Constantly hungry? Here’s why you can’t stop eating

Surely…eating a slice of cheesecake can’t hurt, right?

These are the words Dubai resident Advait Jah would tell himself as he munched on a slice of a cookie at the end of a tiring day. Cookies seemed like the perfect comfort food, but despite being creamy and delicious, it just wasn’t enough. Explaining further, he says, “I would barely eat anything during the day, relying on quick and easy snacks to fill me up. I was overworked, tired and always hungry, so rather than trying to fix that at first, I would eat cookies in the evening.”

Jha’s “disorganized” lifestyle took its toll on his health. “Everything was connected: stress, sleep, unhealthy eating habits… everything added up,” he says. It took him months to break the cycle, but now he prioritizes a balanced diet that includes protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Gradually, the constant hunger subsided.

Jha’s feelings and experiences are not unique to hers: Dubai-based American entrepreneur Silvie Jose keeps snacks at her desk in the office because she’s always “hungry.”

That’s the worst thing about hunger: it’s a real pain, not just for your stomach, wallet, and waistline, but literally. As nutritionists explain, hunger is a double-edged sword. It can be physical, caused by your body craving food, or psychological, caused by your emotions. But figuring out which is the culprit can be really hard.

So what exactly is hunger? Hunger is your body’s way of telling you it needs to refuel. Hala ElShafee, clinical nutritionist at Sage Clinic in Dubai, explains the complex role of hormones in your body’s hunger. Your body needs food to produce energy and grow. When this fuel runs out, you need to refuel. “Your stomach has receptors that tell you when you’re hungry and full,” she says. The hormone ghrelin increases before you eat and decreases after you eat, while leptin, another hormone made by fat cells, tells your brain you have enough energy and don’t need to ingest food.

Ghrelin and leptin aren’t the only culprits. What if your constant hunger is a sign of something else? There are several physical and psychological reasons why you’re feeling hungry right now, and how to make it go away.

An unbalanced diet may be the cause.

“Your diet may be out of balance,” explains El Shafee. “If your diet doesn’t contain enough protein, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates and fibre, you’re more likely to feel hungry.” And eating too many refined carbohydrates like cakes, sweets and pastries can cause blood sugar fluctuations and lead to sudden hunger pangs.

If your diet doesn’t contain enough protein, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, and fiber, you’re more likely to feel hungry.

– Hala El Shafee, Nutritionist at Sage Clinic

A carbohydrate-heavy meal may taste good and give you energy, but it might not make you feel full. Anna George, an Abu Dhabi-based Indian clinical nutritionist, explains why: Carbohydrates are digested quickly. But protein and healthy fats, like nuts and avocado, take longer to digest. “As a result, you feel fuller for much longer. For example, eating a bowl of cereal in the morning will leave you hungry, but if you add nuts and have a boiled egg, you might feel much fuller.”

It’s okay to enjoy a sweet treat every once in a while, but what happens when it becomes a habit?

According to George, consuming a lot of refined sugar, such as juice, candy, pastries, and flavored yogurt, can make you feel extremely hungry. These foods are digested quickly and cause your blood sugar to spike, which can make you feel hungry within an hour or so. So what can you do? Limit snacking on sweets and add protein and healthy fats to your meals whenever possible.

Plus, don’t eat too quickly, El Shafee warns: “It takes your body about 20 minutes to sense fullness, so if you eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly, you won’t miss those cues,” she says.

If you think switching to lower-fat foods will make you eat healthier, you might actually be making yourself hungrier – and ironically, research explains, this could be why you eat more often.

According to a 2011 study published in the US National Library of Medicine, people who eat low-fat foods tend to feel hungrier than those who eat high-carb diets. George advises not to switch completely to a low-fat diet, but to include healthy fats. Nuts can help keep you fuller for longer and curb hunger.

There’s a strong connection between sleep and hunger: “Sleep hygiene should be a priority, as lack of sleep leads to an increase in the hunger hormone ghrelin, which makes it harder to fall asleep when you’re hungry,” El Shafee explains.

Research proves this too. According to a 2024 study published in the journal Medscape titled, “The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Hormones and Metabolism,” sleep alters hunger hormones, leading to hunger pangs. Lack of sleep makes you crave high-fat foods like sugary snacks instead of vegetables. The only solution? Improve your sleep patterns. As studies show, better sleep hygiene allows your body to process the food you eat better.

Skip the afternoon snack. Did you know that even mild dehydration can make you feel hungry? George recommends drinking about 16 ounces of water first thing in the morning to stay hydrated and avoid unnecessary snacking throughout the day.

Eating food while watching Netflix can be fun, but nutritionists say that eating when you’re distracted can leave you feeling hungry later.

George explains: “When you’re watching TV or talking, your brain is so busy that it doesn’t register that you’ve eaten – so you forget and feel the need to eat straight away. So when you do eat, try to focus on the food and reduce your feelings of hunger.”

Food is not just something we need to sustain our bodies, it is deeply intertwined with our emotional well-being.

Louise McDonnell, psychologist at Dubai-based Lighthouse Arabia Wellness Clinic, elaborates on the underlying psychological reasons with examples: Do you convince yourself that you deserve something sweet at the end of a hard day? Or when you’re feeling lonely, do you reach for the ingredients to make your favourite recipe that your grandmother used to make for you as a child?

“Because eating is a fundamentally rewarding behavior, it’s intrinsically tied to mood and emotion. When we’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, sad, or lonely, the dopamine hit of comforting food is just a click away at our doorstep,” she explains. These stressors and the emotions that accompany them mimic the physical signs of hunger. As she clarifies, “psychological hunger” is not the desire to eat to satisfy hunger pangs, but rather the desire for comfort.

Because eating is a fundamentally rewarding behavior, it is intrinsically tied to mood and emotions. When we’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, sad or lonely, the dopamine hit of comfort foods is just a click away, delivered to our doorstep…

– Louise McDonnell, Psychologist, Lighthouse Arabia

McDonnell explains: “Meeting our emotional needs with food is now a normal part of human life, but over time this eating habit can impact our true hunger, form destructive eating habits, and avoid paying true attention to our emotional selves. What’s more, while emotional eating may help ease distress in the short term, it often leads to feelings of shame, guilt, and regret.”

In addition, dysfunctional life patterns are also intertwined in a complex way. If your sleep patterns are disrupted due to stress, stress will increase and affect your hunger. “In the short term, stress may suppress your hunger,” George adds. But in the long term, it leads to elevated cortisol levels. “Unlike epinephrine, the hormone that stops you from eating, high cortisol levels increase your appetite. Therefore, controlling stress is paramount, as it is an effective way to control hunger.” They are all related and intricately intertwined. Controlling stress promotes better eating and sleeping habits, she says, which is also key to living a healthier, more balanced life.

To fix poor eating habits, start by implementing a regular eating schedule, ElShafee explains. “Ideally, you’d eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with two or three snacks in between. Sticking to regular timings will help you determine whether your hunger is physiological or psychological. If you feel hungry outside of your normal pattern, ask yourself, ‘When was the last time I ate? Is it hunger or an emotional need?'” she suggests.

Another suggestion is to keep a food diary, which is a useful way to monitor your intake. El Shafee continues, “See if there are any major changes in your eating habits, frequency, or portions. Identifying your food intake patterns can be very helpful in understanding what’s causing your hunger so you can begin to make the necessary changes.”

Eat slowly and without distraction, noticing the taste, texture and experience of the food, and stop eating when you feel full, advises El Shafee.