Latest / FitMitTuro Fitness Podcast / The Hidden Hunger: Why You’re Craving Sugar, Tired, and “Doing Everything Right” - And How to Fix It

Transcript

The Hidden Hunger: Why You’re Craving Sugar, Tired, and “Doing Everything Right” - And How to Fix It · FitMitTuro Fitness Podcast

• 1:07
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Hey, it's Turo here, and welcome back to the fit me Turo fitness Podcast.
• 1:09
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Today, I want to talk something about that so many of my clients, and honestly, even I personally, have struggled with at some point so and what I'm talking about is that when you know that feeling when you are eating healthy, doing the workouts, maybe even tracking your calories, but you are still tired, moody and craving sugar or snacks in the evening, and that's what I call hidden hunger. So it's not just about food, it's your body's saying
• 1:50
  Unknown: really neat,
• 1:52
  Turo Virta (Zoom): like your body is trying to talk with you, but you are not listening it, or you are not understanding what your body tries to tell you. And then that's the moment when you are thinking that you know you are doing and trying so hard, but that you don't see visible results, or you see you think that you are seeing way too little results what you should be seeing, because you are doing everything right, and you are giving so much effort, but seeing so less results. So this is, this is what we are going to go deeper today. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave five star review, as those are helping so many people to find this episode so and by the way, thank you for all of those who already did that because they they are I. I love reading them. I love watching, unfortunately or I'm not getting always some notifications. But if I once I check them, I look at them, I try to reply personally. If I haven't replied to you back personally, I'm really sorry I that that's my intention. Is to reply to every email, every comment, everything what I get when I just scan so apologize if I haven't been able to reach out back to you, but thank you so much. I really, really appreciate it. So I have a couple stories, what is related for this, this topic, and one, I always love to tell these kind of stories from my either from myself, or from clients I have worked with the past 10 years. As it's now 10 years that I'm officially doing this, and I've been lucky, all over the world, from USA, from Australia, from from Asia, from Europe. Of course, I'm living personally in Italy, and this is, this is what, what I love in this that it's even there is a different environment, different culture, but the principles, they are always the same. It doesn't matter which part of the world you are living because these are principles that apply everywhere. And one of my clients is Samia. And Samia, we have been working, it's now over three years together, and it's, it's as the Samia lives in, in Myanmar, it's not originally from there, but but works in Myanmar, and that is like for me, from someone who is living in Italy and coming from different culture and and, of course, like we talk many times, there is a different kind of sources of food. You don't have access everything what, for example, I do have here in Italy. But these principles are still the same, and it might be more challenging to do same same things, but the principles are still the same. So Samir couldn't understand why she was craving sweets every single night, and because she was eating clean, having oatmeal, salads, smoothies, but felt hungry two hours later, and then, when we were looking a little bit closer, her meals were actually low in protein and low in calories early in the day. So her body was simply underfoiled. And that was that is a very, very common people I work with that you are early like, there is nothing like I of course, there are people who are doing intermittent fasting. Are persons who are not naturally enjoying eating breakfast or or can't eat breakfast. It's that.
• 6:19
  Turo Virta (Zoom): It's just that feeling that you can't have. You can't you are not hungry earlier, early in the morning, or or something. But those are patterns like that, that they are, they are very individual, and you have to look what you are actually, what what they could be leading, what you could be doing in your situation. And and for Samia, that fixed was that when we started to add 25, to 30 grams of protein at breakfast or before 10am so was, if you are not you have to get up early in the morning, and you are not feeling like Eating six o'clock something, it can be also later.
• 7:03
  Turo Virta (Zoom): We high protein yogurt with chia seeds or eggs with coated cheese, and within already a week, she said that I don't even think about chocolate after dinner anymore, and because that was, that was the fix, what was not that? What why it was happened, because that her body wasn't fighting her, it was finally getting what it needed.
• 7:37
  Turo Virta (Zoom): And those are, those are, like, it's, it's very, very hard, like, as you are thinking that I'm, getting everything I'm eating pretty, pretty healthy.
• 7:48
  Turo Virta (Zoom): But these, then these cravings are happening for some reason.
• 7:52
  Turo Virta (Zoom): And you know, I you might have tried that willpower method and and you are trying to it works often, maybe week, maybe two, maybe even a month two, depending on your willpower or level of willpower. But at some point it's, it's, you can't resist it. And when these things that are causing it, it's, it's just such an eye opener like that. For example, Samia, it was like, Oh my God, that this is, I can't believe this is actually happening, because if you are not used to it, you don't know what it means. Once you tried it, these different kind of things. And then, you know, of course, I'm not saying that it's every time it's going to work, but if you are keeping keep trying different things or or these are different kind of strategies, like, because for me as as a as a coach, my job is not to tell that you have to do this. You have to, you can do that. You know those are, those are like that is not what I found out like that in in a with the experience that there is no one solution that works for everyone. So you have to find the base what your personal preferences and then, like, as a coach, my job is to provide you different kind of strategies, like giving you examples that what you would say, like, let's say that I give you three different strategies.
• 9:25
  Turo Virta (Zoom): What of these three you could imagine to do, let's say, five years from now, and if there is something like, oh, this, I might be trying, you try it, then you see that, oh, wow, this actually helped so much. And then, you know, it's, it's that idea is not coming from me, that who is telling you that, oh, here is your calories, here is your amount of workouts, what you should be doing. Here is the foods, what you can eat, what you can't eat. And because that kind of method, it's It's always like that, you know, you might be in the beginning, you might be wanting to do it, but then at some point, sooner than later, usually you are coming to a point that, oh, this is, I can't take it.
• 10:19
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Very good at that, this self talk, what we are going with ourselves, that all these fields now in right today is it's impossible to follow these rules what you have. But once you have those kind of rules, they you have made them so simple for yourself that it feels like that. This is almost like that.
• 10:40
  Turo Virta (Zoom): You are not even doing so much differently. You are just adding few things. Then that's the point when you start to make these changes for life that last for for life and not just for you. Don't have that question that how long I will take this time? So this is just the first quick story about Samia. Then about there is Ingrid. Ingrid is we have been working, also already over two years, at this point or two years, exactly. He often said earlier that I eat normal beef, I eat normal meals, but I always hit the wall at 3pm and when we dragged her nutrition, she was often skipping lunch or eating something smaller, like kind of light lunch, like fruits or crackers. And so by the afternoon, her blood sugar was dropping and her brain wanted fast energy, and that's why she reached for sweets or bread, not saying that bread is bad or sweets are bad, but because not that didn't happen, because she was missing willpower or lacking willpower, but because her body needed stable energy, and we fixed that with the balanced meal like protein fiber and healthy carbs, and her energy went from crashing daily to and that's what I call hidden hunger in action. And what is then, what is then that science behind hidden hunger? So, because I want to talk a little bit about science, why, why this is, this is actually happening.
• 12:42
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Because this is not just coach talking or, or, you know that what is, what is, you know this is this happened for this person, because they there is, there is a science behind and that here is what actually is happening. So when you are under eating, or you are eating actually too little protein, fiber or total calories, your body releases hormones like Helling. That's the like kind of hunger signal and suppresses leptin. It's that. It's hormone.
• 13:21
  Turo Virta (Zoom): What sends you that full feeling. And you are technically eating, your brain doesn't register satisfaction. So what it means you are going to crave carbs. You are snacking emotionally, and you feel like something is missing, and it is missing and because, if this pattern continues, your metabolism is going to adapt.
• 13:51
  Turo Virta (Zoom): And so it slows down. It slows down to conserve energy, something called adaptive thermogenesis. So this is, this is a little bit kind of science talk, I'm not even able to pronounce and english is not my first language, so I'm not even able to pronounce those words correctly. So apologize, but there were interesting studies like I'm I have been so passionately reading about all these like, why it's actually happened almost 10 years ago. There was a interesting study from National Institutes of Health that they found after long periods of restriction, the metabolism can drop by 10 to 15% and hunger hormones stay elevated for months. So that is why you can feel constantly, consistently hungry, even if you are eating kind of normal amount and normal foods, but your body is still trying to recover. So that is, that is when you think that those two hormones, they are the most important hunger hormones, clean and leptin, you can do a little research by yourself, and it's there are many, many, many things that it's not only about food, is there is other factors.
• 15:35
  Turo Virta (Zoom): What I'm going to talk is, what are affecting and then if you are going to add, for example, stress, lack of sleep, into that mix, and now your hormones are really, really out of balance.
• 15:52
  Turo Virta (Zoom): So cortisol, it's your stress hormone, it's going to increase.
• 15:57
  Turo Virta (Zoom): So of course, when you have more stress, your cortisol is going to increase. And that again, it leads, it drives cravings for sugar and comfort food. So if you you are stressed, you have higher cortisol, and it means that you are going to crave it.
• 16:16
  Turo Virta (Zoom): There is nothing wrong with you.
• 16:19
  Turo Virta (Zoom): It's totally normal thing that you are going to when you are like, I don't know who, any person, or very, very few who are when you are stressed that you are reaching out for salads or vegetables or something, it's going
• 16:36
  Unknown: to be you, should you?
• 16:50
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Density foods like which often include something with sugar and and then when you are sleep deprived, yo, so it means that you are sleeping like I hear so many people are telling that, you know, I don't need. I need I'm totally fine after six hours of sleep, sleep, but there is some statistics which are telling that there are three pros and around around 3% of people who are actually with less than seven hours of sleep on average, sleep are doing okay? So it could be that you are one of the three pros and but most people who are telling it are not. They are just missing it. They think that you know you are going through your days. You have your seven, eight coffees, and you will be okay.
• 17:44
  Turo Virta (Zoom): You will be functioning, able to do all the asks. But it means that also your hormones, those hunger hormones, that crayline is going to go up and lipting is going to go down. So again, we are having less fullness signal.
• 18:00
  Turo Virta (Zoom): We have more that hunger signal.
• 18:06
  Turo Virta (Zoom): So you feel hungry, you have less fullness signals. So that's why, often what happens like if you pay attention after a bad night of sleep, you crave bread, you crave sugar, you crave coffee, and there is no salad that feels satisfying. So if you have ever thought that I eat fine, but I'm always craving, it's not the mindset problem.
• 18:32
  Turo Virta (Zoom): That's biology. So it's, it's, there is nothing. Those are just scientific proven facts which are actually affecting for i Ah, and it's called biology.
• 18:52
  Turo Virta (Zoom): There is nothing wrong that nothing wrong with you or what you are doing. So how then you can actually fix this hidden hunger. So this is, I want to make this like a practical course. You know, it's, it's my job. I would be talking about science, what is happening. But if you don't know like that, you might be asking what I should throw what I should be actually doing, like you just prescribe me, what I how I am, how I'm feeling, what I should be doing.
• 19:27
  Turo Virta (Zoom): So this is how I help my clients to fix those, what I call hidden hunger. So I call it the core for reset. So step number one is always protein early. So aim for 25 to 30 grams before 10am so this stabilize today, because if you are like I would say that 85 90% of people who I start working with, they are under eating protein. And it's you might think that often what I hear is that I'm eating protein, I have a egg, I have a I eat some protein. But it's totally different thing to actually aim to hit your protein goals than just trying to or just eating some protein.
• 20:26
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Because, if you have no idea how much of protein you are eating, it's you have, you are most likely under eating it even, even because, if you, if you, let's say, example, you make 70 kilos, you should aim at least 100 grams of protein. So 1.61 point at least 1.5 gram per protein per kilo body weight. Or if you use it's one gram per pound of body weight, so or cold body weight, if you have light weight to lose, it's of course, number is a little bit different than how depending on your leanness, but just a little principle, what you should be aiming for. Then step number two is having daily fiber, so 25 to 30 grams of from fruits, vegetables, oats, lentils, for example, this is keeping digestion and full and steady. So those are two kind of macronutrients, or nutrients, protein and fiber, which are satiating the most with less possible calories. So that's why it's so important. And instead of, instead of, like often people I work with, they are thinking that I'm eating too much of this and this and this all starts when you make sure that you are eating enough protein, especially earlier in the day. You are eating enough fiber throughout the day and then automatically, without actually even trying to restrict something, you will reduce. Your cravings will reduce, and you are eating less something else.
• 22:21
  Turo Virta (Zoom): So it's kind of same effect.
• 22:25
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Just feel so much easier thinking in top outside, adding things instead of taking things away. And what is Then step number three is also adding something. It's what I call movement. And of course, this, I'm sure you know it. It's those steps and strength training. So daily steps like at least 8000 steps should be a goal, of course, depends if you are averaging, at the moment, 3000 steps. Maybe aim for 4000 5000 graduating.
• 23:14
  Turo Virta (Zoom): At least 8000 ideally, of course, 10,000 or even more. But it's just, I know it's for some people, it's not realistically possible, but there are so many little things you could be doing. And strength training is the other thing. If you are getting two, three times per week, some kind of resistance training in you are going to you are improving your insulin sensitivity, and you are going to stabilize your cravings. So, so that is kind of the movement, what you should be doing. And then step number four, you might guess it, it's, it's asleep at least seven hours, seven, eight hours per night, because they were just why you might think that, you know, I don't have time to sleep or or I can't sleep so much. It sounds almost impossible. Just a quick example, like I was, I like to science behind and, and I know if you have there is a 2022 was a Harvard study. They found, found out that people sleeping under six hours ate an average of 385 calories, extra calories per day, mostly from snacks. So if you are someone who is sleeping not even six hours or under six hours per day, you don't have to wonder that you are eating more than people who are actually sleeping more. So there is a science is proving this, with the studies that that it's just an average almost 400 extra calories more just fixing sleep. So if you add, if you are able to add that one extra hour of sleep, you are automatically going to eat less. So it's not, of course, it these are, these are fixes that you step past.
• 25:12
  Turo Virta (Zoom): You don't probably need to do everything at the same time, but once you start to focus on these things, even one thing at the time, you start to realize that you are going to snack less, you are going to feel less that hidden hunger, and you understand that you don't need perfection. You need what you need is consistency in these four pillars. And once you start to focus on these four things, everything else comes automatically in a spot, and then another story. It's one of my favorite stories. It's about Sylvia. We recorded a podcast episode together, so you can go back check my podcast episode.
• 25:59
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Can't remember. It's a while ago, but she used to think that she had no willpower. So she was eating with her words, I she didn't. She was counting little bit, thinking like she's eating 1200 calories a day, working out five times a week, and couldn't understand why she was always exhausted, and when I told her we are going to eat more, she thought I was gay. Turo, you are crazy that there is no way that eating more, but this what happened. So we used a method called reverse dieting, and we increased her calories gradually, from 1200 to 2000 slowly and within two months, I think it was two three months, we we cut her from 1000 2300 calories, what she was eating daily. We got her maintenance calories to 2000 and you can imagine that that is almost doubling her.
• 27:24
  Turo Virta (Zoom): I feel like a human again. Her workouts improved. You can imagine she had a lot more energy to work out. Cravings were dropping, and she the funniest thing is that she finally started losing fat.
• 27:37
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Because why this happened? You might think that this is the most controversial thing, because you know, to lose fat, you need to eat less. You have to move more. But this is reverse dieting. Is something that that if you don't understand what is actually happening, your body is trying to talk with you. It's it's impossible. Your body is trying to protect all core functions and what happened with Sylvia is that her metabolism wasn't in that kind of, what I call survival mode anymore. There is no like starvation mode, but it's it's her metabolism higher, and which was already like when you are you are doing these kind of things, like what you might not be even be noticing you don't see it in your step amounts. But the way, how you are talking, your facial impressions, are you using your hands when you are talking?
• 28:42
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Because if you are under, eating, under sleeping over, training or more. I in, like, in this case, if you, if you are doing all these things, they are impacting its kind of cycle. And it's, it's so hard to understand that at this point, what you actually need is to give your body what it needs, because to work out five times a week, eating so little it's it might work in the beginning, but if you are in this cycle, doing this already for longer, you are not seeing results. There is very big chance that your metabolism have adapted. And there is, I have full episodes about reverse dieting. So if you think that this is your case, please go to my all episodes, check out episodes about about reverse dieting, and you will find probably something that is going to help it you. So what is the was this emotional, that hidden hunger isn't just physical. So when you are under eating or over restricting, your brain is constantly scanning for comfort and relief, and food becomes often that outlet. So next time when you find yourself snacking late at night, pause and ask yourself, Am I actually hungry? Or am I tired? Am I stressed, or am I underfoot? And you might find it's not about the food. It's about your body.
• 30:17
  Turo Virta (Zoom): It's about what your body is missing elsewhere, and hardest things actually, to understand that there is something else that your body might be missing, somewhere else, not just food, not about willpower, but something else. So if you remember one thing from this episode, let it be this. You are not broken. You are just underfold. Feel your feed, your body balance, your hormones and consistency will feel effortless again, and the magic happens not when you eat less, but when you eat better. So if this episode hit home, share it with a friend who has been feeling stuck, or DM me on my instagram at personal trainer, under Line Turo or or email me Turo at fit me turo.com and tell me your biggest aha moment, and if you want to help figuring out how much you should actually eat or wonders.
• 31:24
  Unknown: But that
• 31:29
  Turo Virta (Zoom): balance is nutrition and energy. You can check out my coaching options and free calorie and protein calculator and other free tools at personaltainer turo.com Remember, progress doesn't come from eating less. It comes from giving your body what it needs.
• 31:44
  Turo Virta (Zoom): Thank you so much for listening.
• 31:49
  Turo Virta (Zoom): If you are still here, I really, really appreciate it, and I can't wait to talk with you next week. Again. You.