hungry all the time

[SugarBlue27]

I seem to be hungry all the time for the past three months. It is incredibly annoying...I eat pretty well and I eat a lot. I am back to my goal weight and a little above (I had been underweight for a long time and reached my goal weight this December).

My typical day looks like this:

Breakfast:
1/2 cup (serving size) of Ezekiel cereal
1/2 cup walnuts and almonds
1 cup almond or soy milk
1/2 cup blueberries
2 dates
spoonfull of raisins

2 cups of coffee
1 boost high protein energy drink.

Lunch:
Grilled goat cheese sandwhich on 2 slices of sprouted grain ezekiel bread.
1 cup of spinach with veganese dressing and hummus
1/2 cup of raw carrot chips

Snack:
Luna bar

Dinner:
Stir fry with -
1 cup brown rice
Earth balance butter
roasted sweet potatoe slices
edamame and tofu
peas or squash or some random veggies

Snack: banana

or

sweet potatoe chips/carrot chips & hummus

Snack before bed:
yogurt
cereal (or cake or cookies if I'm feeling sweet)
nuts
blueberries and rasperries

I'm ALWAYS hungry...grrr

[taurushead]

aw i wish i could help. i know the feeling!!! all i DO IS EAT. im STARVING. even when I've just eaten, my stomach growls and im distracted. I tried eating really bulky foods, really fatty foods, lots of protein..nothing works!!!
i too just reached my goal weight and i realllllly don't want to go over. and im happy where i am (just...) but the fact that i can't stop is making me worried ..its really hard not to go backwards when this inertia thing is looming, y'know?
i hope you're doin ok. im gonna keep checking this thread :yes:

ps. your food looks so yummy :up:

[Eclipse]

I know the feeling...It takes about four hours of eating for me to feel full.
Then in another hour I start being hungry again.

I have less issues with this when I'm not working out which drives up appetite to annoying levels.

[magentamonkey]

UGH I can relate! I feel like I'm always hungry or could always eat more... I'm more of a snacker though, I think that could have a lot to do with it.

Normally I eat something like this...

Breakfast:
1/2 grapefruit
Cereal with soymilk
OJ
Banana

Snack:
Apple with peanut butter
grapes

Lunch:
PB & J
(or)
leftovers
raisins
granola bar

Snack:
more fruit (whatever I'm in the mood for at this point)

Dinner:
Potatoes fried up with onions, peppers, cumin, cinnamon, tabasco (its been this lately because I ran out of fresh veggies and was trying to be creative)
Beans
Mixed (frozen veggies)

Snack:
Sometimes leftovers, sometimes fruit, sometimes rice cakes... depends on what I'm craving before bed


I'm probably getting too many calories lately, as I've been eating a lot of chocolate instead of picking something healthy to eat.

Ugh I just wish I didn't always feel the need to be eating! I'm pretty average weight-wise, I have a little more body fat than I want (but not an unhealthy amount by any means).

[Animosity]

Both of you look to be eating just the right amount. I wouldn't worry over it. As long as you're staying fairly active you should be geting just about the right amount of calories. You body tells you what you need through hunger. As long as you can tell real hunger apart from snackish wants you're just getting just what your body needs.

[Dirty Martini]

I seem to be hungry all the time for the past three months. It is incredibly annoying...I eat pretty well and I eat a lot. I am back to my goal weight and a little above (I had been underweight for a long time and reached my goal weight this December).

I don't see a lot of protein throughout your day. Your breakfast is mostly food that quickly converts to sugar, as is your dinner. That will leave you hungry pretty quickly.

Add more protein (beans, seitan... lentils!) and more fat (olive oil!).

Same with magentamonkey. Almost all of your food is high in sugar (fruit, juice, rice cake, jelly, granola bar*). Increase your protein, fat, and fiber intake. Beans, barley, oatmeal with protein powder in it, vegetables sauteed with olive oil, bean chili with TVP...

* I have no idea what granola bars you're eating, but most of them are low in protein and high in sugar. That leads to pretty quick hunger.

[SugarBlue27]

ezekiel bread is pretty high in protein, and I add the walnuts and soy milk...
what else could I add to my breakfast?

[Badger_Lady]

What do you crave when you're hungry? I usually find if there's a nutritional gap in my diet I'll feel hungry and my body will tell me what I'm missing... so, for example, if I'm low on protein I'll get cravings for nuts, or if I'm just low on energy I'll get cravings for cake or pasta. For a while, I was low on B12 and kept craving Marmite!

Next time you feel hungry, just think about what you'd love to eat right now... and see if there's a nutritional pattern :)

[Dirty Martini]

ezekiel bread is pretty high in protein, and I add the walnuts and soy milk...
what else could I add to my breakfast?

eggs (if you eat them) or oatmeal would be a fantastic start. Alternately, things like irish oats can be cooked overnight in a crock pot and are delicious (and can make a lot, so you can make it sunday night & reheat it throughout the week). Eggs, really, are a nutritional powerhouse and keep you full.

Or, tofu fried up in a pan with some seasonings, alongside your cereal.

Cheese as a snack (instead of a sugary luna bar) would be a better choice. Maybe cream cheese and celery (which has fiber to keep you full), or full-fat string cheese and some almonds (which also have fiber)... or, hard boiled eggs. or roasted chickpeas (which are so so so good). Or chickpeas mixed with mayo & dill pickles & celery, just in a bowl (or maybe on a piece of ezekiel, but no crackers as they just turn right to sugar & leave you hungry again).

[SugarBlue27]

how do you roast chickpeas? :P

[Dirty Martini]

You take them out of the can, rinse them, and cook them in the oven for a while. You can sprinkle them with oil & spices beforehand if you want to. Do a search on "roasted chickpea recipe" and you'll get a bunch.

If you don't buy canned ones, you can fully cook dried ones (which takes a while) and then roast them. They're delicious.

[Hebecarrot]

You take them out of the can, rinse them, and cook them in the oven for a while. You can sprinkle them with oil & spices beforehand if you want to. Do a search on "roasted chickpea recipe" and you'll get a bunch.

If you don't buy canned ones, you can fully cook dried ones (which takes a while) and then roast them. They're delicious.

I am so making that for a sidedish sometime this week with dinner. Maybe put them inside pitas with some hummus and veggies? Do you make them crunchy or do they get firmer but not crunchy.

[Dirty Martini]

when they've cooled, they're crunchy.

[Libellula]

oh my god you are making me drool.

celery and peanut butter also good :D
hummus and red pepper strips
almonds and soymilk
apple with peanut butter
string cheese and broccoli dipped in poppy seed dressing
baby salad greens tossed with beans, feta cheese, and tofu (i can't eat eggs. nope.)
whole grain toast spread with oatmeal
plain unsweetened yogurt mixed with homemade low-sugar granola and some fresh fruit, like grapes

i could go on and on.

[Dee1111]

hey guys- longtime lurker here!

i am absolutely FAMISHED after I work out. this has become a huge problem. my boyfriend doesn't even know what to do with me when I get back from the gym- all i think about is food. I work for snapple promoting their Antioxidant Water so I recently started drinking one of those at the gym. The sugar helps cut the hunger a bit. I used to only drink water. (plus antioxidants can't hurt, huh?!) I'm not pigging out so much anymore, but I do need some post-workout snack tips.
anyone, anyone? oh, and I hate peanut butter. for some reason people always suggest peanut butter for a post-workout snack!!

[Dee1111]

oh my god you are making me drool.

celery and peanut butter also good :D
hummus and red pepper strips
almonds and soymilk
apple with peanut butter
string cheese and broccoli dipped in poppy seed dressing
baby salad greens tossed with beans, feta cheese, and tofu (i can't eat eggs. nope.)
whole grain toast spread with oatmeal
plain unsweetened yogurt mixed with homemade low-sugar granola and some fresh fruit, like grapes

i could go on and on.

thats what i get for not reading to the end of the post...
these are awesome snack ideas. thanks!

[digitalmayhem]

I'm often excessively hungry, as well... and I have serious carb cravings. All the time.

[tammay]

Badger Lady, I think I'm starting to get that concept. I still have the "carbs are evil" mentality that I'm trying to overcome now that I'm committed to being a vegan so I started out the year with a diet that cut out most grain and grain products (except for 2 servings a day), eating beans and fruit instead. That lasted for two months and then for 3 weeks I was having junk food binge days which of course included a lot of bad carbs.

Since Monday, though, I've been replacing some of the beans and fruit with good whole grains and sweet potatoes so now I'm at 6-7 servings/day. I haven't had anywhere near a craving for junk food during this time. I'm now thinking maybe I was restricting the grains too much and my body really needed them (I'm fairly active, walking at least an hour a day with resistance training 2-3x week and yoga 2-3x week) and now that I'm supplying it with grains/carbs galore (the good ones) I am no longer having junk food cravings or urges to binge.

Funny how sometimes food issues can be so simple...

Tam

[Waikikamukau]

Are you hungry people drinking plenty of liquids? That regulates hunger, too. Make sure they're not sugar filled or caffeinated.

[Dirty Martini]

hey guys- longtime lurker here!

i am absolutely FAMISHED after I work out....The sugar helps cut the hunger a bit.

But it's not very healthy. Would you really want to tell someone who's hungry to eat a couple spoonfuls of sugar? That's what you're doing.

Why not drink a protein shake instead? Or eat a protein bar? Your body needs protein after a workout; why feed it sugar?


oh, and I hate peanut butter. for some reason people always suggest peanut butter for a post-workout snack!!Because protein & fat are perfect for satiating hunger. And peanut butter is perfect for a post-workout snack because of its nutritional content. But if you don't like peanut butter, try to find something else that is comparable. What about almonds? A blueberry smoothie? Protein shake? String cheese?


I'm often excessively hungry, as well... and I have serious carb cravings. All the time.

If you're eating a decent amount of carbs already (like 60% + of your diet), that's not surprising. Get more protein & fat in your diet and you should notice a marked difference in your hunger levels.

The whole "humans only need 30g of protein to survive" might be true, but do you really want to subsist on survival levels? If you're doing strenuous activity and building muscle, you should be looking at getting at least .75g of protein per pound of lean body weight. So if you're 150 pounds and 30% body fat, you should look at at least 75g of protein per day. That's not that hard to get and makes a big difference in hunger frequency.


Are you hungry people drinking plenty of liquids? That regulates hunger, too. Make sure they're not sugar filled or caffeinated.

Liquids don't regulate hunger. They will make you feel like you have more in your belly, but they do not trigger satiation. Soups and vegetable juice are just about the only liquids that will make the hunger sensation stop. The "drink water to stop hunger" thing is a myth and has been proven in multiple studies not to work.


Basic principle - fat and protein alleviate hunger even in small amounts (like a tablespoon of peanut butter). Carbohydrates, when eaten without much protein alongside them, rapidly increase blood sugar, which triggers an insulin response, and is followed by a dramatic drop in blood sugar. This drop in blood sugar tells your body "I'M HUNGRY!!". That's why a high-carb diet, even when high in fiber, will make you feel like you're constantly hungry. So make friends with beans, nuts, vegetables, soy, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, and eggs.