Hunger is a Symptom

Our fat-hating society has transferred all the loathing we used to feel for blatant displays of greed, lust, and pride to a single sin, gluttony. The rest of those erstwhile sins now have transformed into the characteristics of the celebrities we admire.

This has had the unfortunate side effect of making people who find themselves feeling extremely hungry believe that they are suffering a moral lapse--gluttony--rather than recognizing that they are experiencing a medical symptom.

But the raging muchies--the kind of hunger that leaves you at the open fridge shoveling in everything in sight--is a symptom. You can induce it in an otherwise normal person with a couple of tokes of pot. You also see it in millions of otherwise normal women a few days before they get their period.

And sadly, it is a symptom that often emerges along with insulin resistance in people who have the genetic make up that leads to Type 2 diabetes because insulin resistance is a prime factor that leads to raging hunger.

Exactly why isn't completely understood, but we do know that one of the main things that can cause hunger is swiftly moving blood sugar of the type that happen when blood sugar goes way up after a meal and then plummets back down as it does in hypoglyemica.

People with Type 1 diabetes who are prone to severe hypos can tell you all about the hunger that comes with dropping blood sugars. In fact, someone on Tudiabetes.com recently described waking up with a very low blood sugar and attempting to eat their clock radio. This sounds funny, but it isn't, first of all because it really happened to a real person and secondly because it shows how powerful the brain's response to a hunger signal can be. Hunger is the single strongest drive in any living being, far stronger than sex, because without food we all die.

But there are other metabolic changes that also cause raging hunger. Swift changes in insulin levels in the presence of normal or high blood sugars can also do it. Fluctuations in female hormones are yet another known cause. Cortisone drugs and our own adrenal hormones when they are out of whack can produce raging hunger. Abnormal levels of various brain hormones like Leptin and proteins like GLP-1 can cause relentless hunger, too.

Unfortunately, when most people start feeling hungry, they respond by getting angry at themselves. They get drawn into power struggles with their body and declare, "You glutton, you're going to do what I tell you and go on a diet!" And they do. But if they are hungry on their diet, it is only a matter of time until the brain has had enough and responds, "You're going to eat that stale donut, all those potato chips, and the three containers of left over Chinese food that have been sitting at the back of the fridge for a week!" And most likely you will. Because billions of years of evolution have made sure that when the brain says, "Eat!" You do, because if you don't you die, and organisms that were good at ignoring hunger symptoms mostly didn't live to reproduce.

But the good news is that once you realize that your raging hunger just means you are experiencing a medical symptom that is no more a moral failure than is a sore wrist or a weak knee you can get to work on figuring out what is causing that hunger symptom and make it go away.

First Line Defense Against Hunger

1. Flatten out your blood sugars. If your blood sugars are going W-A-Y up and then plunging down, you need to flatten them out. The easiest way to do this is to cut down on the foods that raise blood sugar, which are those containing starches and sugars.

In an early edition of his book, Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution,, Dr. Richard K. Bernstein pointed out that people don't get out of control with fat alone and no one finds themselves longing to chug down a nice frosty pitcher of oil. It is excess sugars and starches that cause hunger cravings because they are what raise blood sugar. For many people, cutting way back on the carbs is all it takes to cure out-of-control hunger. It's important to note that it usually takes about 2 to 3 days to flush high carbohydrate foods out of your system, during which you may be more hungry, but if you can hang through those first couple days and confine your snacking to carb-free foods like cheese and meat most people will experience a dramatic decrease in hunger.

2. Work on your insulin resistance. High levels of circulating insulin can make people hungry, so try adding some exercise which often can curb this insulin resistance. If exercise isn't possible or if it isn't enough, and if you have a history of high blood sugar, talk to your doctor about taking Metformin or Byetta. (As I've written elsewhere, only keep taking Byetta if you do experience dramatic relief from hunger symptoms as otherwise it is an expensive waste.)

3. Hormones can make you hungry. Female hormones can have a dramatic effect on hunger both when you take them, as in birth control pills or ERT or when you don't take them, in menopause. Corticosteroid hormones whether taken as medications or produced by out of whack adrenal glands also can lead to overwhelming hunger, partially because they raise blood sugar, and partially because they upset so many other hormones.

If you think your hormones are part of the problem, work with your doctor to change your regimen if at all possible.

Sometimes with hormonal hunger there isn't anything you can do except to tell yourself, "This isn't about food, nothing I eat is going to help." Once you realize that the hunger you feel is symptom of a hormonal imbalance, not a signal you really need to eat, it can be easier to deal with. If you do eat, observe the effect it has on your hunger. If eating doesn't help your hunger, you know that you are suffering a medical symptom and the cure is not going to be more food.

4. Change what you are eating. You may notice you are a lot hungrier after eating certain kinds of breakfast than others. Note what you eat and how your hunger patterns respond during the next 12 hours. You may be able to eliminate some foods that cause hunger.

Some foods people think of as "healthy" that may be prime culprits in causing hunger are things like noodles, oatmeal, fruit smoothies, bananas, fruit spritzers, fruit juices no matter how organic, and whole grains. Eating these foods for breakfast can set you up for a whole day of relentless rollercoaster blood sugars. Try eating eggs for breakfast for a few days instead and see if it makes a difference.

5. If you inject insulin, you may need to take a careful look at your dosing or what insulin you are using. I have noted that I consistently get hungry a couple hours after using Novolog no matter what I eat. I'm not sure if it is because Novolog is a bit too fast for me or what, but if I feel hungry a few hours after using it I test my blood sugars and when I see they are normal, which I usually do, I know the hunger is a side effect of the insulin not a sign I need to eat anything else. That is one reason I prefer R insulin even though it isn't as convenient because I don't get hungry when I use it.

Some people find that Levemir causes them less hunger than Lantus. So if you are on Lantus and having a hunger problem talk to your doctor about trying Levemir.

6. Stay away from any foods containing these ingredients that are known to provoke hunger: MSG, and substances that contain MSG but are labeled "Hydrolyzed plant protein," "Hydrolyzed soy protein," and soy sauce. Other substances that can cause hunger are high fructose corn syrup and the Maltitol and Lacitol found in "low carb" or "no sugar added" products.