. Ergo, he proved that you can condition a dog to salivate even without food. Only a trigger was needed – the bell. There is an expectation and then a reaction based on habit.

Likewise, I am conditioned to want a biscuit when I need cheering up. I blame my mother with her treats, and her loving sympathy. So many of our eating patterns and cravings are conditioned by childhood, and even TV. How many of you think of coke when you are hot and thirsty? That's years of watching ads with beautiful people frolicking in fountains with their soft drink. Or something sweet after dinner? Only a habit. We are all like well-trained Pavlov doggies.

The only way to deal with this is to recondition yourself. Next time you want to slam a biscuit into your sad or cross face, do something else. Have a glass of water. Or a walk. That urge will pass.

Hormones.

Hey men, you have these too! Appetite hormones.

There are many hormones that stimulate hunger and satiety and they work together in complex harmony. Ghrelin is a hunger hormone, it is released from our stomach. When the stomach is empty, ghrelin is released and tells the brain to find food. Leptin is made by fat cells and is one of our satiety hormones. It is supposed to wave a big flag when we are full up: it switches off hunger.

If a single hormone is like a single TikTok dance, a hormonal system is like a choreographed ballet. All the dancing own-moves, but woah-ing and say so-ing with others, to the same music. There are quite a few situations that can upset this dancefloor full of TikToks.

• Sleep deprivation. A lack of even one hour's sleep can affect ghrelin and leptin levels, causing an increase in appetite. Go to bed on time or you will turn into a cookie monster. Your tired appetite will not be craving lettuce and steamed veg. It will want the sweet and fatty treats.
• Weight gain. Overweight people gain extra fat cells, which produce more leptin. This should tell the brain that there is plenty of fat stored and, 'No, thank you I don't need any more dinner'. BUT sometimes the body can develop leptin resistance due to sheer overwhelm. This messes up the messaging system completely. Leptin is released to switch off the appetite, but the signal is blocked. This will cause constant hunger.
• Weight loss. Yo-yo dieting can mess up our ghrelin and leptin balance. Rapid weight loss and missed meals increase ghrelin release. This makes the body hungry and will want food – Xtra large - to make up the loss. This is why people can lose weight but pile it back, with bells on, the minute the diet is over. Eating smaller portions and at regular times is a better appetite control strategy. Our body runs on a 24-hour clock that is known as our circadian rhythm. The two cues that it relies on to keep the 'right' time are daylight, and when we eat. If we eat at the same time every day our hunger hormones like it, because they know what to expect. Eating a regular breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time every day will keep appetite in check.
• Stress. During a stressful moment, hormones like cortisol and adrenalin burst into action. This is a primitive response, giving us the ability to run away from a scary situation. Think cavemen being attacked by cannibals and whatnot. These hormones demand fast-release sugary foods, to provide a fast release of energy for an immediate escape from a terrible situation. These days it will be terrible internet during a zoom meeting that will get the pulses racing. Or finding that someone has left pee on the toilet seat. Grrr! These are less appropriate reasons to want to pig out, but the urge is biological, and historical. This can be hard to fight, albeit not as scary as the cannibal.

My top tips.

Are stress and poor sleep contributing to your bottomless hunger and endless need for treats? The herbs valerian and hops can help restore natural sleep. They can also be used to relieve the symptoms of mild anxiety.

Drink plenty of water, as often thirst can masquerade as hunger. Think when you last had a glass of water. Are your lips dry? Aim to get a litre and a half a day.

If all else fails find a mantra. My sister's is 'kitchen pickers have bigger knickers'.

References:

¹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25447018
² https://www.psychologistworld.com/behavior/pavlov-dogs-classical-conditioning