25/06/2026
A very belated midsummer greeting to you all and wow what a midsummer week we are having. Here is a link to an article from my latest newsletter. If you would like to read more like this why not sign up to my newsletter, link in comments
Hunger, Food Noise, and The Quest for Balance
Why Hunger Is About More Than Food
As mammals, we are programmed to associate eating with comfort from the moment we emerge from the womb. When a woman is breastfeeding her baby, she’s not only delivering food. She’s usually bestowing focused, loving attention on her baby, stroking and cuddling it, and whispering words of love… It is no wonder that later in life we often associate food with comfort. This is tied to dopamine, the body’s pleasure and reward chemical, which reinforces eating as something soothing and desirable.
When life feels out of balance, that discomfort can sometimes present itself as hunger, as though food might fill the gap. This is why supporting appetite is rarely just about eating less. It is also about understanding what your body, mind and heart may really be asking for.
The Role of Gut Bacteria and Food Choices
There is another layer to this, too. The foods you eat encourage certain types of bacteria to thrive in your gut. Those bacteria can produce chemicals which influence cravings, especially for the foods that help them survive. So if your diet regularly includes doughnuts, sweets or highly processed foods, your gut bacteria may literally be screaming at you, "eat more of me". And their voices are loud!
The reassuring news is that this kind of food noise can often be softened with steady, supportive changes in diet and support of your gut flora. Choosing more whole, nourishing foods can gradually shift the bacterial balance in favour of healthier cravings and a calmer relationship with food.
Why Restriction Alone Rarely Works
One of the biggest mistaken beliefs about weight loss is that the answer is simply to cut calories.
Question If you chose to eat 200 cals of boiled eggs or 200 cals of cake, which one of those do you think would cause a blood sugar spike?
.. Of course it’s the cake! The cake causes the insulin spike that makes your body lay down fat, the eggs contain the same calories but they don’t they don’t cause a blood sugar spike so you don’t make any fat when you eat them, you use them to make energy for your body. Same calories, very different impact on your body!
In reality, strict restrictions often stoke hunger and can lead to regaining weight later on. Lasting change is usually gentler than that. When we take time to understand the habits, triggers and unmet needs underneath the struggle, a more sustainable path begins to open up.
The food industry does not make this easy. Many highly processed foods are designed to be irresistible, encouraging you to eat more rather than less. That is one more reason to build your diet around healthy, whole, unprocessed foods wherever possible.
Emotional and Spiritual Hunger
Unmet emotional or spiritual needs can also fuel food addiction. It is worth asking yourself some honest questions:
Are your basic needs being met?
Do you feel loved and supported?
Are you living a life that feels true to you, or one shaped by other people’s expectations?
Do you have a creative outlet or a sense of purpose that helps you thrive?
If you are going through a period of dissatisfaction, keeping a feelings journal can help you gently identify where the real gaps are. Other ways to feed this deeper kind of hunger might include meditation, mindfulness, spending time in nature, connecting with like-minded people, listening to uplifting teachers, or developing a gratitude practice. Small acts of care can begin to make a big difference.
Understanding Physical Hunger
When it comes to metabolism, food provides both energy and information. Hormones such as insulin, cortisol, leptin, menstrual hormones and GLP-1 all work together to influence how hungry we feel and what the body does with the food we eat. The body also has stretch sensors in the stomach that help us recognise when we are full. This is important – highly processed foods are much less bulky than nutritious whole foods, so it is easy to overeat those highly refined treats!
Conditioned hunger is another important factor. Think of Pavlov’s dogs, trained to salivate at the sound of a bell. We can become conditioned in much the same way. A cup of tea at work might make you want a biscuit. A long car journey may trigger the urge for snacks. Friday night might feel incomplete without wine, chocolate or crisps. These are often not signs of true hunger, but habits linked to familiar situations. The key is to identify your own triggers.
Simple Ways to Gently Reduce Appetite
Behavioural change can take time and support, but small food-related tweaks can make a real difference. You do not have to do everything at once. In fact, the most meaningful progress often comes from simple, consistent steps that help your body feel safer, steadier and better nourished.
OK, so let’s look at some top tips to help you tame your appetite:
1. Build meals around protein first, then healthy fats, and finally carbohydrates. This can help regulate blood sugar and reduce appetite. This trick can actually reduce the insulin response of the meal but up to 50%
2. Avoid highly processed foods. These foods are often engineered to stimulate your pleasure and reward centre, increasing cravings rather than satisfying hunger. Less insulin creates less fat!
3. Think about meal timing. Eating earlier in the day is generally more supportive of energy use, while eating late at night is more likely to contribute to fat storage. Try to avoid eating for at least three hours before bed. Eating your evening meal by 6 pm rather than 9 pm can reduce the insulin hit by up to 50%: less insulin creates less fat!
4. Consider reducing the eating window during the day. For some people, two or three meals without snacks can help hunger settle. An overnight fast of around 12 to 15 hours may also be helpful.
5. Choose slower-digesting carbohydrates such as beans, lentils, quinoa, and whole grains. Did you know that new potatoes contain a different type of starch than old ones, even better if you eat them cold. Slow-digesting carbohydrates are less likely to spike blood sugar quickly.
6. Eat the protein and fat portions of your meal first. This activates the hormones that help you feel full sooner, and can help reduce how much carbohydrate you eat overall.
7. Increase Fibre. Simple tips like eating foods such as fruit & vegetables raw than stewed, juiced, or mashed etc... and adding fibre-rich ingredients such as seeds to smoothies to slow sugar absorption.
8. Use foods that increase viscosity, such as chia seeds, flax, okra, or lentils in soups or casseroles to slow digestion and improve fullness.
9. Include acidic or fermented foods, such as vinegar, lemon juice, kimchi or pickles, with carbohydrate-containing meals. These inhibit salivary enzymes from digesting carbohydrates, reducing blood sugar highs by up to 30% after a meal.
10. Favour foods with a low glycaemic index or glycaemic load where possible.
