The Hunger Game: Know Your Hunger 

Hunger is not just about food for your body. It comes in many flavours and types: physical, emotional, habitual, and sensory. [1] And knowing which one you are dealing with can change everything. 

Understanding hunger is an empowering step on your weight loss journey. It helps you respond with clarity, self-compassion, and control, not guilt or guesswork.  

Let’s play The Hunger Game: Discover the types of hunger we all face, how your body sends the signals, and why a gut-smart strategy, including GLP1 therapy and Forte80™, can bring more calm, comfort, and confidence to your plate. 

1. Physical Hunger – When Your Body Needs Fuel 

What it feels like: 

• Stomach rumbling.
• Fatigue, low energy, brain fog.
• A general openness to food and not a specific craving.

What is happening: 

This is true, biological hunger. Hormones like ghrelin rise to signal it is time to eat. As you start eating, others like GLP-1, PYY, and leptin increase to help you feel full. 

This is the type of hunger GLP-1 medications are designed to regulate. [2]

2. Emotional Hunger – When Feelings Drive Eating 

What it feels like: 

• Urge to eat specific comfort foods (e.g., chocolate, bread, ice cream).
• Comes on suddenly and feels urgent.
• Often tied to emotions like sadness, stress, boredom, or loneliness.

What is happening:  

You are not fuelling your body – you are soothing your feelings. Emotional hunger can override fullness cues and make it harder to distinguish true hunger from emotional coping. It is the inner voice in your head that makes you eat a lot of ice cream and chocolate, even though you know it will now be good for you and lead you to your goals. [3]

3. Sensory Hunger – When Cravings Take Over 

What it feels like: 

• You smell popcorn or see cake and suddenly want to eat.
• You are not really hungry, but it looks or smells too good to resist.
• Often triggered by ads, social events, external factorsor walking past your favorite bakery.

What is really going on:  

This is called hedonic hunger and it is driven by your brain’s reward system, not your body’s need for fuel. Your brain is craving pleasure, not nutrition. 

GLP1 medications can help reduce these cravings a bit, but they do not make them disappear, especially if your gut health is off balance. [4] 

4. Practical Hunger – When Habit Drives Eating 

What it feels like: 

• “It is lunchtime - I should eat something.” 
• Snacking during a movie, or grabbing something every Friday night.
• You are not actually hungry, but you eat anyway, just because it is part of your routine and food is there.

What is really going on: 

This is habit-based hunger. Your brain links certain times of day or activities with eating even if your body is not asking for food. 

GLP1 medications do not change this type of hunger. But awareness and small changes in your routine can help you break the pattern over time. [5]

How GLP-1s and Your Gut Help Rebalance Hunger 

GLP-1s like Ozempic® and Wegovy® reduce physical hunger through several well-documented mechanisms: 

• Delaying gastric emptying: Slows down how quickly food leaves your stomach, helping you feel fuller for longer and eat smaller portions, though it can also lead to side effects like bloating or nausea.
• Suppressing ghrelin: Ghrelin is the primary “hunger hormone” released by the stomach before meals; GLP-1 can lower its levels.
• Enhancing satiety hormones: Including GLP1 itself and PYY (peptide YY), both of which signal to the brain that you're full and satisfied.

These effects help reduce true physiological hunger and improve control over food intake. However, emotional and sensory hunger, like eating in response to stress or the sight and smell of food, can still occur. In fact, once physical hunger is reduced, these non-physical triggers may become more noticeable.  

That is why it is important to become aware of both your body’s genuine hunger signals and the emotional or environmental triggers that can lead to eating, so you can better understand and manage all types of hunger. 

That Is Where Gut Health Comes In

Your gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria living in your digestive system, plays an important role in how your hunger is regulated: 

• Regulating appetite hormones – including GLP1, PYY, and leptin.
• Producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) – like butyrate, which promote satiety and reduce inflammation. 
• Supporting the gut–brain axis – helping regulate mood, stress response, and even cravings. [6] 

A healthy, diverse gut microbiome helps keep hunger signals clear, supports emotional well-being, and may reduce the urge to eat from habit or emotion. 

How Forte80™ Helps You Manage All Kinds of Hunger 

Forte80™ was created to support people using GLP-1 medications on their weight loss journey, helping navigate changes in digestion, appetite, and side effects. 

With 80 billion CFUs and four science-backed strains, Forte80™ helps to: 

• Reduce bloating, constipation, and digestive discomfort.
• Maintain microbiome diversity during dietary changes.
• Support satiety signaling and reduce gut-driven cravings.

Because staying on GLP1 therapy is not just about weight loss, it is about health and happiness on a wonderful journey.  

Final Thought: Know Your Hunger, Own Your Journey 

Not every hunger needs food. But every hunger has a message! By learning to listen to your body and support your gut, you gain control. Not through restriction, but through awareness, compassion, and science. 

GLP1s give your biology the structure. Forte80™ gives your gut the support. Together, they help you respond to hunger with clarity, comfort, and confidence. 

What science says about hunger, cravings, and gut health 

Curious to learn more about what really drives hunger, cravings, and digestion? Explore the studies that explain the complex science behind your appetite, emotional eating, and gut-brain connection. 

• Ghrelin is the key “hunger hormone.”
  Ghrelin: much more than a hunger hormone 
• GLP-1, PYY, and leptin promote satiety and fullness.
  The role of GIPR in food intake control
• Emotional eating activates reward systems in the brain.
  How emotions affect eating: a five-way model
• Stress hormones can disrupt normal hunger and satiety signals.
  Stress, eating and the reward system
• Dopamine plays a major role in food cravings and hedonic hunger.
  Metabolic and hedonic drives in the neural control of appetite: who is the boss?
• Visual and smell cues can stimulate appetite even when you're full.
  The first taste is always with the eyes: A meta-analysis on the neural correlates of processing visual food cues
• Habitual hunger is shaped by learned behaviour and environmental cues.
  The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis 
• Dysbiosis (gut imbalance) can increase inflammation and food cravings.
  The Western Diet–Microbiome-Host Interaction and Its Role in Metabolic Disease 
• Short-chain fatty acids, produced when gut bacteria break down fibre, help regulate your metabolism and support your immune system.
  From Dietary Fiber to Host Physiology: Short-Chain Fatty Acids as Key Bacterial Metabolites

1. McMahon, L.-T. Real hunger or hunger games? Types of hunger and how to manage it. Nutritionist Resource. 2024. 
   
2. Sun, X., et al. Neural and hormonal mechanisms of appetite regulation during eating. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2025. 
   
3. Macht, M. How emotions affect eating: a five-way model. Appetite. 2008. 
   
4. Lowe, M.R., et al. Hedonic hunger: A new dimension of appetite? Drexel University. 2007. 
   
5. van 't Riet, J. P., et al. (2011). The importance of habits in eating behaviour: An overview and recommendations for future research. Appetite, 57(3), 585–596. 
6. Morrison, D. J., et al. (2016). Formation of short chain fatty acids by the gut microbiota and their impact on human metabolism. Gut Microbes, 7(3), 189–200.