Why is it that when you are hungry and you drink a lot of water, you never actually feel “full”?
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Other commenters are correct in that hunger is triggered by a desire for carbs, protein, and fat, but there are specific cells in your stomach designed to quench hunger and provide reward (dopamine) upon ingestion of food. These cells detect how ‘stretched’ your stomach is by its contents (food, liquid, etc). When ‘stretched’ by normal food, they trigger temporary satiety (the feeling of being full) until the stomach is cleared, at which point you’re absorbing glucose into the blood from the intestines, a separate mechanism used to trigger satiety.
Compare this to when your stomach is ‘stretched’ by only water. You achieve temporary satiety from the period of time during which the water is stretching your stomach (15-30 minutes, it is absorbed through the stomach walls) but achieve no long-term satiety as your intestines absorb no nutritional content.
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