Feeling hangry is a much different sensation than healthy hunger. Healthy hunger is a feeling based on a desire for life; it is a pleasant, mild, and comfortable anticipation of a nice meal. However, feeling hangry is a result of stressing the pancreas and liver through unhealthy dietary and lifestyle practices over time. Hangriness also has an immediacy to it and is characterized by feelings of anxiety, impatience, and anger. Unfortunately, most people are more familiar with hangriness than healthy hunger.
It is mistakenly believed that hypoglycemia is caused by too many sweets or too much alcohol, which are actually catalysts, not causes. Excessive consumption of poultry, eggs, hard cheese, baked and/or salty foods, tuna, shellfish, and iced foods and beverages cause excessive production and secretion of insulin. Furthermore, when we have this condition, our pancreas may even react to healthy carbohydrates for a period of time. The pancreas thrives on regularity. Ridding the feelings of being hangry is at first about being kind to your liver and pancreas.
How to Overcome the Hangry Horrors (your partner will love you for it)
—Eat at regular times without skipping meals, especially lunch. Start lunch no later than 1 o’clock.
—Try to avoid eating 2-3 hours before bedtime.
—Base meals around grains, beans, and vegetables.
—Eat sweet vegetables cooked in a variety of ways that bring out their natural sweetness, everyday (onions, carrots, cabbage, daikon, parsnip, squash, and sweet potato)
—Eat plenty of light, refreshing vegetable dishes- the juicier, the better. Napa cabbage and romaine lettuce are good foods for this.
—Use grain-based sweeteners such as barley malt and rice syrup as opposed to sugars, artificial sweeteners, and honey.