Why does false hunger occur and how to deal with it?

or What the taste vagaries of our body tell us

Why do people sometimes become addicted to one taste or another? Some people crave salty things unbearably, others crave sweets, and others crave spicy and hot. It turns out that a sudden craving for a certain taste always has a real physiological reason: the body lacks something and it tries to communicate this through taste preferences. This is the process of natural self-regulation of our good mood and health. Natalia Aleksandrovna SAMOILENKO, a nutritionist at the Kyiv City Health Center, will talk about how to correctly understand the taste signals of your body and how to cope with appetite.

How to understand that hunger is “false”

1. You want to eat within a short period of time after eating. Half an hour ago you had a hearty lunch, and suddenly you have the urge to chew something again! There is no doubt that the famine is “false”.
2. With false hunger, it doesn’t “suck in the pit of your stomach.” If there are no characteristic sensations in the stomach and no physiological signs of hunger at all, then the reasons for it are most likely “in the head.”
3. After eating, you do not feel full, but feel guilty. This, of course, varies from person to person, but we do often feel guilty if we overeat. This rarely happens in true hunger.

If you want sausage, eat an avocado...

A sudden passion for a particular taste or product may be a signal from the body about a lack of certain elements or even the onset of a disease. If you pay attention to such signals and understand them correctly, you can prevent health problems in time. For example, when lately you like sausage most of all, with this passion the body reports a lack of fats in it, in particular healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which are very necessary for the intensive functioning of the brain and hormonal system. This passion for taste is especially evident in children during the formation of their hormonal system. Then they usually want sausages or sausages. In this case, the child’s body needs healthy and easily digestible fats contained in nuts, unrefined oils, in particular flaxseed, seeds, avocado, sea fatty fish, etc. Or you can give fish oil in capsules - this will partially reduce his desire for sausages.

Proper snacks

Not everyone has time to eat well due to their busy work schedule. It has become the norm for a modern city dweller to grab something in his free time. But to ensure that such snacks do not harm your figure, they should be organized correctly.

Small meals are good because they help you avoid overeating during a full meal. If a person endures too much and does not eat anything, then, having access to a hearty lunch or dinner, he can no longer stop. Therefore, it is better to fill your stomach with something.

For many, chocolates, nuts, and sandwiches have become familiar snack options. But such food is not the most nutritious; after it, the feeling of hunger returns quite quickly.

As a snack, it is better to choose healthy foods rich in vitamins and minerals. The ideal solution would be:

• a sandwich made from whole grain bread with a piece of red fish;
• freshly squeezed fruit juice;
• dairy products;
• chicken breast;
• fresh fruits and vegetables;
• seafood.

Such snacks will not only avoid the appearance of a false feeling of hunger, but will also have a beneficial effect on the body.

Watch this video about healthy snacks:

...Salt water - drink water

I want something salty! This is a signal that the body wants to speed up metabolic processes. This passion is especially characteristic of pregnant women, since the intensity of their metabolic processes is increased. In addition, people with thyrotoxicosis (a disease caused by hyperfunction of the thyroid gland), as well as those with impaired adrenal function, crave salty foods. There is another reason that can cause cravings for salty foods: dehydration. As you know, salt retains water in the body, and if a healthy person craves herring, this may be a signal of a lack of fluid in the body. Just drink water and the desire will disappear.

Causes of constant feelings of hunger and appetite

Before you understand why there is a constant desire to eat, you need to understand the very mechanism of its occurrence. A false feeling of hunger should be distinguished from a physiological need for food.

When a person really feels empty in his stomach, he doesn’t particularly think about how to eat tastier. Saturation becomes the main thing, and different preferences cease to be the center of attention. One of the main differences between a real feeling of hunger is its gradual rather than sudden onset. There are also characteristic signs such as weakness, rumbling in the stomach, and even slight dizziness may occur.

The situation is completely different with a false feeling of hunger. He appears absolutely suddenly. Usually it is triggered by foods that come into view, and immediately there is a strong desire to eat something sweet, salty, fried, etc.

This type of food consumption is not aimed at fulfilling one of the basic human needs, but at getting pleasure from something tasty. Most often, it turns out that in fact a person does not even want to eat, but just gives in to a momentary desire.

One of the main reasons why a feeling of false hunger appears is stress. Typically, women and men who are very worried about something tend to “eat up” their emotions. Thus, people try to postpone solving the problem for some more time. But after showing weakness, a person often feels a sense of guilt, which only worsens the situation even more.

The problem of increased appetite also often affects people who do not know what to do with themselves in their free time. In this case, food becomes a kind of activity that helps to get rid of the feeling of boredom for a while. In addition, it also brings pleasure.

Another reason for a false feeling of hunger is chronic fatigue and sleep disturbances. After conducting several experiments, scientists have proven that there is a connection between rest and satiety. If a person does not spend enough time sleeping, his body loses the feeling of fullness and begins to overeat. But this problem is quite easy to solve; you just need to establish a regime.

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Sunflower seeds lovers lack vitamin E...

When a person continuously eats seeds, this indicates that he lacks fat-soluble vitamins - most often E. Also, the desire to eat seeds very often arises in those who do not have enough antioxidants in their bodies, in particular in smokers. Very often these two habits: smoking and addiction to seeds - go side by side. In this case, it is necessary to introduce additional sources of vitamin E into your diet. These are primarily oils: olive, sesame, milk thistle, as well as walnuts, sprouted wheat grains and bran.

Popular drugs

Some girls and women, in an effort to get rid of the annoying feeling of hunger, buy special pills. These appetite suppressants are called anorexants. But, as you know, any medicine has its side effects.

Although reducing appetite with the help of pills cannot be called the safest, they are still in demand. Among the most popular drugs are:

• Reduxin . This is one of the most powerful drugs used to treat obesity. Taking this drug allows you to feel full for a very long time due to the fact that it regulates hunger.
• Turboslim . This product belongs to biologically active additives. It not only reduces appetite, but also breaks down fats and improves lipid metabolism.
• MCC tablets . The action of this drug is similar to how fiber works. Once in the stomach, the tablets begin to swell and fill the entire space. This allows you to feel full fairly quickly.
• Ankir-B . This is another dietary supplement. It is believed that it effectively combats increased appetite, simultaneously cleansing the intestines of toxins and removing the remnants of processed food from it.
• Garcinia Forte . This is one of the most proven medicines, the effectiveness of which has already been felt by many women. The drug, thanks to the hydroxycitric acid and pectin contained in it, fights false feelings of hunger.

Expert opinion

Yulia Mikhailova

Nutrition expert

But do not forget that medications and dietary supplements may not have the most pleasant effect on your well-being. Some of them can increase blood pressure, and this in the future can negatively affect the functioning of the heart and lead to pathologies. In addition, taking the pills may cause dizziness, increased fatigue, and sometimes even difficulty breathing.

...Sour - vitamin C

If you really want something sour, this is a symptom of low acidity of gastric juice. That is, through this passion the body tries to increase acidity. This is extremely important for the digestion of foods containing fat and large amounts of protein. The second reason that can cause a desire for sour taste is a lack of vitamin C. After all, ascorbic acid is most often found in sour foods. Therefore, you need to eat citrus fruits, walnuts, rose hips, viburnum, kiwi, pomegranates, cranberries, etc. There is also a lot of vitamin C in greens, fresh vegetables and fruits.

Stages of fasting

1. Acute feeling of hunger. This stage lasts for the first few days. You may feel anxious and depressed. Weight can decrease by one kilogram per day.
2. The second stage begins approximately on the fifth day of the hunger strike. It is characterized by an improvement in general condition. The feeling of hunger goes away and your mood improves. Consciousness slows down a little - you can observe some lethargy. In addition, you may experience weakness and dizziness. A gray coating appears on the tongue. The body begins to use its own tissues to replenish resources. First, fat and unnecessary tissue are consumed. Then the muscles. Vital organs are the last to be used. In the second stage, the body can lose up to a quarter of its weight. When this stage comes to an end, the feeling of hunger appears again. The body has used up everything that could be spent without consequences and signals the brain about a critical situation.
3. If, at the end of the second stage of the fast, the body does not receive nutrition, it begins to use important tissues and organs. At this stage, death is possible not from hunger but due to cardiac arrest, for example. Because the heart is a muscle, namely, the body takes energy from it after fat tissue.

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...Acute - lacks enzymes

Do you really want hot spices, such as garlic or red hot pepper? In this way, the body tries to help the digestion process. After all, all spices are excellent stimulants. And most often, a passion for them arises from a deficiency of enzymes necessary for the successful digestion of food. An insane passion for burning foods can also be a signal of increased levels of “bad” cholesterol. Therefore, those who cannot live without adjika and garlic should check their lipid profile. In addition, a craving for spicy foods may indicate intoxication of the body. That is, this is an additional incentive to carry out detoxification measures: drink some sorbents, go on a detox diet, giving up fried foods, smoked foods, processed cheeses, semi-finished products and artificial fats (margarine) contained in all store-bought baked goods.

Magnesium sandwich instead of chocolate

A passion for chocolate is probably most common among women. However, there are also chocolate lovers among men. Typically, craving for this culinary masterpiece occurs due to magnesium deficiency. Therefore, if you constantly crave it, it would be wiser to saturate your body with magnesium. In particular, a magnesium sandwich is very useful: spread whole grain, yeast-free bread with a mixture of buckwheat honey and poppy seeds taken in equal parts. Before use, poppy seeds need to be steamed and ground in a blender or coffee grinder. There is a lot of magnesium in all cereals, in particular in black bread with bran. In addition, there is a pharmacological analogue of magnesium - Magne B6. However, it is better to eat natural products. With a reasonable dosage, you can also eat dark chocolate. Its norm should be no more than 20 g per day (this is approximately 3 squares) in the first half of the day. In addition, the second factor that can cause a passion for chocolate is tryptophan - an amino acid that is a precursor to the hormone of joy and pleasure. Therefore, if we lack these feelings, we lean on chocolate.

Cheese lovers should eat the “right” calcium

It would seem that what’s wrong if there is a strong desire to eat cheese every day and in large quantities? But with such passion, you need to check the level of calcium in the blood. The fact is that calcium from fermented milk products is absorbed into the blood quite quickly and its level increases. The body, in turn, tries to normalize it - as a result, the calcium level decreases sharply. Such changes lead to the desire to eat cheese even more. Therefore, it is better to introduce slower sources of calcium into your diet. That is, those products in which there is less of this substance and, accordingly, it is absorbed into the blood more slowly. These include: greens, raw sesame seeds, sea fish, cruciferous vegetables, especially cabbage: broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, etc.

Eating through satiety

Usually this happens completely unconsciously: you just continue to eat until your plate is empty, even if you already feel full.

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Sea fish is no good friend

My next passion is seafood. This certainly indicates a lack of iodine. In addition to seafood, including seaweed and fish, sources of iodine are walnuts, champignons, dark grape varieties, apples, especially their seeds. It is enough to eat 3-4 seeds to replenish your daily iodine requirement. Persimmon, kinglet, sharon are also rich in iodine. It should be noted that the absorption of iodine deteriorates when consuming simultaneously foods containing iodine and cruciferous vegetables (white cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnips, horseradish), as well as corn, sweet potatoes (sweet potatoes) and legumes: beans, soybeans , peanuts. These products contain a number of substances that interfere with the absorption of iodine.

Home Evening Methods

To satisfy your increased appetite, you can also use folk remedies or eat certain foods. They do their job just as well as medications and snacks. These home remedies can be safely used in the evening when you can no longer eat any serious food. Great for fighting hunger:

• Ginger tea. The grated root of the plant is poured with two liters of boiling water and infused for a couple of hours. The drink should be strained and taken throughout the day. Tea can be consumed in the evening, but not just before bed, as ginger has an invigorating property.

• Bran. To avoid feeling hungry before bed, you can eat this product for dinner, drenched in low-fat kefir or yogurt.
• Valerian. This herbal remedy will not only reduce appetite, but will also help in the fight against insomnia, which can arise, among other things, from a feeling of malnutrition.
• You can also drink an infusion of kombucha. It normalizes metabolism in the body and destroys pathogenic microflora.
• It is believed that ordinary salted water will help overcome the feeling of hunger.
• You can also eat celery, cucumbers, and various stewed vegetables in the evening as foods that reduce appetite.

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Everyone will decide for themselves how to deal with false feelings of hunger. But surely many will agree that following general rules that help make your diet healthy will be useful for any person. Perhaps it is thanks to them that you will be able to get rid of the obsessive desire to snack.

When you're craving bananas, check your heart

Those who constantly crave bananas usually lack potassium. They are advised to check the cardiovascular system and do an ECG. Suppliers of potassium, in addition to bananas (bananas contain a lot of sugar and, for example, are contraindicated for diabetics and obese people), can be beans, parsley, spinach, peas, walnuts, potatoes, porcini mushrooms, buckwheat, cabbage of all types, peaches, apricots , tomatoes, beets, apples, onions, grapes, eggplants, pumpkin (products are listed in order of decreasing potassium content).

Quail eggs - prevention of vitamin D deficiency

Those who want sandwiches with butter and caviar should know that this desire indicates a lack of vitamin D in the body. Especially now, during the cold season, this desire is clearly manifested in children. Therefore, parents need to introduce mandatory prevention of deficiency of this vitamin. This can be done with the help of quail eggs: from the 1st to the 10th calendar day of each month you need to drink 3-5 eggs on an empty stomach. Those who don’t like them can eat butter, but only natural butter – with a fat content of at least 82%. It contains quite a lot of vitamin D. This vitamin is also found in the liver.

Candy for the “tenant”

I advise those with an avid sweet tooth to check their carbohydrate tolerance and chromium content. Often, those who cannot imagine themselves without sweets have a carbohydrate metabolism disorder. Unfortunately, chromium content is difficult to verify. However, it will be enough to take a general blood test for sugar and C-peptide (insulin synthesis), since chromium is directly related to insulin synthesis. The second factor that can make us into passionate sweet tooths is our “tenants” - these are worms and yeast fungi that also want to eat. And their food base is yeast, sugar and white flour. That's why they especially love yeast baked goods and candies.

How does the body behave during fasting?

The first sensation is a feeling of hunger. Even when a person ate in the morning and simply skipped the lunch meal, it already has a negative impact on performance and concentration. And in the evening this missed meal must be made up.

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Behavior in an emergency

Over time, the feeling of hunger becomes less noticeable, but other unpleasant symptoms appear. Among them: weakness, dizziness, rapid pulse, suffocation, weakening of the acuity of consciousness, indifference. If the hunger strike continues, fainting, memory loss, delirium, and hallucinations are possible.

When nutrient deficiencies continue, hunger may return. But the weakened consciousness can no longer resist it. A person experiences the same symptoms with mountain sickness. History knows cases when mothers ate their children, while they were in a state of shock and could not realize what was happening. Apparently, in such tough situations, the instinct of self-preservation is triggered and a person does everything to survive, guided by it, and not by morality.

Consciousness suffers irreparably from prolonged hunger strikes. Many of those who went through concentration camps and prisons were never able to return to their previous state. Consciousness throws them not very pleasant surprises, ranging from manic joy from food to anxiety at the sight of food that others eat. There are stories according to which a person hid crackers around the house until a very old age and could not help himself.

Water, lemon and honey will reduce hunger

I would also like to touch on the topic of “unhealthy” appetite. The sudden onset of hunger is familiar to every person. It forces you to eat everything that is at hand at that moment, and this is mainly sweet, heavy food, which upsets the balance in the diet and stimulates the appearance of excess weight. What can you do to stop being a victim of your appetite? When you have a strong feeling of hunger, before you eat something, you should make sure whether it is real or false. If you feel emptiness in your stomach, rumbling, dizziness, weakness, blurred vision, heaviness in your legs, then ask yourself when was the last time you ate? If you have skipped breakfast for a long time or haven’t eaten anything for many hours, then most likely we are talking about real hunger, when the body needs food. If a person follows the correct diet, that is, eats in small portions at regular intervals, then the feeling of hunger appears every 2-3 hours. What to do when you have eaten, and after 15 minutes you again want something tasty: cake or sweets? In this case, you need to learn techniques to combat your false appetite. And the first way is a drink called “hydromel”. Nutritionists very often prescribe it at the first stage of working with their patients who are obese and cannot control their appetite. Preparing such a drink is quite simple: dissolve 1 tsp in a glass of water. honey and add the juice of half a lemon. As a result of a slight increase in blood glucose, the desire to eat decreases. In addition, lemon has alkaline properties, which also has a beneficial effect on appetite. This drink should be drunk 30 minutes before meals and 1-1.5 hours after. The next rule that should be followed by anyone who wants to control their appetite is that you need to eat food without being distracted by something else. The fact is that it is very important to enjoy food on all levels: smell, sight, taste. Some people often cannot remember in the morning what they had for dinner. If all your receptors are not involved and the process of food consumption is mechanical or combined with watching TV, this is extremely wrong, since food absorption deteriorates. In addition, all products are capable of absorbing both positive and negative energy, so even the people with whom you consume them can affect them. And you need to cook food with the mood.

Psychological false hunger

In order to determine it, you should observe yourself for quite a long time and closely. We are taught from childhood to eat food as a “substitute” for true solutions to problems. Sometimes parents do not realize that with almost every action they take, they lay the foundations for the child’s future behavior. Thus, “giving” candy to a crying or bored baby is a sure way to reinforce the reaction of “eating” sadness or boredom. At least, this is how supporters of classical psychoanalysis see the problem of psychological hunger.

In addition, false hunger on a psychological basis can also form as a reaction to denying one’s responsibilities. Has it ever happened to you that before starting boring work, you went to a cafe, and in order to stay longer, you took first, second, third and dessert? Psychologists say that in this way you are trying to relieve the burden of responsibility associated with work, and not at all to satisfy the hunger that has suddenly arisen due to active brain activity.

Typically, reactions of psychological hunger are repeated. That is, a person always overeats in the evening if he had a hard day and was scolded at work, or always buys a chocolate bar after a quarrel with one of his relatives.

D. Riley recommends keeping a diary in order to find out the true nature of your nutritional needs. When you are about to eat, you need to firmly evaluate whether you are taking an extra portion because of emotions, and do this constantly. However, the same specialist writes that modern people rarely manage to separate false hunger from true hunger, and therefore the only way to combat “eating problems” and “feasting” on joy is to establish a diet, pre-determine the amount of food and self-control.

Physical exercise and healthy sleep will tame your appetite

Another way to help control hunger is through exercise. And this is already a proven fact. For a long time it was believed that physical activity increases the feeling of hunger - scientists have completely dispelled this myth. British researchers have found that physical training regulates the level of two hormones that affect appetite: ghrelin and peptide YY. It is known that ghrelin increases the feeling of hunger, and peptide YY, on the contrary, suppresses appetite. An hour-long treadmill workout reduces blood ghrelin levels and increases peptide YY levels. Thus, physical activity actually helps reduce appetite. Running can be replaced with fitness, aerobics, yoga, and strength training. Usually, when a person skips physical activity, he looks for an excuse: there is no time, his back hurts, his joints hurt, etc. But there are basic exercises that can be done with any diagnosis. Even a regular 30 or 40-minute walk a day is a huge contribution to your health. The next factor that helps regulate appetite is healthy sleep. A person who does not sleep for 2 hours, as a rule, overeats by 20% during the day. This is due to the satiety hormone leptin, which is produced at night. It regulates metabolism and affects weight. It has been scientifically proven that if you don’t sleep enough, the body’s production of the hormone ghrelin increases and the production of the hormone leptin decreases. Leptin is known to reduce appetite, and ghrelin is known to increase appetite. Thus, the combination of low leptin and high ghrelin causes hunger. A normal amount of sleep - from 7 hours a day - on the contrary, regulates the level of these hormones in such a way that appetite is noticeably reduced. So, eight hours of good sleep is very important for our body, and not only for the correct balance of hunger-appetite, but also for the endocrine, cardiovascular, skeletal and nervous systems. In addition, you should try to go to bed before 23:00 so that at 23:00 you already have your first dream. This is also related to the balance of hormones. The fact is that a hormone such as somatotropin, which in adults controls fat metabolism and the synthesis of hormones responsible for the hunger-appetite balance, is synthesized in the body only within 2 hours: somewhere from 23.00 to 1 am. It should also be noted that certain foods affect appetite control: apples, eggs, lemons, chili peppers, garlic, green tea, kelp, cinnamon. Some of these products contain special biologically active substances that regulate appetite. Others contain many natural components that increase the synthesis of the satiety hormone. To summarize, I want to say that moderation in food is the ability to feel the true desires of your body.

True and imaginary hunger: why is the difference important? Or how to manage hunger

Very often we don’t think about whether we are really hungry or whether we just want something “with our eyes” and we, not realizing the actual needs of the body, snack heavily, chewing on an attack, stretching the stomach and accumulating extra pounds... How to learn understand yourself and eat only when a true feeling of hunger actually arises. What is true hunger?

During life, cells constantly consume nutrients - this is very important for maintaining health. In response to a decrease in the concentration of nutrients in the blood, a person experiences a feeling of true hunger, which is a subjective expression of the body’s need for food.

Where does the feeling of hunger originate?

The brain has a special section, the hypothalamus, within which there is a food center. This center is responsible for the formation of eating behavior, that is, it ensures that the body is constantly full. The food center consists of two sections: the first is responsible for the feeling of hunger, and the second for the feeling of fullness. Information about hunger and satiety reaches the brain in two ways - through nerves coming from the stomach and intestines, and through substances that enter the blood after eating (glucose, amino acids, fat breakdown products). Why does true hunger occur?

Excitation of the food center during true hunger can occur for many reasons: 1. “Hungry blood” (poor in nutrients) irritates the receptors of the hypothalamus due to low concentrations of glucose, amino acids, lipids, etc., resulting in an irresistible desire to replenish this deficit. 2. Hunger spasms of the stomach - the empty stomach contracts and the excitement from it is transmitted along the nerve fibers to the hypothalamus, as a result of which the hunger center is activated. 3. Changes in hormonal balance - the formation of feelings of hunger can be influenced by changes in the production of hormones of the pancreas (insulin, glucagon), hypothalamic-pituitary system (corticoliberin, somatotropin), thyroid gland (thyroxine, triiodothyronine, calcitonin), hormones of the digestive tract (cholecystokinin, gastrin), sex hormones, etc. These hormones change the functional state of the food center and, as a result, eating behavior. 4. Excessive production of ghrelin by the body. This substance is secreted primarily by acid-forming cells of the stomach, as well as the intestines, and is an active stimulator of hunger. Ghrelin levels in the blood increase in the fasting state, peaking just before a meal, and then rapidly decreasing after a meal. This gives reason to assume that its role is reduced to creating a feeling of hunger and stimulating appetite. How does true hunger manifest itself?

If it's been more than 4 hours since your last meal, you may actually be hungry. At the same time, manifestations of true hunger can be the following: hungry contractions of the stomach (feeling as if the stomach is “digesting” itself), the desire to put at least something edible in the mouth (the so-called food-procuring behavior); aching discomfort in the epigastric region (“sucks in the pit of the stomach”), weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, “spots” before the eyes. At the same time, a strong appetite appears, which reflects your need for food.

Don't ignore true hunger, otherwise it will lead to overeating as soon as you have access to food. Correctly satisfying true hunger

To satisfy true hunger, a person, in addition to following a rational diet (it is important that there is no long gap between individual meals - no more than 2.5-3 hours), needs to learn how to eat properly. If a hungry person eats greedily and quickly, then the body manages to receive an excess amount of high-calorie food in a short period of time and does not feel full. Why is this happening?

The first signals that the body has received food come from the oral cavity, so recommendations to chew food thoroughly are by no means groundless. Processes in the oral cavity such as chewing, salivation, swallowing, and the sense of taste of food act as “dispensers” as food passes through the oral cavity and determine eating behavior by inhibiting the activity of the food center of the hypothalamus. In addition, already in the oral cavity, under the influence of the digestive enzyme amylase, the breakdown and absorption of carbohydrates begins, which gradually enter the bloodstream and calm the hunger center. And a slight fullness in the stomach inhibits the desire to overeat. Therefore, with a calm and slow meal, the feeling of fullness will come within 10-15 minutes. But if you eat in a hurry and on the go, then after 30 minutes you will suddenly feel that you have simply overeaten, bypassing the pleasant phase of light satiety. How to understand that true saturation has occurred?

As soon as during the process of eating you feel that the hungry contractions of the stomach have stopped, a relaxed state has arisen, and your head has stopped spinning - this is evidence that the hunger center is satisfied. Full saturation occurs 1.5–2 hours after eating. At the same time, the level of nutrients in the blood increases, leading to the “calm” of the hunger center. Or maybe this is imaginary hunger?

A false feeling of hunger must be distinguished from a true need for food.

The difference between false and true hunger will help us understand when our body really needs reinforcement, and when it needs something else (the so-called “substitution”).

With an imaginary feeling of hunger, you want to eat something specific (selective appetite), for example, a cake or a chocolate bar. The desire to snack appears suddenly and strongly, literally two steps from the counter or as soon as you see an advertisement for a product on TV. With false hunger during uncontrolled absorption of sweets and cakes, it is difficult for you to concentrate on the taste; sweets are chewed and swallowed almost automatically.

Causes of false famine

Imaginary hunger is most often a response of the nervous system to a certain stimulus. At the same time, there are two types of “fake” desire to eat: emotional (psychological) and physiological false hunger.

Emotional imaginary hunger

Similar sensations occur with enviable regularity in stress-dependent people with an unstable emotional background, and it constantly seems to them that they want to eat, but in fact this is not the case at all.

The desire to “seize” a problem can take hold in us since childhood, when parents, wanting to console or please the child, consoled him with sweet candies. In addition, false hunger on a psychological basis may indicate a desire to get away from unloved responsibilities. For example, before starting a boring job, you first decide to drink tea with something tasty just to subconsciously delay what you don’t want to do. Psychologists believe that in this way you are trying to relieve the burden of responsibility, and not at all to satisfy a sudden hunger.

Most often, among the psycho-emotional reasons that cause the desire to eat without a true feeling of hunger, there are negative events in life that cause negative emotions, resentment, and mental pain; boredom or excitement and fear of new things.

Typically, reactions of psychological hunger follow the same pattern. That is, you always buy chocolate if you are upset or quarreled with someone. To understand the true cause of emotional imaginary hunger, it is recommended to keep a food diary, and when a feeling of hunger arises, analyze whether it is because of emotions that you take an extraordinary portion of food.

To strengthen the fight against “problem eating”, it is recommended to strictly follow the diet, having previously determined the required amount of food, carefully monitor the intervals between meals and understand the true reason for the desire to eat. You can also drink a glass of water when you feel hungry. In this situation, try to switch in any way: take a walk, read, listen to your favorite music, call your friends. Try not to visit grocery stores or watch gastronomic programs during this period, so as not to increase the desire to eat. Physiological false hunger

The physiological causes of false hunger are more serious, since you cannot get rid of them simply by controlling your emotional background.

The main causes of physiological imaginary hunger can be: 1. The predominance in the diet of sweet foods rich in simple carbohydrates, with a simultaneous lack of proteins and fiber. In this case, sugar quickly enters the blood, which leads to intense production of insulin, which promotes the absorption of simple carbohydrates and reduces their level in the blood. In response to a drop in blood sugar levels, the body begins to demand sweets with renewed vigor in order to replenish reserves and cheer up. A so-called “sugar addiction” occurs. By the way, it is precisely this paradox that is associated with a bill in the United States to limit the advertising of sugary snacks, since it is they that cause false hunger, which is recognized as the main cause of obesity. Avoiding “sugar addiction” is quite simple - you need to consciously control and limit sugary snacks, and give preference to foods rich in protein and fiber. These are, for example, unsweetened cottage cheese, egg dishes, whole grain bread, lean fish or meat, vegetable salad, fruit. A diet chosen in this way is guaranteed to keep you away from sweet temptations and help keep your sugar levels stable and normal. 2. Increased acidity of gastric juice. When a person is bothered by symptoms such as hungry heartburn or aching stomach pain on an empty stomach, this can usually be associated with increased acidity of gastric juice and be a sign of hyperacid gastritis or peptic ulcer. To extinguish these unpleasant physiological sensations, we try to eat something. However, you need to remember that this is a sure way to overeating, so in such situations you should consult a doctor for adequate treatment, and not “drown out” the discomfort with extra portions of food. 3. Lack of sleep. There are two main hormones: leptin and ghrelin, which influence and control the sensations of hunger and fullness. Ghrelin stimulates the appetite, while leptin, which is produced in fat cells, signals the brain that a person is full. Lack of sleep leads to a significant decrease in leptin levels and an increase in ghrelin levels. Thus, regular lack of sleep can lead a person to an imbalance of these hormones and, as a result, to a constant desire to “eat up” the lack of sleep. Therefore, a full night's sleep (and, if necessary, in combination with daytime rest) is necessary. 4. Untimely replenishment of water supplies. The thirst center, like the hunger center, is located in the hypothalamus. If a person drinks insufficient amount of water, then the thirst center is excited, which is transmitted through neural connections to nearby centers, which means the hunger center is stimulated and food-seeking behavior is activated. To solve this problem, just drink a glass of drinking water and you will feel that you are already “full” completely.

General recommendations for combating hunger or how to manage hunger 1. Follow a balanced diet (at least 3-4 times a day) and do not take long time intervals between meals (no more than 2.5-3 hours). 2. When compiling your daily diet, choose foods with a low or medium glycemic index: legumes, pears, cherries, peaches, apples, plums, oranges, dried apricots, peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, cabbage, tomatoes, milk, nuts, oats, buckwheat , pearl barley. Such food keeps blood glucose levels stable and suppresses the feeling of hunger. 3. Try to include in your daily diet at least 400-500 grams of fruits and vegetables rich in fiber, which quickly fills the stomach and creates a feeling of fullness. White cabbage, cucumbers, apples, citrus fruits, beans, lentils, and pears are especially rich in fiber. There is also a lot of fiber in bran, pearl barley and whole grain bread. 4. Drink enough clean drinking water (about 1.5-2 liters) throughout the day to keep your thirst center satisfied. 5. Control the process of eating: try to chew thoroughly and slowly, eat only while sitting and not on the go, do not eat the entire portion at once, but take breaks and listen to your body - maybe it is already full and there is no point in eating too much. 6. Don't eat in front of the TV or read at the same time. And not because you can “memory”, as our grandmothers said, but because in this case uncontrolled absorption of food occurs and you will not feel in a timely manner that the feeling of hunger has long been extinguished. But by focusing on the sensations of taste and smell of food, you will be able to get satisfied with less food and significantly reduce the size of portions. 7. Do not overuse chewing gum, as this stimulates the production of not only saliva, but also other digestive juices, which automatically causes a feeling of false hunger, even if you have just recently had a full lunch. 8. The habit of putting food away so that it is out of sight, especially boxes of cookies, sweets, chocolate, and leftover cake, helps to get rid of the onset of feelings of imaginary hunger. 9. To eliminate attacks of false hunger, we can recommend the following gastronomic “tricks”: chew sesame seeds, drink a cup of green tea with lemon without sugar or an infusion of oatmeal (pour 2 tablespoons of oatmeal with 3 cups of boiling water - take 2 cups a day). 3 tbsp between meals).