Why You Should be Just a Little Bit Hungry
In our modern western culture we seldom feel true hunger. If our stomach growls and hunger pangs set in, many of us worry we might keel over and die at any moment (myself included sometimes). Even on a plane flight from here to LA we better pack snacks for the ride otherwise we might pass out somewhere over Santa Barbara. This constant satiety that many of us experience is a product of living in a culture that promotes comfort and luxury and discourages physical struggle of most kinds. However, the fact that our society is always eating is one of the number one reasons we are overweight and unhealthy. Today I’m going to show you why hunger is good for you and that you should try to experience it more often.
Before talking about the benefits of hunger we need to first differentiate hunger from cravings. Real hunger manifests as one’s stomach growling and a hollowness in the abdomen. Craving is generally absent from these characteristics. Additionally, a rule to follow to differentiate the two is to ask yourself, “Would I eat protein right now?” If you wouldn’t eat just a piece of chicken, scrambled eggs, or a bowl of beans and rice you’re probably not really hungry. If you’ve already eaten a full meal but say, “Hey, I still have room for ___” you are probably craving that item.
When you are hungry a very important hormone called “ghrelin” is released into your body. This hormone actually causes you to be hungry, but it activates many more important processes in your body including fat burning and autophagy, the process in which cells are recycled helping prevent cancer. What follows are 5 strategies that help increase the amount of ghrelin in your body and some additional information about other beneficial effects it has.
1) Space out your meals: Instead of grazing and mindlessly eating for long periods of time try having more defined start and end times to your eating. This will help lower insulin levels and increase ghrelin throughout the day. Lower insulin and higher ghrelin has the benefit of muscle retention when you are in a calorie deficit and will help your body preferentially burn fat instead of muscle. This is EXTREMELY important, and is why I generally promote fasting instead of a steady calorie deficit. If you are habitually grazing on food, even if you are in a calorie deficit your insulin will be elevated and you will use excessive amounts of muscle for energy which will plummet your metabolism.
2) Eat until you are 80% full: Eating until you are only 80% full rather than extreme satiety will help to ensure you are actually physically hungry when it is time for your next meal, thus ensuring release of ghrelin in this intermediate period. In addition, not eating to extreme satiety will cause your stomach to stretch less, thus helping you feel full earlier in subsequent meals.
3) Make dinner your lightest meal: Eating a small dinner has several benefits, but the main one I want you to focus on today is the promotion of night time fat burning. As many of you know, fasting has a wide range of benefits for your body and mind. The longest fast most people undergo on a daily basis is while they sleep. If you eat a large meal right before bed it will take much longer for your body to tap into its own fat stores and you are essentially wasting this opportunity to burn body fat. Additionally, the release of ghrelin while you sleep actually improves the quality of your deep sleep which has a myriad of benefits on its own.
4) Skip a meal once in a while: When you eat you produce inflammation in your body, with some foods causing much more than others. Now I don’t want you to stop eating altogether. However, skipping a meal here and there will go a long way towards fighting total body systemic inflammation that causes weight gain, chronic fatigue, and even high blood pressure.
5) Perform a light workout while you are hungry: When you are hungry ghrelin is already circulating at high levels throughout your body. In addition to causing hunger, ghrelin initiates fat burning as well as autophagy (cell recycling). This cleansing process of burning fat while also getting rid of dead and dysfunctional cells is extremely important for losing weight but also for staying healthy metabolically and preventing cancer. Performing a light workout while you are already in this slightly hungry state will augment all of the amazing benefits of being hungry including fat loss and metabolic health.
As you can see, being a little hungry has a wide array of benefits. I urge you to try and practice a few of these recommendations as soon as you can, especially during the holidays. You can still enjoy all of the great food around you, just try to space it out a little.