There are several reasons why some people feel hungry after a meal.
For starters, it could be due to the nutritional composition of your meal.
Meals that contain a greater proportion of protein tend to induce greater feelings of fullness than meals with greater proportions of carbs or fat even when their calorie counts are similar (1, 2, 3).
Numerous studies have shown that higher protein meals are better at stimulating the release of fullness hormones, such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), cholecystokinin (CCK), and peptide YY (PYY) (4, 5, 6).
Also, if your diet lacks fiber, you may find yourself feeling hungry more often.
Fiber is a type of carb that takes longer to digest and can slow your stomachs emptying rate. When its digested in your lower digestive tract, it also promotes the release of appetite-suppressing hormones like GLP-1 and PYY (7).
Foods that are high in protein include meats, such as chicken breast, lean beef, turkey, and shrimp. Meanwhile, foods that are high in fiber include fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains.
If you find that youre hungry after a meal and notice that your meals tend to lack protein and fiber, try incorporating more protein- and fiber-rich foods into your diet.
Aside from meal composition, your stomach has stretch receptors that play a key role in promoting feelings of fullness during and immediately after a meal.
The stretch receptors detect how much your stomach expands during a meal and send signals directly to your brain to induce feelings of fullness and reduce your appetite (8).
These stretch receptors dont rely on the nutritional composition of food. Instead, they rely on the total volume of the meal (8).
However, feelings of fullness brought on by the stretch receptors dont last long. So while they may help you eat less during a meal and shortly after, they dont promote long-term feelings of fullness (8, 9).
If you dont find yourself feeling full during or immediately after a meal, try incorporating more foods that are high in volume but low in calories (10, 11).
These foods, such as most fresh vegetables, fruits, air-popped popcorn, shrimp, chicken breast, and turkey, tend to have greater air or water content. Also, drinking water before or with meals adds volume to the meal and may further promote fullness (12).
Though many of these high volume, low calorie foods promote short-term, immediate fullness through the stretch receptors, they tend to be high in protein or fiber, both of which promote feelings of fullness long afterward by stimulating the release of fullness hormones.
In some cases, hormonal issues may explain why some people feel hungry after eating.
Leptin is the main hormone that signals feelings of fullness to your brain. Its made by fat cells, so its blood levels tend to increase among people that carry more fat mass.
However, the problem is that sometimes leptin doesnt work as well as it should in the brain, especially in some people with obesity. This is commonly called leptin resistance (13).
This means that although theres plenty of leptin in the blood, your brain doesnt recognize it as well and continues to think that youre hungry even after a meal (14).
Though leptin resistance is a complex issue, research suggests that getting in regular physical activity, reducing sugar intake, increasing fiber intake, and getting adequate sleep may help reduce leptin resistance (15, 16, 17, 18).
Aside from the key factors above, several behavioral factors may explain why you feel hungry after eating, including:
You may feel hungry after eating due to a lack of protein or fiber in your diet, not eating enough high volume foods, hormone issues like leptin resistance, or behavioral and lifestyle choices. Try implementing some of the suggestions above.
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Feeling Hungry After Eating: Why It Happens and What to Do - Healthline
