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Hunger after eating

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
 
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The feeling of hunger after eating is quite a common situation. Those people who periodically feel this feeling on themselves, try to understand what is the reason, in order to get rid of the problem.

Only now, not everyone can defeat this feeling. And all because the reasons for each person can be different, and the main task is to find and eradicate the factor that causes hunger in your body.

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Causes of the hunger after eating

The feeling of hunger is considered a normal and natural feeling, indicating that we need to add energy and nutrients to our bodies, but the causes may be different.

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Symptoms of the hunger after eating

The main symptom of hunger after eating is, in fact, a constant feeling of hunger. A person irresistibly wants to eat, and even with food he thinks that you can eat more. Even a large portion of food does not bring satiety, and a person can stop only when the stomach is full. But, nevertheless, even this does not bring him alimentary (nutritional) satisfaction.

In the absence of the opportunity to eat, such people are nervous and irritated over trifles. Their mood and performance largely depends on the availability of food, otherwise all thoughts will be directed only at finding food.

Experts share a real and false sense of hunger:

  • present, or a physiological sense of hunger appears when blood glucose levels go down, with an empty stomach, when signals from the food center are activated that it is time to make up for the amount of nutrients in the body. During a real hunger the digestive system becomes active, and the person hears and feels a kind of "rumbling" in the stomach and "sucking" in the pit of the stomach;
  • a false sense of hunger appears on a psychological level and has nothing to do with the presence or absence of food in the stomach. Such hunger is caused by many of the reasons listed above, which do not refer to the direct need of the body for nutrients. With this state of "rumbling" in the stomach you will not hear.

The most negative point is that if we constantly try to satisfy a false sense of hunger after eating, then as a result we contribute to the emergence of problems with the digestive and cardiovascular system, as well as our mental state. There is emotional instability, insecurity, irritability, up to the development of depressive states. And here you can not do without the help of a qualified psychologist.

Immediately after eating, a feeling of hunger: the latest research

Sometimes it happens that a person does not sit on diets, eats the usual, habitual for him food, clearly adheres to the diet, but still suffers from hunger after eating. American experts after numerous studies and observations came to the conclusion that one of the reasons for the constant feeling of hunger is an overabundance of fatty hearty food. According to lengthy observations, the greater the amount of calorie-rich meals consumed, the later the feeling of hunger. Simply put, less people eat more food, demanding more and more calories.

Nutritionists from the American State University of Cincinnati (Ohio) explained the increased craving for food by the presence in each human body of a specific hormonal substance - ghrelin. It is also called the hormone of appetite. This peptide hormone has the ability to cause hunger, reacting with fats that are found in the foods that we consume.

Ghrelin is produced mostly in the stomach and, in a sense, determines our eating behavior. It is proved that the amount of this hormone increases immediately before meals and decreases by about 2 hours after eating. However, those who eat a large amount of high-calorie rich food, the amount of ghrelin after eating does not go down. Hence, it can be concluded that the feeling of hunger after eating can be associated with an elevated level of the hormone ghrelin.

Based on these studies, specialists began developing new drugs that could stabilize and regulate the production of ghrelin. Conversely, by stimulating hormone synthesis, scientists plan to increase cravings for eating in patients with anorexia.

It remains to be hoped that such drugs will soon be used to treat obesity and the pathological feelings of hunger.

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After eating, there is a feeling of hunger - a direct way to bulimia?

Bulimia (from the Greek bus - bovine and limos - hunger) is a psychopathological condition, in which there is an increased feeling of hunger and decreased satiety: the sufferer of bulimia loses a feeling of fullness, even when eating large amounts of food, and the feeling of hunger haunts him constantly. Typically, the cause of this condition is damage to the receptors that are located in the hypothalamus, and are responsible for obtaining a sense of satiety. They inform the brain that the body is full. The failure of the function of these receptors leads to the fact that a person loses the ability to saturate.

What is the difference between bulimia and the usual hunger after eating, which we discussed earlier? The fact that bulimia is not just a symptom of any condition. This is a real eating disorder, most often associated with impaired mental perception of food. At the heart of the problem in most cases is the phobia - the fear of gaining excess weight against the background of excessive consumption of food.

Pereeu, who suffers from bulimia, tries in every possible way to get rid of the food eaten, whether by stimulating vomiting, or taking laxatives. As a result, diseases of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, gall bladder, irritable bowel syndrome, autonomic disorders (heart rhythm disturbances, increased sweating, dizziness up to syncope), and mental personality disorders.

Ill with bulimia often can not fight the painful bouts of hunger. In such moments they simply attack the food, sweeping away everything - sweet, meat, flour, etc., but they do not feel satiety at the same time. Feeling heaviness in the stomach, they feel guilty for their lack of restraint, are sent to get rid of everything they ate. As a rule, to the toilet.

Sooner or later this condition can lead to the fact that a person can no longer cope with the problem on his own: long-term treatment in a hospital will be required.

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Diagnostics of the hunger after eating

In order to diagnose why the feeling of hunger does not disappear after a meal, it is necessary to think: under what circumstances or after what events there is an insurmountable feeling of hunger? With what do you personally connect it? Does this feeling always, or only sometimes? Based on the answers to these questions, you can choose for yourself the appropriate type of diagnosis:

  • Visiting a gynecologist - perhaps you have a hormonal imbalance, a menstrual cycle. Or maybe you're just pregnant!
  • Consultation of a neuropathologist, psychologist or psychiatrist - if your constant feeling of hunger is associated with frequent stress, nervous tension, experiences.
  • Consultation of a nutritionist to measure the correctness of your nutrition with daily physical and mental stress, as well as to correct a diet for weight loss, if you adhere to it.
  • Bacteriological or biochemical study of feces is carried out for the diagnosis of dysbacteriosis and the state of the intestinal microflora. Simultaneously with such a study, it is recommended to consult a gastroenterologist.
  • Study feces on the eggs of the worm.
  • Visit to the endocrinologist with examination of the endocrine system, metabolic processes in the body. Determining the level of sugar in the blood.

These are the main diagnostic methods that you can address when you feel hunger after a meal. Of course, if you constantly eat simply because of boredom, then the diagnosis is useless: just take yourself to something interesting that will help you get carried away and forget about food.

trusted-source[5], [6], [7], [8]

Treatment of the hunger after eating

How can I cure hunger after eating?

  • Identify and diagnose the cause of hunger after eating, and on the basis of the results to undergo qualified treatment.
  • Get rid of worms, or pass the prevention of helminthic invasions.
  • Limit the daily diet percentage of sweet and flour products, replacing them with fresh fruits and berries.
  • Make and adhere to the diet. Only in this case the body will get used to the fact that you eat at the same time, and will patiently wait for your time. In this case, it is important to fix this habit: for example, put a reminder on the phone so as not to miss the time of eating.
  • Normalize your psychological state, avoid scandals, quarrels and stresses.

Trying to get rid of hunger after a meal can be and with the help of alternative means. However, if you have a certain disease that contributes to the emergence of a constant feeling of hunger, then such recipes are unlikely to help you: you should take care of the provoking disease - helminthic invasion, hyperthyroidism, metabolic disorders, etc.

The main part of alternative means for fighting hunger after eating is aimed at reducing appetite:

  • take 3 cloves of garlic, clean and shovel in a mortar. Pour 200 ml of slightly warm boiled water, we insist for 24 hours. Every day before going to bed, we drink 1 tablespoon of infusion;
  • we drink 1 tablespoon of finished flax oil just before meals, three times a day;
  • we insist on 1 teaspoon of dry mint and parsley in 200 ml of boiling water for half an hour. We drink with a persistent sensation of hunger;
  • take 250 g of dried fruits (dates, figs, dried apricots, etc.) and cook in 1.5 liters of water until the amount of water boils down by 25%. After removal from the fire, we cool and drink 100 ml before eating;
  • take 10 g of corn stigmas and pour in a thermos glass of boiling water, insist half an hour. We drink before eating 1 tablespoon.

Eating at dinner less helps and a cunning move: before eating, you should drink a cup of green tea, kefir, or just a glass of clean water.

If the constant feeling of hunger after eating is associated with nervousness and stress, use soothing decoctions and teas with the addition of mint, jasmine, lemon balm, valerian or hops.

Prevention

What can be done to prevent the appearance of hunger after eating?

  • First, it is necessary to treat diseases of the digestive system in time, to carry out periodic prophylaxis of helminthic invasions.
  • Secondly, you should avoid stress, and if you still had to be nervous, do not run immediately to the refrigerator: it's better to walk in the park or just down the street, calm down. After you come home, brew soothing tea with mint and turn on a good movie or comedy.
  • If you "sit" on a diet, then you should not think that you need to starve and deny yourself in everything. Correct and safe for the body weight loss should be based on proper nutrition. Try to ensure that your body does not experience hunger, so that all the necessary substances and vitamins are supplied with food. Just refuse all kinds of "harmfulness" - sweets, simple sugars, flour products from white flour, fast food, fatty foods. From everything else, you should not refuse, just count the calories according to your constitution and physical activity. Remember that in any case, the calorie content of your daily diet can not be less than 1200-1400 kcal.
  • Keep an eye on the activity of your intestines. If there are signs of dysbiosis (unstable stool - constipation is replaced by diarrhea, or bloating, etc.), then definitely drink the course of special preparations: bifidumbacterin, lactobacillus, lacto-mun, etc. Be sure to eat fresh sour-milk products: yoghurt, kefir, cottage cheese, fermented bacon .
  • Include in the menu vegetables and fruits, as they give the body the necessary for normal digestion of cellulose, while perfectly digesting the body.
  • Drink plenty of water. Sometimes it is the thirst that we take for a false sense of hunger. Water should be at room temperature, still, and drink it should be half an hour before a meal, or 2 hours after.
  • Do not let the feeling of hunger. Always have a snack: a handful of nuts or dried fruits, but not dry sandwiches or chips.

If you are prone to overeating, try not to mess around: it is boredom from doing nothing that pulls us to the refrigerator. Do yourself something useful, find a hobby that will distract you from thinking about food. Draw, sew, and go in for sports. You can ride a bike, go to the pool or to the gym. And you can just go to the nearest park and collect interesting and unlike each other leaves. Turn on the fantasy and - in the way!

The prognosis of hunger after eating depends entirely on you. If you allow yourself to succumb to temptations and each time you eat more and more, sooner or later it can turn into obesity, diseases of the digestive system, metabolic disorders or bulimia.

Remember that food is not a cult and not the meaning of life, so do not put it in first place in life priorities. Although you do not need to forget about it either: our body does not like it. Eat healthy food, preferably at the same time, lead an active lifestyle, and the feeling of hunger will not become bothersome for you.

Of course, one should not expect instant relief from hunger after eating: it is difficult to eradicate this sensation of deceitful hunger, and it may be necessary to collect all your will into a fist. But a positive result is possible only if a person genuinely understands the need to change something in his way of life. The feeling of hunger after eating is a feeling that should be got rid of. Our health should be higher than the bad habits that destroy us.

trusted-source[9], [10]

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