For example if you’re intermittent fasting or water fasting, and the hunger comes and goes in waves as opposed to just getting hungrier and hungrier by each passing hour. How come? I do intermittent fasting and my periods of hunger are brief. You’d think the longer I go without eating, the worse my hunger would get but instead, I just get these brief periods of hunger and they eventually disappear, as if I had already eaten.
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For intermittent fasting, the reason hunger comes in waves has to do with how your body changes it’s energy source for metabolism. First, the body breaks down sugars (glucose) for energy in the first wave of metabolism. The brain has the highest demand for, and is optimized for sugar (because of how quickly sugar can be converted to energy) as its main energy source. So, once your sugar levels run low, your body begins to switch to fat burning. The second stage of metabolism is called “ketosis” because of the fat molecules being converted into ketone bodies as an energy source. The third stage is protein breakdown.
So, during the transition between stage 1 and 2 metabolism, the brain sends “hunger” signals throughout the body, which causes the stomach to growl. The brain runs more efficiently on sugar than is does on fat, so that is why the brain sends this signal. Once, the transition from stage 1 to 2 is complete and the brain is able to convert the ketone bodies into energy, the “hunger” signals start to die down for a while. Which, is likely long enough to not bother you until your next meal. But just remember, eventually your brain will take over and win that hunger battle because it really wants to run on sugar.
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