3: You're bolting your food
Eating too fast can lead to overeating because it takes 20 minutes for the digestive system to report back to the brain that the body feels full. Dieticians advise eating "mindfully" - slowly, without distraction and savouring your food - and stopping when you feel medium-full. Studies reported less binge-eating and less emotional eating when eating mindfully.
4: It could be diabetes
In uncontrolled diabetes where levels of blood glucose remain abnormally high - a condition known as hyperglycemia - glucose from the blood cannot enter the cells, due to either a lack of insulin or insulin resistance, so the body can't convert the food you eat into energy. This leads to an an increase in hunger (coupled with dramatic weight loss).
5: Maybe you're depressed
Emotional overeating happens when a person eats large quantities of food in response to negative emotions. With normal hunger, the desire to eat comes on gradually, is satisfied with a full stomach, is not urgent in nature and a range of foods seems appealing. But with emotional eating, the desire is urgent, is not satisfied with a full stomach, and often involves craving foods high in fat or sugar and leaves the eater feeling guilty or ashamed.
6: You're actually thirsty
Nutritionists say it's easy to confuse hunger and thirst: some people will snack in the mistaken belief they are hungry when in fact they are dehydrated. In one clinical study, 37 per cent of people confused thirst with hunger. This is because the thirst mechanism is relatively weak, kicking in only when the body is dehydrated - defined as losing two per cent of your body weight due to sweat loss or in urine.
7: You're a junk-food junkie
Research has shown that foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt may be addictive and can cause changes in the pleasure centres of the brain. It's a similar process to the way drug use can lead to addiction. Studies of laboratory animals have shown that rats that binge on sugar can show signs of dependency.
8: Blame the diet
Feeling deprived because you're trying to follow a strict eating regime can often cause dieters to "break" their diet and eat a forbidden food. The overwhelming guilt that follows, coupled with low self-esteem, can then prompt the dieter to carry on over-consuming the food they previously avoided to dull negative feelings.
9: It's the drugs
There are several drugs that are known to boost appetite as a side effect. This group of drugs includes anti-histamines and a type of anti-depressant, known as a tricyclic anti-depressant (TCA), which affects neurotransmitters of the brain. TCAs may also be used to treat migraine headaches. Doctors may prescribe a newer class of anti-depressant, called a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI), that is not usually associated with weight gain.
10: Unlikely... but you may be harbouring a parasite!
Parasitic tapeworms, which can grow to between 15ft and 30ft in length, can live in the gut where they consume your food, leaving you hungry even after meals. Although extremely rare in the developed world, it's possible to contract tapeworm from undercooked meat or dirty water. If you're concerned, a stool test can identify the presence of a parasite or parasitic eggs. Tapeworms can be treated with medication, or can leave the body by themselves.
- Mail On Sunday
