Always Hungry?

1. Forget Calories, Focus on Food Quality

Overeating doesn’t make us fat. The process of becoming fat makes us overeat.

Calorie counting fails. For over a century, weight loss advice has centered on the simple equation: calories in minus calories out equals calories stored. This "calorie is a calorie" model, promoted by government and health organizations, assumes body fat is inert storage and blames individuals for lacking willpower when diets fail. However, this approach has demonstrably failed, as obesity rates have skyrocketed despite decades of focus on calorie restriction.

Biology fights back. Cutting calories triggers potent biological countermeasures. The body perceives deprivation and activates a starvation response, increasing hunger and slowing metabolism. This makes adherence difficult and often leads to weight regain, frequently leaving individuals heavier than before they started dieting.

Food quality matters. New research reveals that different foods have radically different effects on hormones, metabolism, and fat cells, independent of calorie content. Highly processed carbohydrates negatively impact metabolism, while calorie-dense foods like nuts and olive oil can prevent obesity and chronic disease. The obesity epidemic isn't about willpower; it's about following the wrong dietary rules.

2. Insulin and Fat Cells Control Your Weight Set Point

Too much insulin causes weight gain, whereas too little causes weight loss.

Fat cells are active. Fat cells are not passive storage units; they actively take in or release calories based on biological signals. The master control signal for fat cell behavior is the hormone insulin, produced by the pancreas. High insulin levels instruct fat cells to hoard calories, while low insulin levels allow them to release stored energy.

Insulin as fertilizer. Insulin acts like a potent fertilizer for fat cells, driving them to increase in size and number. High rates of insulin release, often triggered by diet, cause fat cells to suck up excessive calories from the bloodstream. This leaves fewer calories available for the rest of the body's immediate energy needs.

The energy crisis. When fat cells hoard calories, the brain perceives a lack of available fuel, triggering a starvation response. This leads to increased hunger and a slower metabolism, prompting individuals to eat more to solve the perceived energy crisis. This cycle, driven by fat cells trapping calories, accelerates weight gain and makes calorie restriction counterproductive.

3. Highly Processed Carbohydrates Are the Primary Culprit

Highly processed carbohydrates adversely affect metabolism and body weight in ways that can’t be explained by their calorie content alone.

Rapid digestion, high insulin. Foods made primarily from refined grains, potato products, or concentrated sugar digest rapidly. This causes a rapid surge in blood glucose, which in turn triggers the pancreas to produce excessive amounts of insulin. This exaggerated insulin response is a key driver of fat cells hoarding calories.

The glycemic load. The Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) measure how quickly carbohydrates raise blood glucose. Highly processed carbs like white bread and sugary drinks have high GI/GL, causing sharp blood sugar spikes and crashes. Minimally processed carbs like whole fruits, vegetables, and beans have lower GI/GL, leading to more stable blood sugar and insulin levels.

Fueling cravings. The blood sugar crash that follows a high-GI/GL meal triggers the brain's emergency alarm system, leading to intense hunger and cravings, particularly for more fast-acting carbohydrates. This creates a vicious cycle of eating, crashing, and craving, which is difficult to break through willpower alone and contributes significantly to weight gain and metabolic problems.

4. Fat is Not the Enemy; Quality and Context Matter

So it seems that those high-fat foods we’ve been avoiding for decades may be key to losing weight after all!

Low-fat failure. The low-fat diet craze, prominent since the 1970s, was based on the flawed premise that eating fat makes you fat because it's calorie-dense. This led to replacing fat with processed carbohydrates, which ironically fueled the obesity epidemic. Large studies like the Women's Health Initiative showed low-fat diets were ineffective for long-term weight loss and disease prevention.

Unsaturated fats benefit. Research, including the PREDIMED study, shows that diets high in unsaturated fats (like those in olive oil, nuts, and fatty fish) are associated with lower body weight and significantly reduced risk of heart disease, even without calorie restriction. These fats digest slowly, promote satiety, and have beneficial effects on metabolism and inflammation.

Saturated fat nuances. While saturated fat (in butter, coconut, red meat) can raise LDL cholesterol, it also raises beneficial HDL cholesterol. Its impact is complex and depends on the overall diet composition. When saturated fat is replaced by high-GI carbohydrates, health outcomes worsen. Moderate amounts of saturated fat, especially from sources like cultured dairy and coconut, can be part of a healthy diet, particularly when processed carbs are limited.

5. Lifestyle Factors Deeply Impact Metabolism

Too little sleep or physical activity, or too much stress, can raise insulin levels, promote chronic inflammation, keep fat cells in calorie storage overdrive and counteract the benefits of a good diet.

Beyond diet. While diet is primary, sleep, stress, and physical activity are crucial "life supports" that work synergistically to improve metabolism and support weight loss. Neglecting these factors can undermine even the best dietary efforts by negatively impacting hormone balance and fat cell behavior.

Sleep deprivation harms. Insufficient or poor-quality sleep disrupts hormone regulation, including stress hormones and insulin. Studies show that even short periods of sleep deprivation can decrease insulin sensitivity in fat cells, making them more prone to hoarding calories. Sleep deprivation also increases cravings for unhealthy foods and can lead to weight gain over time.

Stress and inactivity. Chronic stress elevates cortisol, a hormone that promotes belly fat storage and erodes muscle. Sedentary habits and lack of enjoyable movement also contribute to metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance. Simple strategies like short walks (passeggiata), dedicated relaxation time, and prioritizing sleep can significantly improve metabolic health and support weight loss.

6. Relearn Your Body's Hunger and Fullness Signals

Use your Daily Tracker to help you tune in to your body.

Mind-body disconnect. Conventional calorie-restricted diets often require ignoring natural hunger cues, leading to a disconnect between mind and body. This reliance on external rules rather than internal signals makes long-term adherence difficult and can perpetuate disordered eating patterns.

Intuitive eating. The Always Hungry Solution encourages eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied, but not over-full. By providing nutrient-dense, satisfying foods, the program helps calm fat cells and stabilize blood sugar, allowing the body's natural hunger and satiety signals to function correctly.

Tracking for awareness. Tools like the Daily Tracker help individuals become more mindful of their body's signals. By recording hunger, satiety, cravings, energy levels, and well-being alongside food choices and lifestyle habits, individuals can identify patterns and learn what works best for their unique metabolism, fostering a deeper connection with their physical needs.

7. A Three-Phase Plan to Retrain Your Metabolism

The program is designed to lower body weight set point by targeting insulin resistance and chronic inflammation—through food quality, sleep, stress, and activity level.

Phase 1: Conquer Cravings. This two-week "boot camp" drastically reduces processed carbohydrates and increases fat intake (50% fat, 25% carb, 25% protein). This rapid shift aims to lower insulin, calm fat cells, and quickly reduce hunger and cravings, jump-starting weight loss without deprivation.

Phase 2: Retrain Fat Cells. This phase (lasting weeks to months) slightly increases carbohydrates (35% carb, 40% fat, 25% protein) by reintroducing intact whole grains and starchy vegetables (excluding white potato). The focus remains on whole, unprocessed foods to continue improving metabolism and progressively lower the body's weight set point until a healthy weight is reached.

Phase 3: Personalize for Life. Once a healthy weight is achieved, this phase (40% carb, 40% fat, 20% protein) allows for mindful reintroduction of some processed carbohydrates (bread, white potato, sweets) based on individual tolerance. Using the tracker, individuals learn how their body responds to different foods and create a sustainable, personalized eating pattern for permanent weight maintenance and optimal health.

8. Food Quality Affects More Than Just Weight

With a high-quality diet, your energy level will improve, as will motivation—the opposite of what happens with time on many other diets.

Broad health benefits. The benefits of focusing on food quality extend far beyond weight loss. Pilot participants consistently reported improvements in energy levels, mood, emotional stability, and mental function.

Metabolic improvements. The program's approach to lowering insulin and inflammation leads to improvements in key health markers, including blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and blood sugar control, reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Gut and brain health. A diet rich in whole plant foods provides prebiotics, probiotics (from fermented foods), and polyphenols that nourish a healthy gut microbiome. A balanced gut is linked to reduced inflammation and improved overall well-being, potentially impacting conditions from arthritis to depression and cognitive function.

9. Our Food Environment Works Against Us

Society is so filled with sugary, starchy food, that just living day to day is an obstacle to weight control.

Systemic challenges. The modern food environment, shaped by agricultural policies, food industry practices, and marketing, makes highly processed, low-quality food cheap, convenient, and ubiquitous. This creates a "whole food desert and junk food oasis" that makes healthy choices difficult, regardless of individual willpower.

Industry influence. The food industry spends millions lobbying against public health policies like taxes on sugary drinks, restrictions on marketing to children, and improved school lunch standards. Their focus on maximizing profit from commodity-based products often conflicts with promoting public health.

Beyond personal choice. Expecting individuals to overcome these powerful environmental forces through willpower alone is unrealistic. The high prevalence of diet-related diseases is a consequence of a system that prioritizes short-term profit over long-term health, creating a public health crisis with significant economic and societal costs.

10. Ending the Madness Requires Shared Responsibility

Unless we change course, diet-related chronic diseases will cause tremendous suffering, shorten life expectancy, drain the economy, and undermine our international strength.

National security threat. The rising tide of diet-related chronic diseases poses a significant threat to national security, impacting healthcare costs, worker productivity, military readiness, and economic competitiveness. Addressing this requires a shift from blaming individuals to recognizing the systemic nature of the problem.

Policy reform is crucial. A comprehensive approach is needed, involving government policies that level the playing field for healthy foods. This includes reforming agricultural subsidies, taxing processed foods to reflect their true cost, regulating marketing, and adequately funding nutrition research and school food programs.

Vote with fork and ballot. While systemic change is necessary, individuals are not powerless. Choosing whole, unprocessed foods incentivizes the food industry to produce healthier options. Advocating for policy changes and electing politicians who prioritize public health are also vital steps in creating a society where the healthy choice is the easy choice for everyone.

Last updated: May 8, 2025