Should I make myself eat breakfast if I'm not hungry?
If you typically do not eat breakfast your body adapts to this and you will not feel hungry. Also, serotonin levels are actually highest in the morning and serotonin reduces hunger. So, yes to increase your appetite for breakfast start small and work your way up. Even when you are doing a very small breakfast it’s important to have a balance of protein/carbs/fat. For example, have 1 Tbsp of peanut butter with your banana.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Health Made Easy
http://lisanelsonrd.com/behearthealthy.html
Does breakfast make you hungry?
When you eat breakfast in the morning do you find you are hungrier throughout the day? I recently had someone comment that this was what they experienced and for that reason they choose not to eat breakfast.
So, let’s address why this may happen and what you can do if you find eating breakfast increases your hunger.
First of all, there are two potential reasons breakfast can increase your hunger later in the morning.
1. Higher metabolism
When you do not eat breakfast the body naturally adapts and conserves energy by slowing your metabolism and decreasing hunger. This adaptive function can lead to bad habits of not eating breakfast then also skipping lunch because you just don’t feel hungry and not eating your first meal until the middle of the afternoon. The major benefit of eating a healthy breakfast is to jump start your metabolism so you burn more calories throughout the day to promote weight loss. This elevated metabolic rate may cause feelings of hunger mid-morning. It is okay to satisfy this hunger with a small snack, such as a handful of mixed nuts.
2. High carbohydrate breakfast
Why am I always hungry? Are women biologically hungrier than men?
Do you frequently ask yourself – why am I always hungry?
I just read an interesting study I want to share with you. This research was done at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Thirteen men women and 10 men were asked about their favorite foods, taught a cognitive inhibition technique, and then were asked to fast overnight. The next day they received brain scans as they were presented their favorite foods. Results showed all participants indicated the cognitive-inhibition technique helped reduce their level of hunger. Interestingly, only men’s brains showed a decrease in hunger signals. Even though women stated they were less hungry, the brain scans showed their brains firing away signals to eat.
Maybe this is one reason the incidence of obesity is higher for women. It’s speculated that the difference is biological and women are programmed to eat whenever food is available as part of the ingrained need to provide nutrition to children.
February is American Heart Month. In recognition of American Heart Month you can access Heart Health Made Easy at a 25% savings. Learn more about this take action guide to lower cholesterol and blood pressure at http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
The Best Way to Lose Weight
