This Food Will Only Make You Even Hungrier
Think you can satisfy your hunger by grabbing an apple as a snack, only to feel hungry again half an hour later? Great. An apple isn’t the only culprit; these foods and drinks also leave you with a growling stomach:
Apples
Yes, apples. Apples contain various substances such as pectin, citric acid, succinic acid and manganese that stimulate your metabolism, making you feel hungry. Half an hour after eating an apple, you’ll want to eat again. Annoying. They are healthy and delicious, though, so keep eating them anyway.
Chewing gum
People often chew gum to temporarily satisfy their hunger, but that’s exactly what you shouldn’t do. Chewing gum causes you to produce saliva while chewing. This alerts your brain that food is on the way—even though it isn’t. Hunger is, though.
Fruit juices
They’re wonderfully sweet, but contain a huge amount of sugar. After drinking fruit juice, your blood sugar level rises in no time, which means you get hungry again. Next time, opt for a piece of fruit or a homemade smoothie instead.
White bread
You’d be better off eating whole-wheat bread than white bread. The carbohydrates in whole-wheat bread are harder to break down, so energy is released more steadily and that hungry feeling returns much less quickly.
Fast food
Almost all the ingredients in fast food stimulate your appetite. Saturated fats cause inflammation in the intestines, which makes the body stop producing hunger-suppressing substances. The huge amounts of salt in fast food can leave you dehydrated, and the symptoms of dehydration resemble hunger. That’s why your stomach suddenly seems bottomless at McDonald’s.
Alcohol
It should be obvious that on your hungover day, all you want to do is shovel fries (with extra mayo), bitterballen and five bags of M&M’s and Maltesers into your mouth. There’s a reason for that: if you’ve had more than three drinks, the hormone leptin—which suppresses hunger—decreases by thirty percent. Glycogen levels also drop, making you crave carbohydrates. Lots of carbohydrates.
Sushi
You might think you’re being healthy because of the fish in sushi. Well, no. Sushi is actually more rice than anything else, according to American dietitian Susan M. Kleiner. A small roll is easily equivalent to three slices of white bread—see number four.
Pizza
The white flour, oils, cheese and preservatives in that delicious floppy frozen pizza can signal to your blood sugar and the “hunger regions” in your brain that you’re hungry. The result is that an hour later, you’re rummaging around in the refrigerator again. If you make your own pizza with whole-wheat flour, plenty of vegetables and a little cheese, you’re more likely not to have to get off the couch for a snack for the rest of the evening.
