Why Snacking Might Be the Reason You're Still Hungry

Ever feel like you need to eat something, but you are not hungry enough for a full meal, so you just grab a little something instead?

This is incredibly common. And we are here to tell you why snacking might actually be keeping you hungrier, and why eating more intentional meals can help.

There is nothing wrong with having a snack, especially if you have a few hours before your next meal. But we have to be honest about what snacks are and are not designed to do. Most snack foods are not very satiating, and they are not supposed to be. They are snacks.

Here is the problem. While they are underwhelming in the satiation department, they can be surprisingly overwhelming in the calorie department. Without closely reading food labels, there is a good chance the snack you just grabbed has a lot more calories than you would ever guess based on how full it made you feel.

And this is where the cycle starts.

You are a little hungry, so you grab a snack. An hour later, you are in the same situation, kind of hungry but not hungry enough for a meal. So you grab another snack. Before you know it, the whole day has passed, you have eaten seven times, and you have not had a single thing that actually made you feel full.

Sound familiar?

To be clear, snacking between meals is not necessarily bad. But if you are constantly eating small amounts throughout the day and never actually feeling satisfied, something needs to change.

The next time you notice that small hunger signal, try pausing for a moment before you act. The goal is to figure out which situation you are actually in.

If your hunger is building quickly, instead of grabbing something fast, try taking 15 minutes to prepare a balanced, filling meal. By the time you are done cooking, you will probably be hungry enough to actually eat it. And if not, you can always take a few bites and save the rest for later.

If your hunger is building slowly, consider waiting it out. Skip the snack and give yourself an hour before eating a real meal. Fair warning, if you are not used to waiting, your hunger might start to feel urgent, even like an emergency. But sitting with that discomfort a little longer than you want to is its own kind of practice. It is proof that you are going to be okay, and that you are stronger than you think.

If your hunger is building slowly but your next meal is hours away, that is a different situation entirely. If you tried to white knuckle your way through the next few hours, you would probably get grumpy and tired, and by the time your next meal arrived you would end up eating too quickly and feeling uncomfortable. This is exactly the kind of scenario where a snack to bridge the gap makes sense.

The conclusion is not that snacks are bad. It is to start paying attention to what your body is actually asking for, and whether a handful of crackers is really going to give it that. More often than not, what you actually need is a meal.

The next time you would normally reach for a snack, try pausing before you do. Ask yourself whether your hunger is building slowly or quickly. Notice what it would feel like to replace the snack with a balanced meal instead, or what it would feel like to wait a few hours. You do not have to get it perfect. Just practice noticing. The more awareness you bring to the snacking cycle, the easier it becomes to break it.

At Compound Strength and Performance in Bellevue, nutrition coaching is about building this kind of awareness so you can make decisions that actually leave you feeling satisfied, not just full. If you are ready to build a healthier relationship with hunger and food, we would love to help. Learn more about working with us here.

— Alaina Anthon, Coach and Co-Founder, Compound Strength and Performance, Bellevue, WA