Why Am I Constantly Hungry (With Diabetes)?

— -- Question: Why am I constantly hungry (with diabetes)?

Answer: Sometimes people do express feeling hungry all the time. There are a number of things that could be at play. Hunger and satiety, which means your sense of being full or satiated, can occur for a variety of reasons. We have places in the brain that control our feelings of fullness and satiety. And there may be some issues going on with the kinds of signals that you're getting to that part of the brain that may make you feel as if you're hungry all the time. Sometimes you may need to really ask yourself: are you really feeling hungry? Or is it you're feeling bored, or you're feeling discontent in some other place in life? It's not unusual for people to comfort with food and to meet other concerns in their life through their food, so it's important to really think about whether you're really hungry or not.

If you are feeling hungry, then you want to take a look at your meal plan. Think about: are you getting enough food? Are you getting it spaced throughout the day properly? And if your answer is 'yes' to those questions, then you might want to think about some lower-calorie snack foods that you can have. Again, I would encourage you to look at the vegetable arena in particular and maybe some fruit as well. Lots of great crunchy snack foods like celery and carrots and cucumbers and squashes, which you can cut up and use, that oftentimes can help you feel a little more satiated and be able to have that crunchy feeling that often gives you satisfaction with eating.

So think about it, are you really hungry? Are there reasons that your meal plan is not working for you? Start there first. If those are going well, then you want to take a look at some of those low-calorie snack foods to fill in, in between meals.

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