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You have just eaten and are hungry again. Or even hungrier. Maybe it's because of the foods you eat.
It's that time of year again when we could eat endlessly: pies, cheese, biscuits, chocolates. This is of course also due to the weather. Cold and darkness mean that our body craves "soul food", that is, short happy kicks in the form of food.
… but there may be a second reason why you could eat all the time and still stay hungry all the time. Because certain foods leave you with more appetite and gusto than before.
These foods don't fill you up, they make you hungrier
1. Artificial sweetener
Low-calorie, sugar-free foods are often fortified with artificial sweeteners. They are usually not a really "healthy" alternative to refined sugar, but can even help increase your cravings for sweets. A 1988 study first pointed to the link between sweeteners and food cravings. Test subjects stated that they quickly became hungry again after meals containing sweeteners. As an explanation, the researchers assumed that the body reflexively releases insulin when it tastes “sweet”. But because the sweeteners do not provide any carbohydrates, the blood sugar level drops and cravings ensues.
2. Salad
Not every salad will fill you up, especially if it consists entirely of leafy lettuce. To make sure you're getting a balanced meal that will fill your stomach for a few hours, add healthy carbohydrates like quinoa or brown rice, sweet potatoes and proteins like chicken, chickpeas or salmon, and healthy fats (like avocados).
3. Fruit juices
In order not to feel hungry after a meal, you need a balanced mix of vitamins, fiber (available in freshly squeezed juices), but also fat or protein. Most ready-to-use juices, however, contain a relatively small amount of fiber and a lot of sugar - which again causes the blood sugar level to rise quickly and drop again just as quickly. Which is why your body immediately craves food again. Most of the ready-made fruit juices are freed from the fruit fibers through a sieve. However, these contain a particularly high amount of filling fiber and also ensure that your body does not absorb the fructose (glucose) immediately.
4. Cracker
A few crackers in between should actually make a low-calorie snack. But the majority consists of simple carbohydrates. As a result, your body processes them more quickly and you also feel cravings more quickly. As a result, you will feed more of them. To make the cracker snacks more filling, you should upgrade them with avocado puree, nut butter or ricotta.
5. Salty snacks
There's a good reason why bars serve salty snacks like roasted peanuts, chips, and other nibbles. Because salty dishes make you thirstier. Often our body confuses the feeling of thirst with that of hunger. What helps? If you feel hungry, it is better not to consume salty snacks, but rather drink a large glass of water first.
6. Alcohol
After a wet and happy night, your body craves "hot and greasy". Alcohol, i.e. ethanol, stimulates certain nerve cells in the brain, which lead the body to believe that it is very hungry and thus persuade it to eat. According to this, cravings are not only based on the disinhibiting effects of alcohol - it is also based on a physical reaction. Also, alcohol is extremely high in calories … but that's another story.
