If you’ve started a weight-loss plan or you’ve been on one before, then you know how hard it may be to control hunger throughout the day. 

Hunger can happen for a number of reasons.

A sudden drop in calories … not eating enough … and sometimes being dehydrated can lead to hunger feelings.

But the most likely reason why you’re always hungry when you start a diet has to do with hormones.

You see, there are hormones that “talk” to your brain, and tell you when you need to eat, or when you don’t.

And when these hormones are unbalanced, it could result in that hungry feeling.

And the easiest way to reverse this trend is simply to eat more protein.

When you eat protein, it signals your body to release less ghrelin. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells your brain that you are hungry. Protein blunts your stomach’s ability to release ghrelin, which dampens feelings of hunger. 

If you aren’t as hungry during the day, you’re likely to eat fewer calories, which is the key to weight loss.

But there’s another reason to eat more protein … and that is to add more muscle to your body. When you have protein at each meal, and a protein shake after a strength workout, you are optimizing your body’s ability to build and repair muscle. Muscle burns calories abd helps you excel in day-to-day functions in life. Also, retaining more muscle the older we get  is associated with a longer life and higher quality of life. 

So…if you’re just starting out on a diet and you’re feeling hungry all the time, you may need to increase your protein intake.

And you can do this by eating more lean cuts of meat, wild-caught fatty fish, free-range poultry, protein shakes, and of course, plant-based protein sources.

What's one step you can take today to get more protein in your meals?