Hunger Training – How to Feel Fuller for Longer – While Eating Less
What is Hunger training?
Hunger Training is a phrase I coined that is useful for individuals who have overeaten for most of their lives and therefore have trouble identifying when they are REALLY hungry. In many instances, we train our minds into thinking we are hungry when in actuality we are not. For example, you may thin that you are hungry around ‘breakfast time’, ‘lunch time’ and ‘dinner time’ simply because those are the times that you always eat.
If you think about the fact that some people don’t feel hungry as soon as they awake and can hold off on having an appetite hours later (til around 11 or noon) it is evident that there are no SPECIFIC times that you have to consume food.
The better way to eat is intuitively, and that is when your body/stomach gives you actual signals that you need food. Hunger training involves not only learning HOW to identify those signals, but helps those with messed up signals (e.g. – if you feel hungry EVERY HOUR on the hour) take a more nuanced and scientific approach to knowing when their bodies should need fuel.
I will talk more about hunger training in later blog posts, but for today I wanted to give you a quick tip for those of you who are having difficulty in feeling full for any length of time, especially if you have been trying to refine your diet and eat less.
The trick to feeling fuller for longer lies in the type of food that you eat. You might notice that when you eat junk food like potato chips, cake, french fries, etc. you feel hungry shortly after. That’s because sugar and carbs leads to an insulin spike in your blood which
The way to avoid the high insulin spike is to consume protein and fat instead. More specifically, consuming them together. Try to make sure you are eating lean protein like egg whites, chicken, real turkey and/or white fish daily for protein and avocado, olive oil and hummus for fats.
Additionally, fiber is great for keeping you full for longer so try adding ground flaxseed to your shakes and meals.