Why do we get fat? The simplest answer is that we’re eating food that we know we shouldn’t in quantities higher than we should. But why am I always hungry? Well, at a certain point gaining weight is a symptom of inadequate nutrition. If your body found what it needed to function in the food you were consuming, then you would no longer be hungry. Problem solved! 

Unfortunately, the hyperpalatable, over-processed, chemical-laden, mystery concoctions we classify as “food” these days are all deficient in the nutrients we need. And because of that, our hunger stays elevated. Essentially, we’re hungry because our body is continuously searching for nutrients the food we’re consuming doesn’t contain. It’s a cycle of your body saying “feed me”, and when you do it says “wtf is this, let’s try again.” Think of trying to complete a puzzle — you need a certain piece but keep getting pieces you don’t need and instead of throwing them away you have to stack them on top of the existing pieces, eventually there’s way more than you need and you still have a missing piece. When this happens the weight starts to rise alongside things like inflammation and metabolic dysfunction that create more issues. 

The mechanism of hunger is designed to help regulate nutritional requirements. When you need vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients, hunger serves as your guide for which foods you should be eating, when, and how much. Once those baseline nutritional requirements have been met, the hunger stops. But, if the food being eaten lacks the adequate nutrients the body is looking for, the mechanism of hunger never really shuts off and you expand horizontally. Therefore, weight gain is a reflection of your nutritional status. To get your weight under control, start eating more whole, nutrient dense foods!