Going on any diet involves changing of eating habits and there are six types of hunger and the carnivore diet, plus going carnivore requires you to deal with carbohydrate addiction. None of it is easy, but it’s helpful to understand physiology and psychology of hunger and why carnivore diet is effective at addressing them.
This blogpost is inspired by Dr Tro’s work: https://www.doctortro.com/
FOOD CUES
Food cues (Cephalic phase) is a type of hunger that is stimulated when in presence of food: the image, smell, memory of taste. This is a deep entrainment because since infancy, we are conditioned to eat when we see food. Just an image of food or its smell will stimulate hormonal release to get you eating. The Pavlovian response training comes to mind, and it is. Unfortunately, these days we are surrounded with easily accessible foods 24/7. If you go on a diet, especially carnivore everywhere you go there will be some sort of carbohydrate hanging around. They are cheap, engineered to be addictive both physiologically and psychologically, and built for long shelf life. There are everywhere.
When you go carnivore, eliminate everything carbohydrate from your pantry. It’s not a question of will power, you won’t win with your hormones.
Check out my video version of six types of hunger and the carnivore diet here:
SOCIAL CUES TO EAT
Family gatherings, business lunches, cocktails with friends, birthday parties, to name a few, involve food and drinks. Again, most of it is engrained in us from childhood. It’s such a powerful habit: we hang out, we drink, and we eat. Even if you are successful managing your own cravings for food, there is always this one friend or family member that will tell you try this or that just “this one time”.
In the beginning of my carnivore journey, but then lockdowns came along so that challenge was eliminated completely. These days when I go and think there may be tempting foods, I make sure I am fed before going out.
Once carnivore adapted, it gets a lot easier, you only must make sure you don’t get hungry when hanging out.
FAT CARB COMBO
Combining fat and carbohydrates triggers all the rewards mechanisms in our brains. It is also one of the rarest combinations you will find in nature, if at all. However, us humans found a way to make them into delicious and addictive meals. I am sure you can name a few favorites right away: baked potato with sour cream, sweet potato with butter, macaroni, and cheese. Try overeating any of these foods by itself, impossible. The good news is this trigger is eliminated on carnivore diet. You never have to worry about portion control or overeating. Meat and fat are evolutionarily most natural combo and when consuming them, you won’t be able to overeat. You can try, but I am sure you will not be able to exceed 5000 calories.
GLYCEMIC CHANGES HUNGER
In presence of high insulin your brain is conditioned to keep asking for more foods that will keep the insulin working, these are glycemic changes. Diabetics are often advised to eat lots of small meals, but this just stimulates your brain to ask for more food. No wonder diabetics hardly ever get better with a conventional advice. Each time your brain sees lowering sugar in the setting of high insulin, it will produce hunger hormones, and suppress satiety.
This is great news if you want to go carnivore. Once you get over the hump of carbohydrate addiction, your sugar will not fluctuate, and insulin levels will be lower thus a lot less feeling of hunger.
Therefore, people on carnivore diet eat to satiety and yet lose weight: low insulin environment means higher metabolism and lower hunger.
STREES INDUCES HUNGER
Stress causes several physiologic changes: increased hearth rate and blood pressure, blood flow to the brain, and changes to blood sugars (these are the major ones). All these changes can result with increased appetite.
There is also psychologic aspect to stress: most of us interprets stress as the lack of comfort and/or security. Most of us also use food as means of achieving comfort, and usually it’s something fatty and carby. I never went for steak when eating for comfort, tiramisu on the other hand….
This is one may be the hardest one to manage regardless of the diet because it will really require you address external stressors, and not all of them are in our control. However, the carnivore diet stands out here too, because low and stable sugars and ketosis (you often are in ketosis when on carnivore diet) is the best metabolic state for stress to just bounce off you.
NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENIES
Standard American Diet is high in calories and low in nutrients. If your body is starving for nutrients, it won’t matter how much calories you eat, you will feel hungry even if you are full. It’s a special kind of hunger that never gets satisfied.
Even if you adjust your eating habits to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, you will still face challenges. Fruits and vegetables come with antinutrients, and for people with compromised guts, it is nearly impossible to extract nutrients from plants.
Check out my post about plant toxins.
This is great about the carnivore diet because you get to eat to satiety, food that tastes great and has zero antinutrients.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Now that you know all the hunger triggers, you can plan accordingly and come up with a strategy that will lead you to success. I think carnivore diet is the best at addressing the above types of hunger.
