Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Ok, so it seems that I am eternally on a quest to figure out why I'm hungry all the time. I've thought so many times that I've found a cure/miracle food/eating method or routine for it, but the hunger has come back again stronger than ever!

The last few days, I've been drinking less water as an experiment, and voila.... Hunger is way less, I'm eating smaller meals and not ravenous at 10am after an 8am breakfast!

I'm still drinking 8 or more glasses of water (about 2 litres), whereas before I was drinking 3 or 4 litres of water per day.

So, does drinking water in excess make you hungrier, and if so, what's the science behind it? Does it dilute stomach acids/juices? Has anybody else had this experience?! Or is it even possible since water is supposed to fill us up and suppress our appetites?

flag	asked Apr 2 2012 at 19:58 Mashanshell 640●1●3●12

I suspect that it might a) stretch your stomach b) flush away some water soluble nutrients, making you search out food to replace them. – Happy Now Apr 2 2012 at 20:40

orust · Answer 1 · 2012-04-02 20:50:22Z UTC

If you drink excessively you can gradually become hyponatremic, i.e. the sodium level in your blood falls (the reason why massive amounts of water drunk quickly would be fatal). Increased intake of sodium would help to counteract that, so in theory a desire for the salt in food could be connected. Whether that's the case in you of course I have no idea!

Was 4L a day because of thirst? Needing that much would be unusual for most people, there are some causes of excessive thirst worth excluding if that was the case. (4L for a petite inactive person would obviously be different to 4L for a huge, sweating sportsman but your post didn't indicate your needs).

It may of course be unrelated and you've just finally got used to what you're asking your body to do with your diet!

Corbab · Answer 2 · 2012-04-02 23:35:58Z UTC

I don't have a scientific answer, but I've experienced the same phenomenon. I'm eating around 3500-4000 calories per day, I consume around 3-5 liters per day including during 1.5 hours rowing.

The hunger never bothers me, but I do notice a gnawing in my stomach sometimes between meals.

The Ghost · Answer 3 · 2012-04-02 20:14:00Z UTC

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You shouldn't be eating that early in the day. The earliest you should eat is at 11am but water should suppress tour hunger. Are you getting enough fat in your diet?

answered Apr 2 2012 at 20:14

The Ghost
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I am going to request that you do a little more homework before throwing around absolutes like "The earliest you should eat is at 11am", or at the very least please provide a citation to back it up. – Happy Now Apr 2 2012 at 20:37

Providing an absolute number of 11 am based on what, precisely? Someone who wakes at 6 am? 10 am? What if someone works the graveyard shift? Also, why?? This is not a very helpful answer because it contains little explanation. – Blossom1 Apr 3 2012 at 2:01

Paleoman would have woken up when the sun came up and would have had to go hunting, gathering, and cooking before he would have food. – The Ghost Apr 20 2012 at 21:22

Is it possible that the more water I drink, the hungrier I am??

3 Answers