What happens when you cross hunger and anger? Well, an unfortunate case of snapping at people around it. Or at least that’s what was happening to me before I learned the causes of hanger. You should try fixing them, too.
Are you feeling agitated and hungry? Is everybody annoying you and you feel like you might bite someone’s head off? Well, it sounds like the symptoms of hanger, the hunger in you making you feel angry and irritable. It can make me crazy. I swear, sometimes it literally turns me into the Hulk who just wants to SMASH!
But learning more about it and the causes of hanger really helps me put things in a different, brighter perspective. Hope it does the same for you.
My boyfriend has learned over time to keep me fed at all times, or else I go all Gremlins on everybody around me. I can’t help it. The lightheadedness and the empty void/black hole that’s in my stomach demands to be fed! So he always reminds me that I am hangry and then he makes me fries or talks to waiters to be more snappy with our order. I’m a lucky gal.
What are the causes of hanger?
For one, your blood sugar levels are way-way down, to a level where your body enters panic mode. That’s why the same body is trying to get your blood sugar levels up. This happens even after a few hours without eating, not a few days. So the good news is that you’re not actually starving.
But let’s go back a little. Why do your blood sugar levels crash? Well, it has a lot to do with the blood sugar imbalance. If you eat a lot of carbs or something too full of sugar, the blood sugar levels go way up. This gives you momentary energy until the inevitable crash caused by insulin. The body tries to tap into its glucose reserve, but sometimes it’s too much for it to handle, so all you have left to do is just crave food.
The body then releases the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, which give you some energy, but not the positive, efficient kind, which leaves you unable to focus, angry, and fully agitated. The same imbalance in your blood sugar levels give you unhealthy cravings for sugar and make you drink way too much coffee for your own good. So what can you do about this? How can you work on the causes of hanger?
Strategies to fight the causes of hanger
The idea here is to maintain the fragile balance of your blood sugar levels. So the first thing to do is not start the destructive cycle. Try to have as little as possible sugar in your diet, so the snowball won’t start rolling down the hill.
Another good idea is to have foods that are digested slower because that will keep your hunger away for a longer time. Try eating things with protein and fat, because they’re slower when it comes to body absorption. They also help slow the absorption of glucose in your bloodstream. If you get sugar or carb cravings, choose something with fat and protein instead. You know what has plenty of fat? Nuts, for example, and they’re an exemplary item to have on hand as an emergency snack.
If you happen to be allergic to nuts, but not to seeds, then go for those instead. If your body wants carbs and wants them bad, go for the ones in fruits and vegetables. The fiber in them slows down the digestion of carbohydrates into a steady rollout. That’s how your blood sugar levels won’t rise dramatically.
Don’t forget to have a good night’s sleep, because when you’re tired, your body overcompensates with the cravings because of the cortisol hormone acting out. Also, exercise regularly, but not obsessively. Exercise helps with the release of glucose, but also with insulin sensitivity.
