My response to online nutrition advice like this:
“If you feel hungry, you’re hungry. Eat.”
Honestly? That’s BS. And it’s not helpful at all.
Hunger is more complicated than that.
There are plenty of reasons you might feel hungry that have nothing to do with a straightforward biological need for more food. Your hunger and appetite are influenced by multiple factors, including hormones, blood glucose regulation, sleep, stress and eating patterns. I know this both personally and professionally.
During my first few years post-menopause, I experienced something really strange. About an hour after eating a good-sized, macro-balanced meal, I’d feel hungry again. Sometimes I’d still be mildly uncomfortable from feeling full, yet somehow I’d also feel hungry.
It made absolutely no sense. And if I’d followed the advice to simply eat whenever I felt hungry, I could easily have ended up eating all day long — potentially adding to the weight I was already struggling with during menopause.
Eventually, I discovered that despite my squeaky-clean diet and excellent muscle mass, I was experiencing signs of impaired insulin sensitivity. As I began addressing my metabolic health, those persistent hunger sensations an hour after eating disappeared.
The point?
Hunger is a signal, but it isn’t always as simple as “you need more food.”
If your hunger feels out of proportion to what you’re eating, keeps returning shortly after meals, or just doesn’t make sense to you, I’m not going to tell you to “just eat.”
We’ll dig deeper, look at the bigger picture, and work to understand what might be driving it. Because you deserve more than generic nutrition advice. You deserve answers that make sense for your body.
