4 Reasons Why You're Always Hungry

The average person needs to refuel with food every three to four hours, but this timeframe may vary even further, depending on activity levels and how much was consumed at the previous meal or snack. experts weigh in on possible causes of those mid-morning, afternoon, or evening munchies.

1. You need to get better sleep: Sleep is important for basically everything you do during your waking hours--it affects how alert you are during a morning run; it affects your sex drive--so it's no surprise that it impacts your hunger levels, too.

"When we don't sleep enough, it increases our hunger hormone, ghrelin, that can increase our appetite and make us think we're more hungry than usual," says Lori Zanini, RD, CDE, and creator of For The Love of Diabetes.

In one study, University of Chicago researchers found that sleep-deprived participants were unable to resist "rewarding snacks," (think candy, chips, cookies) even though they'd eaten a meal two hours prior. On average, they ate nearly twice as much fat when they were exhausted (4.2 hours sleep versus eight hours) versus well-rested.
"Making your sleep a priority can help regulate your appetite all day long," says Zanini, who suggests getting better sleep quality by hitting the sheets in a cool room (under 70 degrees), using a white noise machine, and keeping the TV off.

2. You're not drinking enough water: It's normal to confuse thirst with hunger, according to Ditkoff. "In order to make sure you are staying adequately hydrated, you should be drinking about half of your body weight in ounces of water every day," she suggests. Calculate half your weight in kg, so if you way 80kg, you require an absolute minimum of 40 ounces of which translates to 5 glasses of water.

Big coffee drinker? You'll need to take that into account when you think about your daily fluid intake, says Isabel K. Smith, MS RD CDN. "Caffeine is a diuretic, which means that it helps your body get rid of extra salt and water by causing you to urinate more," she says. "If you drink a lot of caffeine, you'll want to increase how much water you're drinking regularly, for sure."

3. You're not fueling with the right foods: You might be trying to stay keto-friendly by limiting yourself to steamed chicken breasts all day, but your body needs a range of foods to feel full.

"There are three macronutrients--protein, carbohydrates and fat--which work together to provide our body with the energy it needs," says Ditkoff. Men should aim for .8 grams protein/kilogram of bodyweight, 45 to 65 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, and roughly 20 to 35 percent of daily calories in fat, according to the Mayo Clinic. "You also want to be conscious of your fiber intake, which helps you feel fuller for longer."

Men who consuume between 30 and 40 grams of fiber daily seems to curb appetite in many. Ditkoff advises her clients to keep a food journal for a few days to really hone in on their typical macronutrient situation (and any unhealthy eating patterns). "Missing the mark on any of these three things"--protein, carbohydrates, and fats--"could definitely have a negative effect on satiety and fullness levels."

4. You're just not eating enough: There are loads of factors that prevent us from eating enough to fuel our bodies throughout the day. Maybe you're trying out a new fad diet, or perhaps you just missed lunch because Matthew in accounting just had to have that report by 2 p.m.

But if you've eaten full meals all day, and you're still ravenous, you might just be emotional-hungry--that's especially likely if you're craving something super specific, like peanut butter walnut chocolate chip cookies from the bakery down the street. Before you storm the vending machine, take a step back and evaluate how you feel, says Ditkoff. "Maybe it's stress. Maybe it's boredom. Sometimes emotional hunger can be confused for physical hunger," she adds.

This first appeared in Prevent Disease

Black Tea Linked To Weight Loss By Changing Gut Bacteria

While the benefits of green tea polyphenols have long been touted, new research suggests that those found in black tea may also aid weight loss by acting as a prebiotic.

While green tea usually loses its flavor within a year, black tea retains its stronger flavour for several years. Black tea undergoes full oxidation and fermentation.

The study findings, published in the European Journal of Nutrition , demonstrate for the first time that black tea may promote weight loss and other health benefits by changing bacteria in the gut.

Led by researchers from the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition the study found that both black and green tea changed the ratio of intestinal bacteria -- resulting in a decrease in percentage of bacteria associated with obesity and an increase in bacteria associated with lean body mass.

"It was known that green tea polyphenols are more effective and offer more health benefits than black tea polyphenols since green tea chemicals are absorbed into the blood and tissue," said study lead author Susanne Henning. "Our new findings suggest that black tea, through a specific mechanism through the gut microbiome, may also contribute to good health and weight loss in humans."

"The results suggest that both green and black teas are prebiotics, substances that induce the growth of good microorganisms that contribute to a person's well-being," she said.

Black Tea Study

In the study, four groups of mice received different diets, two of which were supplemented with green tea or black tea extracts: low-fat, high-sugar; high-fat, high-sugar; high-fat, high-sugar and green tea extract; high-fat, high-sugar and black tea extract.

After four weeks, the weights of the mice that were given green or black tea extracts dropped to the same levels as those of the mice that received the low-fat diet throughout the study.

The researchers also collected samples from the mice's large intestines (to measure bacteria content) and liver tissues (to measure fat deposits) -- finding that in the mice that consumed either type of tea extract, there was a change in the ratio of two key microbiome family groups.

Indeed, Henning and colleagues reported a decrease in the presence of Firmicutes bacteria that are associated with obesity and a higher number of Bacteroidetes that have been associated with lean body mass.

"The relative proportions of Blautia, Bryantella, Collinsella, Lactobacillus, Marvinbryantia, Turicibacter, Barnesiella, and Parabacteroides were significantly correlated with weight loss induced by tea extracts," wrote the team.

However, only the mice that consumed black tea extract had an increase in a type of bacteria called Pseudobutyrivibrio, which the team suggest could help explain the difference between how black tea and green tea change energy metabolism.

The study also concluded that both green tea and black tea have different effects on liver metabolism.

According to Henning, the molecules in green tea are smaller and can more readily be absorbed into the body and reach the liver directly, while black tea molecules are larger and stay in the intestine rather than being absorbed.

When black tea molecules stay in the intestinal tract, they enhance the growth of beneficial bacteria and the formation of microbial metabolites involved in the regulation of energy metabolism.

"We hypothesize that black tea polyphenols increased pAMPK through increased intestinal SCFA production, while green tea polyphenols increased hepatic AMPK through green tea polyphenols present in the liver," wrote the team.

This article first appeared in Prevent Disease