Why Am I So Hungry? Five Signals Your Body Is Sending You
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Most people think hunger cravings are beyond their control, they are not. Here are the 5 types of hunger and how you can take back control!
This begins with changing your relationship with hunger. Hunger is neither a good thing nor a bad, it is simply your body trying to talk to you, and hopefully by the end of this article you can understand what it’s saying a little better.
5 Types of Hunger
1. Sensory / Cephalic Hunger
We have all been there. You walk by a bakery, it smells of cinnamon rolls, and suddenly you feel “hungry.” It is three in the afternoon and you meet a friend for coffee, the brownie they bought looks so good and now you think you are hungry. For me, the smell of fresh bread is a classic cephalic hunger trigger, especially when I have eaten recently.
These are examples of cephalic hunger. Smelling, seeing, or even thinking about food can trigger your vagus nerve and pancreas to release small amounts of insulin and digestive enzymes before any food actually arrives. This early response is a hunger cue that hijacks your brain’s reward circuits before your stomach is empty. “Am I hungry or do I want a treat?” is a good question. Knowing the difference between genuine hunger and this early response is important for learning how your body functions and how to listen to it correctly. “When did I last eat?” is another useful question, because it makes it easier to tell the difference between a desire for a pleasant treat and a real need for food.
2. Social / Behavioral Hunger
“Would I eat this if I were alone?” There are patterns in our lives that are comforting. Maybe you usually eat lunch with Susan and she loves all-you-can-eat pizza. Maybe it is your nephew’s birthday and there is cake.
These are situational signals, and the key question is “am I really hungry?” Changing your diet to be more ketosis friendly is going to diminish the hard hunger pains. A simple strategy can make the difference between success and indulgence: instead of going out for a heavy lunch, ask Susan to take a break with you outside for a walk, or at the birthday party enjoy the celebration and compliment the food without automatically taking a slice. Once the sharp edge of hunger is gone, these social choices usually feel much easier and less emotional.
3. Roller-Coaster (Hangry) Hunger
“Did I just have something sugary?” Hangry is hungry and angry combined. You are hungry in a rush and grab an orange juice. The sugary drink turns into quick energy and then an equally quick crash. The name sounds healthy, because fruit is meant to be good for us, so why should that habit be avoided? For me, this used to happen after a “healthy” breakfast of granola and yogurt.
A relatively small drop in blood sugar can trigger powerful hunger and reward signals in the brain. When glucose drops while insulin is still high, the brain flags a shortage and reads it as an emergency. Now you are fighting your physiology instead of working with it. Food choice matters. Starting your day with eggs and high-fat cream in coffee or tea instead of juice and granola is a simple step toward avoiding this kind of hangry hunger.
4. Processed Food Hunger and the Bliss Trap
“Can I stop after two bites?” Some foods are engineered to hit your brain’s reward center with a very specific mix of sugar, fat, and texture. Everyone has their own kryptonite; for me it is ice cream, for you it might be pizza or chips, but all of them are similarly easy to overeat.
These foods are designed to keep dopamine and reward circuits engaged. This isn’t a character flaw, it is a neurochemical trap that makes “just one more bite” feel almost impossible to resist. In our house, we have replaced ice cream with whipped cream that has a little stevia and vanilla added. It is not the same as ice cream, but the higher fat content and lack of sugar make a few bites satisfying instead of triggering a binge. Noticing which foods you cannot stop after a few bites, and creating a calmer substitute like this, is a useful way to avoid the bliss trap without feeling punished.
5. Stress Hunger
“Am I tired or upset more than I am hungry?” This is when your brain goes looking for comfort and relief from the everyday stresses in life.
This one sneaks up on me. A day with deadlines, maybe a presentation and the chaos of family life gets a little much and suddenly I’m in front of the refrigerator wondering how the chocolate and ice cream disappeared so fast. I wasn’t really “hungry,” I was stressed and drained, so my brain went looking for quick energy and comfort.
Stress shifts blood flow away from slow, thoughtful decision making and toward quick energy and relief. Food choice might be easy when life is calm, but there are always things beyond control ready and waiting to make us feel overwhelmed. It feels like failure when we have that Snickers bar or slice of pizza, but it is the brain doing what it is wired to do: push towards fast energy and familiar comfort to feel a little less awful in the moment.
None of this is set in stone. You always have the power to change your life in little ways that can make each day a bit better. Small shifts in food choice, planning for social situations, and pausing to ask “what kind of hunger is this?” all change the signal your body is getting.
This is where a bioidentical ketone supported whole-food diet can be helpful. Personally, on days when I know temptations are built into my schedule, I take a large water bottle and dilute two servings of Original Ketone concentrate. I like the slightly fruity taste and it gives me a calm, stable lift to my energy throughout the day instead of a sugar spike and crash. On performance days, such as when I have a talk or a tennis game, I will drink a full serving about half an hour before the event to focus and prepare to perform my best. When I do this, I find I am not nearly as stressed or hungry at the end of the day.
In the next few days I will be writing more about how I use Original Ketone to handle these different types of hunger. I will share practical examples of how I pair ketones with the strategies in this article, so you can experiment and see what works best for you in your own routine.
If you have any questions you would like me to answer, please reach out at info@originalketone.com.
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Research on ketones is ongoing and these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.