Why Am I Always Hungry?
Medically reviewed by Jamie Johnson, RDN
Are you always hungry and wondering why? Hunger is the natural way your body lets you know it needs more food. If you’re always hungry, it could signal a dietary deficiency, stress, too little sleep, or hormone imbalances.
The answer could be any of 14 reasons—some minor, some serious, some easily remedied, and others more difficult to fix. This article details those reasons, plus signs of extreme hunger and when you need to talk to a healthcare provider.
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You’re Not Eating Enough Protein
Protein is important for your body to produce energy. When you don’t get enough (which is very common), it can affect your hunger levels.
You have proteins in every part of your body. They’re crucial for proper healing and growth plus many aspects of functionality. Common symptoms of a protein deficiency are:
Brittle hair and nails
Hunger
Weakness
Frequent illness
Mood changes
Cognitive problems
Stress fractures
Protein also slows down your digestion, which makes you feel full for longer.
While protein needs vary depending on your age, sex, activity levels, and overall healthiness, the average adult should eat about 50 grams (g) of protein a day.
Your healthcare provider can diagnose low protein levels with a blood test.
Learn More: How Much Protein You Need, by Age and Sex
You’re Not Sleeping Enough
Your constant hunger could be the result of too little sleep. When you don’t sleep enough, your body isn’t able to regulate the balance of two hormones that determine your appetite. These hormones are:
Leptin: Dampens feelings of hunger when your body has enough energy.
Gherin: Increases your appetite when your body needs more energy.
Poor sleep also changes how your body uses the hormone insulin, which controls your blood sugar levels. In addition to making you want to eat, this increases your risk of developing diabetes.
Overeating because of hormone imbalances can lead to unwanted weight gain and obesity, which also boosts your diabetes risk.
Experts recommend between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night for adults. Less than 7 hours is considered harmful to your health.
If you’re not sleeping enough, you may want to make lifestyle changes to allow more time for sleep, improve your sleep hygiene, or ask your healthcare provider about the possibility of a sleep disorder.
Learn More: Leptin, Ghrelin, and Your Appetite
You’re Not Drinking Enough Water
You might feel hungry because you need to up your water intake. Experts say people can mistake thirst for hunger.
Additionally, some symptoms of dehydration are similar to hunger symptoms, including:
Low energy
Headaches
Mental confusion
Dizziness/light-headedness
If you’re feeling especially hungry, try drinking a glass of water and see if you feel satisfied. The common belief is that you should drink about eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily. Your total fluid needs are higher than that:
Men need about 15.5 cups per day
Women need about 11.5 cups per day
However, some of this fluid comes from food and other beverages. Along with the symptoms listed above, dark-colored urine indicates that you need more liquids.
You’re Stressed Out
High-stress levels, especially chronic stress, can make you want to eat more. Once again, this is a hormone issue—at least in part.
Cortisol is the body’s primary stress hormone. The more stressed you feel, the higher your cortisol levels. An effect of cortisol is increased hunger, food consumption, and weight gain.
On top of that, many people turn to emotional eating when they’re stressed. While you may crave food and want to eat, this isn’t because of actual hunger cues from your body.
To combat stress, you may want to:
Take up relaxing activities (yoga, meditation, or anything that makes you feel calmer)
Learn how to better cope with stress
Talk to your healthcare provider about other ways to manage or alleviate stress
If you know you tend to overeat when stress creeps up, try to keep healthier options on hand, watch your portion sizes, and try to be more mindful of what and how much you’re eating instead of passively eating while, say, watching a movie.
Related: Is "Hangry" a Real Thing?
You’re Eating Too Many Refined Carbs
Refined carbs come from highly processed foods. Some major sources of refined carbs are:
Bread
Pasta
Sugary soda
Baked goods
Junk food
Most of these foods are easy to reach for when you’re hungry between meals. A big problem with them is that the dietary fiber has been removed. Fiber helps you feel full and takes a long time to digest.
Meanwhile, refined carbs move through your system much faster—leaving you hungry again sooner. They also increase your blood sugar levels. And when those levels drop, it’s a sign to your body to send out hunger signals.
You can decrease refined carbs in your diet by replacing them with:
Fruits
Vegetables
Whole-grain foods
These contain fiber, which will tamp down those hunger cues.
Your Diet Is Low in Fat
This one might seem counterintuitive—you’ve likely heard you shouldn’t eat too much fat. However, part of the problem is that fats make you feel full, so cutting them out lessens that feeling. Those removed fats are often replaced with refined carbohydrates, which digest quickly, raise insulin levels, and make you hungry.
Some experts now say, instead of trying to cut out fat, it’s better to focus on eating whole, natural foods. That includes the fat that’s naturally in those foods.
Your Diet Lacks Fiber
When soluble dietary fiber mixes with water, it forms a gel-like substance that slows digestion. Eating a diet low in soluble fiber means faster digestion and a quicker return to a growling stomach.
Experts recommend U.S. adults eat between 25 and 30 grams of fiber a day from food—not supplements. However, the average American only takes in about 15 grams per day.
Along with increased hunger, symptoms of low fiber intake include:
Digestive problems and conditions
Weight gain and obesity
To increase fiber in your diet, eat more whole foods such as:
Fruit
Vegetables
Whole grains
Brown rice
Nuts
Seeds
Many experts recommend dietary fiber (i.e., fiber that comes from food intake) over fiber supplements.
Learn More: High-Fiber Foods
You Eat While Distracted
Eating while distracted makes it easy to reach for another handful of popcorn or another cookie. Before long, you realize you’ve eaten far more than you should have.
Experts say you should try to be mindful of eating, which means taking a break from work or watching TV and paying attention to what’s on your plate. That helps you eat slower, manage your portions, and enjoy your food more.
What does this have to do with feeling hungry all the time? Distracted eating is often rapid eating. Because there’s a delay of about 20 minutes between when your stomach is full and when satiety signals reach your brain, you’ll still feel hungry after eating more.
It also has to do with memory. When you’re distracted, you don’t form memories of having eaten. That can lead to reaching for food sooner simply because it seems like it’s been a long time since you ate. As with stress eating, mindful eating can eliminate the problems associated with distraction.
You Eat Too Fast
Eating too fast isn’t just a problem when you’re distracted. It might happen because you’re in a hurry or just out of habit. The result is the same: your stomach is full, but your brain doesn’t know it, so you keep eating well past when you should’ve stopped. Once again, mindful eating is key.
You Exercise a Lot
Exercise burns calories (food energy) and makes you hungrier. It’s how your body tells you to replenish what you just used. That’s not true of all exercise, though. Research suggests moderate exercise tends to suppress hunger for a while afterward. However, high-intensity workouts appear to lead to more hunger and food intake.
If you’re trying to control your weight, this increased hunger may work against you. You may want to try less intense workouts or increasing foods that are high in:
Fiber
Protein
Unsaturated fats
Related: Healthy Fats and Adding Them to Your Diet
You’re Drinking Too Much Alcohol
There’s a reason bars often put out munchies like peanuts and pretzels. Alcohol is an appetite stimulant. According to research, though, alcohol only makes you feel hungrier after you start eating. It also appears to reduce how satisfied you feel after eating. That may be because alcohol lowers the release of leptin (your hunger-inhibition hormone).
However, other research suggests it lowers ghrelin, the hunger hormone. More research is needed to fully understand the effects. Alcohol may increase hunger in another way, as well. It’s high in calories but doesn’t make you feel full like food does, so you eat to feel and end up with an increased calorie intake.
You Drink Your Calories
Alcohol isn’t the only high-calorie drink that can leave you feeling hungry. Sugary sodas, lattes, mochas, sweetened iced teas, and fruit juice also provide a lot of calories without making you feel satiated.
Research shows people don’t tend to eat less after drinking a lot of calories because those liquids don’t contain the things that make you feel full, like dietary fiber and protein.
You Take Certain Medications
Some medications are appetite stimulants, so taking them can make you feel hungry more often. Sometimes, increased appetite is the goal. Other times, it may be an unwanted side effect.
Drugs used as appetite stimulants (among other uses) include:
Megace ES (megestrol acetate)
Marinol (dronabinol)
Remeron (mirtazapine)
Oxandrin (oxandrolone)
Periactin (cyproheptadine)
Other drugs may have this effect as well. If you notice unwanted increased hunger after starting a new medication, ask your healthcare provider about it.
You May Have a Medical Condition
Certain medical conditions can increase your hunger levels. This is called polyphagia or hyperphagia. Conditions that cause it include:
Diabetes/hyperglycemia (high blood sugar): Your body can’t use sugar for energy effectively, so it sends out hunger signals. This can lead to a complication called diabetic ketoacidosis.
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar): Your body needs more sugar for energy, so it increases your hunger level. Other symptoms include rapid heartbeat, shaking, sweating, and nervousness.
Hyperthyroidism: The thyroid gland is overactive and speeds up metabolism, which can increase appetite. Other symptoms include weight loss, hair loss, sweating, and nervousness.
Pregnancy: Especially in early pregnancy, your body needs more calories to nourish your growing baby. This takes a lot of calories, so increased hunger is natural.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS): Evidence suggests female hormones called progestins can stimulate the appetite. These hormones peak around a week before you start your period.
Related: What Your Pregnancy Cravings Mean
When to Find a Healthcare Provider
Many causes of increased appetite are not a cause for medical treatment. However, because excessive hunger can be a symptom of an undiagnosed condition, you should contact your healthcare provider if:
You have unexplained and ongoing increased hunger
You have other symptoms alongside it
You’re gaining or losing weight rapidly
Your hunger is a source of concern
A quick diagnosis can improve the outcomes of many medical conditions.
Related: Never Hungry? Causes and What to Do
Summary
Increased hunger can come from dietary inadequacies, stress, lifestyle issues and habits, and medical conditions. Many of them are simple to remedy, while others could require medical treatment.
It’s important to note any odd changes in your appetite, weight, and how you feel. Talk to a healthcare provider if you’re worried about these changes.
Read the original article on Verywell Health.
