We tend to think of hunger as a simple biological signal - your body needs fuel, so your stomach growls. But science tells us it is not that straightforward. In fact, much of what we call hunger is actually a learned habit.
Over a century ago, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered that dogs began to salivate not only when food appeared but also when they saw the technician who usually fed them (Pavlov’s Dog Theory). Eventually, even the sound of a bell - consistently paired with food - was enough to trigger the same response. This is known as a conditioned response. The same thing happens to us with hunger.
Hunger Starts in the Brain
Research shows that the hunger hormone, ghrelin, rises at predictable times of day - usually just before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This spike is not necessarily about our biological energy needs, but about expectation. We have trained our bodies to anticipate food at certain times. If you normally snack between meals, those extra hunger waves will also appear. In other words, the more often you eat, the more often you feel hungry.
This explains why the old idea of grazing on six small meals a day never lived up to the hype. Instead of stabilising appetite, it trains your body to expect food constantly, leaving you chasing hunger all day. Your body already has a built-in fuel reserve in the form of stored fat - designed for exactly those times when you are not eating. If you are always topping up, you never give your body the chance to tap into this resource.
Rethinking Hunger
The good news is hunger is not a steadily rising force that becomes unbearable if ignored. Ghrelin comes in waves. If you ride the wave without eating, it naturally subsides as your body draws on its stored energy. This is why skipping a meal often feels difficult at first, but then surprisingly manageable after an hour or two. Over time, your hunger cues adapt, and you simply get hungry less often.
A Practical Tip
Most things we do to ward off hunger actually make us hungry! Instead of focusing on suppressing hunger with endless snacks, try eating less often. Whether that means three meals without snacks, or experimenting with fasting periods, you may find that managing two hunger waves per day is far easier than battling six. By changing your eating patterns, you can retrain your hunger - and free yourself from feeling like food controls you.
