Why You Are More Hungry After Eating Breakfast
Have you ever felt like eating something in the morning made you feel more hungry than if you skip breakfast? This might lead you to believe that you should just avoid breakfast altogether to prevent that mid-morning belly growling. But for a lot of people, skipping breakfast ends up leaving them feeling extra hungry later in the day (and possibly leads to binge-type eating) as their body is playing catch-up. What gives?!
If you’re new here, hello and welcome! My name is Hannah and I am a non-diet dietitian here to help you improve your relationship with your food and finally find food freedom.
In this blog we will answer the following:
Why do I feel hungry after eating breakfast?
What should I eat for breakfast?
How long should I wait to eat breakfast?
What do I do if I am not hungry in the morning?
Why do I feel hungry after eating breakfast?
There are a few possible explanations for why eating breakfast makes you feel hungrier shortly after or for the rest of the day.
Your breakfast contains “naked” carbs only
When we eat “naked” carbohydrates (aka we eat carb-containing foods on their own without any other macronutrients), our body tends to use ‘em up really quickly for energy or they are stored for later. Either way, this can lead to a rapid spike and subsequent fall of our blood sugar that leaves us feeling hungry shortly after eating.
Sometimes this can lead to our hunger coming on really quickly as a result of the rapid drop in blood sugar. When this happens, we tend to grab something quick (possibly another “naked" carb), and the cycle repeats itself.
What can help with this is trying to always pair your carbs with a protein and/or a fat source. I’ll give some ideas below. This is also something that I teach inside The Nutrition Reboot Membership, my exclusive diet-ditching club. If you struggle with this roller coaster of blood sugars and hunger, we would love to support you inside the membership. You can learn more about it here.
Your breakfast did not contain enough food
Another reason why you may feel hungry shortly after eating breakfast is your breakfast simply did not have enough food. Diet culture has many of us believing that we should always be trying to eat as little as possible, but this almost always backfires. You may be surprised at how much food your body actually needs if you have been chronically undereating for a long time.
If you feel like you eat breakfast and then you are hungry again in less than an hour, try having more to eat at this meal and see if that makes a difference.
You are used to suppressing your appetite with coffee
I have worked with so many people who say that they simply are not hungry in the morning yet they start their day with a cup of coffee on an empty stomach. And listen, I love my morning coffee as much as the next gal. But coffee can act as an appetite suppressant. So if you eat a breakfast that is very light (or you don’t eat breakfast at all) with coffee, you may feel full but then that hunger comes back with a vengeance later on.
I am definitely not saying that you need to get rid of your morning coffee! That would be cruel and unusual of me. What I am saying is that you may feel better and more regulated if you have a solid breakfast with your cup of joe rather than drinking coffee on an empty stomach.
Your hunger hormones are doing their thing
Ghrelin, a hunger hormone, tends to be lower in the morning. So you may feel like you are not very hungry in the morning and your hunger tends to gradually increase as the day progresses and ghrelin levels are fluctuating. Totally normal! I’ll share some tips below on what to do if you don’t feel very hungry in the morning but still want to get some breakfast in.
It is simply time to eat again
If it has been a few hours since you last ate, it makes total sense that your hunger cues would be knocking at your door again. Whether you decide to eat a mid-morning snack or lunch will be up to you, but consider it a good thing that your body is communicating with you well enough to let you know when it is in need of some fuel again.
What should I eat for breakfast?
As I’ve eluted to, eating a breakfast with carbs, protein, and fat will likely be the key to a meal that you keeps you full and satisfied for a little longer. Bonus points for including some fiber in there too, which also helps with satiety and blood sugar stability. This is something that I call The Blueprint for balanced meals, which is what I teach inside The Nutrition Reboot Membership.
Not sure what is included in these sources of macronutrients? Here are some ideas to mix and match:
Carbs
Proteins
Eggs
Canadian bacon
Bacon and sausage (watching your cholesterol? Check out this post)
Deli meat
Nuts and seeds
Cheese
Greek yogurt
Cottage cheese
Fats
Nuts and seeds
Eggs
Cheese
Bacon and sausage
Avocado
How long should I wait to eat breakfast?
Should you eat breakfast right when you wake up? Should you wait for an hour or two? What about fasting? Is it actually best to just wait until lunch and eat 1 or 2 meals per day?
Everybody has different preferences and meal timings that make them feel the best. If you decide to fast, I just challenge you to ask yourself if this decision is actually making you feel good or if it is a choice rooted in diet culture and disordered eating. Fasting and waiting a long time to eat at the beginning of the day has the possible consequence of binge-type eating later. The amount of time between dinner the night before and lunch the next day (or especially dinner the next day) is a very long time for your body to go without nutrition.
So, there is no “right” time to wait (or not wait). See what makes your body feel the best. And if you identify that you feel better eating breakfast but you don’t have an appetite in the morning, read on for some tips on eating when you may not feel strong hunger cues.
What do I do if I am not hungry in the morning?
Like I mentioned, ghrelin (a hunger hormone) tends to be lower in the mornings so this may partially explain why you do not feel hungry right after you wake up. Even if this is the case, I typically do still encourage eating a balanced breakfast to prevent feeling overly hungry later in the day as your body tries to make up for not having enough to eat. This is a concept known as “practical nutrition” or “practical hunger” in the realm of intuitive eating. You can learn more about that in this post here.
That said, it may not feel very good to eat a big breakfast with all the fixins if your appetite is low. Here are a few ideas to get something in your belly without making yourself feel worse.
Have a breakfast appetizer
We have dinner appetizers, so why can’t we have breakfast appetizers? It may help to start with something small in the morning and gradually increase your meal size as the day goes on and your appetite regulates. You can choose anything you’d like as a breakfast appetizer. Here are some of my favorites:
Peanut butter toast with chia seeds
Hard boiled egg and berries
Banana or apple and peanut butter
Avocado toast with hemp heart seeds
Leftovers from last night’s dinner (see below)
Smoothie or protein shake (see below)
Drink your calories
That’s right, it is a-okay to drink calories. I know that diet culture has us believing otherwise, but drinking your calories can actually be a helpful strategy if appetite is low. Try having a fruit smoothie (I recommend adding a protein source such as Greek yogurt, chia seeds, and/or a protein powder), a protein shake (here are some of my favorites), or a profee (protein coffee) to start your morning and follow up with solid food when your appetite starts to wake up.
Remember that you don’t have to eat “breakfast foods”
If the thought of eating stereotypical “breakfast foods” gives you the ick and just makes your likelihood of eating breakfast even lower, keep in mind that you can eat anything you’d like in the morning. There is no rule that says you must eat certain types of foods at certain times of day.
One of my favorite things to eat in the morning that isn’t “breakfast food” is leftovers. Pizza, Trader Joe’s orange chicken, pasta, you name it. Sometimes I want a breakfast sandwich and other days I want stir fry. The beauty of food freedom is that I get to choose and eat what will make me feel the best in the moment rather than relying on food rules.
How can a dietitian help with navigating hunger and fullness?
Registered dietitians can help you to tune in to your hunger and fullness by teaching you what your cues feel like and how you can best respond to them. Dietitians can also help with sharing meal and snack ideas that fit your lifestyle, preferences, and budget.
You can work with me by joining my signature program to learn more able implementing gentle nutrition to improve your health without dieting. You will also find loads of recipes inside the membership as well as guidance on implementing The Blueprint for balanced meals.
Bottom line - why does eating breakfast make me hungry?
There are various reasons why eating breakfast may make you feel hungrier than if you had skipped, but this doesn’t mean that you should give up on eating in the mornings. It may help to have a more balanced meal, increase the size of your breakfast, or to plan on having a mid-morning snack. You may notice that including something helps you prevent feeling extra hungry later.
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