How to differentiate between true hunger and habitual hunger

How can snacking affect our hunger signals?

Every time you feed the body, it needs to respond, and that takes resources. So if we have a tendency to graze, it tends to mean that our insulin levels never quite fall in between periods of eating, and if something is omnipresent, we don’t tend to take that much notice of it after a while do we?

This is what happens with insulin - we become less sensitive to its actions, oh and then we need more of it, and so the unhappy rollercoaster continues.

So how do we reconnect?

An extended period of not eating, intermittent fasting, gives the body the opportunity to become sensitive once more to that energy uptake mechanism, akin to the joy of a surprise bunch of flowers that you get once in a while versus the pot plant you see every day in your living room.

In doing so we increase metabolic efficiency and actually differentiate between what true hunger and habitual hunger is. This is not a case of denying yourself of food when you need fuel, in fact it’s the opposite.

I want to touch on the digestive system very speedily too because this is another area that really benefits from a break. Our probiotic bacteria outnumber us by a casual million or two, their actions ranging from nutrient absorption/creation to waste removal and mood stability to touch on just a couple of key roles.

The thing is again they get overwhelmed, and the continuous presence of fresh foodstuffs entering our bowels to be digested means they never get to finish their cycles of activity correctly. This can lead to imbalances between different forms, excess fermentation and intermittent bowel movements.

We often lay blame on our bacteria for issues such as bloating and gas, but more often than not it’s our habits that create the causation for these concerns, the microscopic guys are just doing their jobs (or trying to at least).

The 3-Day Reset Plan

Our intermittent fasting plan, the 3-Day Reset, provides that perfect opportunity to reconnect with your body’s needs, to blow away mental fogginess, banish sluggish bowels and bits of bloating, to then build on going forward. Find out more, here.