Hunger

Jackie006

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117
Does anyone find that they are constantly hungry no matter wat I eat I am always starving dn said this is due to insulin but it's doing my head in
 
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zand

Master
Messages
10,789
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Well I'm T2 and not taking any medication for diabetes. I find that the more carbs I eat the hungrier I get. I am currently increasing my fats and decreasing my carb consumption and don't find I am hungry at all.
 
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Daibell

Master
Messages
12,652
Type of diabetes
LADA
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Insulin
Hi. Yes, keeping the carbs down and the protein and fats up always helps, the latter two foods will make you feel full for longer than carbs. What sort of diet do you have? Note that insulin doesn't make you hungry. It's function is to enable the body to use the carbs you eat
 

Jackie006

Well-Known Member
Messages
117
My diet varies depending if I am at work or not I am type 1 and hate every bit of it lol I know it sounds stupid Daibell u refer to fats can u give me an example of wat that includes maybe that would help
 

azure

Expert
Messages
9,780
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
A number of people taking insulin find it makes them hungry. I found that too. But now I'm on a pump I don't feel that hunger so much. I just feel normally hungry. I assume this is due to less insulin in my body and possibly smoother blood sugar control.

What insulin do you take and how often? Do you find the hunger is there all the time or only at certain times?
 
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Totto

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,831
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
My diet varies depending if I am at work or not I am type 1 and hate every bit of it lol I know it sounds stupid Daibell u refer to fats can u give me an example of wat that includes maybe that would help
What do you eat? On a typical work day for example?
 

buckley8219

Well-Known Member
Messages
170
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi,

I always used to feel hungry. This advice may sound counter-intuitive, but it worked for me!

I started fasting regularly, this helped my stomach shrink and I feel fuller a lot quicker.

Water consumption, I'm convinced that loads of people confuse thirst with hunger. Real hunger is felt in the throat and it takes a couple of days to feel real hunger in my experience. I drink 3-4 litres of water a day and this massively reduces hunger pangs.

Carbs are the devil if I carb binge my hunger pangs increase exponentially.

Eat high fat, high protein calorie dense food. I don't feel as hungry a few hours later when I do this.

This makes interesting reading. I think as diabetics it's not just insulin we lack, other parts of the endocrine system are affected, I read that the beta cells are also responsible in part for appetite regulation etc.

http://www.medbio.info/horn/time 5/appetite and weight control nov06 v2.htm

I don't suffer from hunger that much, but then I can't remember the last time I felt full or fully satisfied from eating. I can put away vast quantities of food, 5,000-6,000 calories in a sitting, 2kg of steak etc (not that I do very often ha) and still not feel full! I find that very weird. There is definitely something amiss with my appetite regulation that I believe to be diabetes related.

What it is I don't know.
 
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tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
8,934
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
One of the things that the Beta cells do is release a hormone called Amylin. Amylin's function, amongst other things, is to slow the passage of food through the stomach. Without beta cells, T1s have less or no Amylin, and as a result tend to see faster food passage, which can increase hunger.
 

Jackie006

Well-Known Member
Messages
117
Thanks everyone for your comments I am on apidra 3 times a day and lantus at night no I am not obese lol I'm glad it's not just me that suffers with hunger
 

buckley8219

Well-Known Member
Messages
170
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Ahhh. We learn something new everyday.

Although I think I get notifications when somebody replies to a thread I've responded to automatically.
 

ewelina

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,354
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Does anyone find that they are constantly hungry no matter wat I eat I am always starving dn said this is due to insulin but it's doing my head in
I get hungry when my levels go up. Noticed massive improvment since going on a pump when my levels stabilised
 

noblehead

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
23,618
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Pump
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Disrespectful people
Only ever hungry when I'm hungry, meaning a long absence from food.

Try and resist the hunger and just eat stick to 3 meals a day, snacking between meals is habit forming and it takes a while to break that habit.
 

Clivethedrive

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,996
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Jogging
Hi,

I always used to feel hungry. This advice may sound counter-intuitive, but it worked for me!

I started fasting regularly, this helped my stomach shrink and I feel fuller a lot quicker.

Water consumption, I'm convinced that loads of people confuse thirst with hunger. Real hunger is felt in the throat and it takes a couple of days to feel real hunger in my experience. I drink 3-4 litres of water a day and this massively reduces hunger pangs.

Carbs are the devil if I carb binge my hunger pangs increase exponentially.

Eat high fat, high protein calorie dense food. I don't feel as hungry a few hours later when I do this.

This makes interesting reading. I think as diabetics it's not just insulin we lack, other parts of the endocrine system are affected, I read that the beta cells are also responsible in part for appetite regulation etc.

http://www.medbio.info/horn/time 5/appetite and weight control nov06 v2.htm

I don't suffer from hunger that much, but then I can't remember the last time I felt full or fully satisfied from eating. I can put away vast quantities of food, 5,000-6,000 calories in a sitting, 2kg of steak etc (not that I do very often ha) and still not feel full! I find that very weird. There is definitely something amiss with my appetite regulation that I believe to be diabetes related.

What it is I don't know.
Hibuckley8219, can i recommend a book that would help you understand the diet necessary to stabilise diabetes and blood sugars, Jenny ruhls blood sugar 101.
 

buckley8219

Well-Known Member
Messages
170
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have a copy! I'm pretty happy with my diet and my HBA1c.

I did get down into the mid 5s, but it came with additional lows and required me giving me diabetes an extra 10-15 hours a week focus due to additional testing, correcting.. testing, correcting, essentially sugar surfing (without a CGM)and not consuming more than 20g of carbs a day. I couldn't exercise with any sort of intensity either. It just didn't feel sustainable. Diabetes already consumes enough of my time and life as it is.

If I was retired, did the same thing day in day out, I'd be able to get a HbA1c in the mid fives as espoused by Jenny Ruhl in her book. But given my lifestyle I'm happy sitting between 5.8/6.2mmol which I've done for the last 7 years or so, not an easy feat for a Type 1 producing zero insulin!

I do a version of intermittent fasting I eat all my calories with a 3-hour window and don't eat outside that window. I like doing this as essentially it allows me to flat line from waking up until 18:00 with only tiny changes in BS, I also end up with a lower TDD of insulin.

I don't eat much above my BMR of 1987 calories a day. I rarely eat over 50g of carbs a day, a abit more if I am running or cycling.
 
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Jackie006

Well-Known Member
Messages
117
Hi Buckley8219 is that blood sugar 101 what they dnt tell you about diabetes have seen it on Amazon but there is a couple of different ones on there
 

ann34+

Well-Known Member
Messages
393
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Does anyone find that they are constantly hungry no matter wat I eat I am always starving dn said this is due to insulin but it's doing my head in
Agree with Azure. And your DN. Think it is insulin - too much of it circulating. On pump i was able to reduce insulin a bit, even though never used a great deal - it must have been too much for me. Now use pump with with lowest base rate possible for me, but also have to keep boluses as low as possible, and meals as small as possible.
 

Mongolia

Well-Known Member
Messages
845
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
My diet varies depending if I am at work or not I am type 1 and hate every bit of it lol I know it sounds stupid Daibell u refer to fats can u give me an example of wat that includes maybe that would help
Hi @Jackie006 I have found that since eating LCHF I rarely feel hungry and my food portion sizes have really decreased. In terms of fats I eat full fat dairy eg whole milk or cream, full fat mayo, cheese, yoghurt etc. Good sources of fat are avocado, olives, oily fish like salmon, trout, mackerel, nuts.
 

Jackie006

Well-Known Member
Messages
117
Hi Azure I take apidra 3 times a day and lantus at night yes find hunger is there nearly all the time tummy rumbles that much it's like my own personal thunder storm lol
 
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