Foods That Make You Hungrier Essay

Feeling hungry? You should eat. But what if the foods you’re eating actually make you hungrier than you were before you dug in? It’s a more common conundrum than you might think.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Hunger is a result of many complex interactions that occur in the stomach, intestines, brain, pancreas, and bloodstream,† says weight-loss specialist and board-certified internist Sue Decotiis, MD. Problem is, it’s a circuit that’s easily hijacked. Here are 11 foods that can make you feel like you’re running on empty—even when your stomach is stuffed. Juices Juicing is all the rage, but these â€Å"healthy† drinks contain all the sugar of your favorite fruit, but none of the fiber-containing pulp or skin. That means drinking a glass of juice can shoot your blood sugar levels up—and then back down again—bringing on hunger, according to Mitzi Dulan, RD, author of The Pinterest Diet: How to Pin Your Way Thin. Your better bet: blend a smoothie using whole fruit instead, and mix in a scoop of protein powder or nut butter to help balance your blood sugar and boost satiety. (Just be sure to steer clear of sugary fro-yo or sherbet.) Salty snacks There’s a reason why you crave something sweet after polishing off a bag of potato chips. Chips, pretzels, and salty snack mixes are little more than quick-digesting simple carbs, which can spur insulin highs and subsequent lows, Dulan says. And since your taste buds and brain link fast-acting energy with sweet foods, it’s common to have a craving for something sweet once you finish your salty nosh. What’s more, thanks to a phenomenon known as sensory specific satiety, you can fill up on chips and feel like only your salty stomach is full. Your sweet one can still feel empty, Dulan says. So get ready to eat two stomachs’ worth of food. Alcohol Alcohol doesn’t just lower your healthy-eating resolve, it downright makes you hungrier: According to research published in Alcohol & Alcoholism, just three servings can slash your body’s levels of leptin—a hormone designed to squash hunger and keep you feeling full—by 30 percent. â€Å"Alcohol can also deplete your body’s carbohydrate stores (called glycogen), causing you to  crave carbs in order to replace what was lost,† Dr. Decotiis says. And if you find yourself craving salty snacks, dehydration and a loss of electrolytes may be at work. Fast food Pretty much every ingredient behind a fast food counter is designed to make you supersize your meal. For instance, trans fat inflames the gut, potentially impairing the body’s ability to produce appetite-controlling neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, Dr. Decotiis says. Meanwhile, the GI tract absorbs high fructose corn syrup (commonly found in buns, condiments, and desserts) quickly, causing insulin spikes and even bigger hunger pangs. Lastly, fast food’s huge helpings of salt can spur dehydration. And with symptoms that closely mimic those of hunger, it’s easy for dehydration to trick you into thinking you need to go back for seconds. White pasta White pasta packs all of the same problems as white bread, but it does deserve its own mention as a hunger-offender because it’s so easy to eat far too much of it. A standard serving size of cooked pasta is just half a cup cooked, but restaurants regularly serve up four cups in a single entrà ©e. When you overload your body with simple carbs, your pancreas goes into overdrive churning out insulin, and soon you’ve produced so much of the sugar-managing hormone that your blood sugar levels are low and you’re ravenously hungry. And consider this: What are you pouring over your pasta? If it’s a store-bought sauce, then it probably contains even more hunger-spiking sugar.