# Why do apples make you hungry?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 29, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094 "2015-05-29T03:45:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TheUser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheUser)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/1 "2015-05-29T03:45:36Z")
I’ve searched a lot and haven’t been able to find an authoritative, satisfying answer.
Not only I but apparently many other people have noticed that even after a huge satiating meal, eating an apple for desert will then result in hunger pangs 15 min. later, as if no meal had been eaten.
Thanks
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/2 "2015-05-29T11:20:58Z")
> [@TheUser](#):
>
> Not only I but apparently many other people have noticed that even after a huge satiating meal, eating an apple for desert will then result in hunger pangs 15 min. later, as if no meal had been eaten.
I’ve never noticed that, and I often have fruit for dessert.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/3 "2015-05-29T11:24:50Z")
Neither noticed nor heard of this before.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/4 "2015-05-29T11:29:39Z")
Lets test your assertion… If you eat more than one apple for dessert are you then hungrier or less hungry?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/5 "2015-05-29T11:50:24Z")
Not a full-up GQ answer, but IMO/IME …
Apples are sweeter than most folks think. They’re pretty darn glycemic. That may provoke a small blood sugar spike/crash in some sensitive people.
The traditional gibe about eating Chinese food and being hungry again in 30 minutes is similar. The white rice is pretty glycemic and many sauces have/had a bunch of sugar in them. Sugar-laden sauces were pretty rare in other American cuisine back in the '60s when the typical Chinese restaurants & takeouts became mainstream and the joke about the being hungry again gained currency.
Certainly not everyone will have this experience. And nobody is hungrier after eating 2 or 3 or 4 apples. But folks whose hunger system is more glycemic-driven than stomach fullness-driven may experience this.
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### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/6 "2015-05-29T13:27:43Z")
I don’t know about apples after a meal (especially if that meal has protein in it) making you hungry, but most days I eat an apple and peanut butter around 9:30. If I eat just an apple, by 11:00, I’m ravenous. But with the peanut butter, I’m fine till lunch.
My theory is that the apple by itself spikes my blood sugar levels then is gone, leaving me with high insulin levels. If I eat protein with it (in the form of peanut butter), after I’ve burned off the relatively simple carbohydrates of the apple, my body has broken down the more complex peanut butter and is now using that for energy.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/7 "2015-05-29T13:30:17Z")
Between the fat and the protein, PB is a very effective glycemic moderator.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/8 "2015-05-29T13:42:19Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#):
>
> Neither noticed nor heard of this before.
Try skipping your regular breakfast tomorrow and just having an apple. At least for me, if all I eat for breakfast is an apple, I’m ravenous by 9:30 am but if I don’t eat anything at all, I may be hungry but not distractedly so until about 11:30.
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### Author:  [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/9 "2015-05-29T14:43:51Z")
I have never noticed the OP’s assertion. However, I have found that eating a bite or two of apple relieves the discomfort after I overeat.
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/10 "2015-05-29T14:44:26Z")
I agree with the OP and this is why I have a hard time eating fruits and vegetables alone when trying to eat better. I get hungrier even as I am eating them and feel more than empty afterwards.
Fruits and vegetables and drinking water – all healthful things and all things that make me even hungrier!
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/11 "2015-05-29T15:20:03Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> Lets test your assertion… If you eat more than one apple for dessert are you then hungrier or less hungry?
Logical conclusion: fill you belly with apples and starve to death. :eek:
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### Author:  [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/12 "2015-05-29T15:31:17Z")
I read somewhere that apples are good for acid reflux. Apples are alkaline and contain a lot of water (compared to meat or bread, for example). Would they have any effect on the acid in your stomach, and could the water and alkaline affect your stomach receptors that tell you you’re full, or is this all a bunch of woo?
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### Author:  [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/13 "2015-05-29T15:36:14Z")
I have had a similar a experience with bananas. If I am feeling a bit peckish in the office at about 4 PM and eat a banana, I soon after am ravenous to the point of feeling weak.
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### Author:  [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/14 "2015-05-29T16:53:59Z")
> [@JustinC](#):
>
> Apples are alkaline and contain a lot of water (compared to meat or bread, for example).
Apples are alkaline? Eat a Winesap, Braeburn or King David and tell me it’s alkaline. Apple juice has a pH of 3.35 to 4. Seven is neutral, alkaline is over seven.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/15 "2015-05-29T17:20:43Z")
Never notcied this, in fact as a snak I find them quite filling.
In fact apples have a quite high satiety index:[http://calorielab.com/news/2008/04/25/the-satiety-index-comparing-apples-and-oranges/](http://calorielab.com/news/2008/04/25/the-satiety-index-comparing-apples-and-oranges/)
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/16 "2015-05-29T21:13:12Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> Try skipping your regular breakfast tomorrow and just having an apple. At least for me, if all I eat for breakfast is an apple, I’m ravenous by 9:30 am but if I don’t eat anything at all, I may be hungry but not distractedly so until about 11:30.
Does that have anything to do with the fact that it’s an apple, or the fact that you ate something, but not much?
If I ate just ~90 calories of _anything_ for breakfast, I think I’d be hungry more quickly than if I skipped breakfast until later.
I often eat apples as an afternoon snack, and I have found that they sate my hunger as well as other snacks.
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### Author:  [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/17 "2015-05-29T23:39:52Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#):
>
> Apples are alkaline? Eat a Winesap, Braeburn or King David and tell me it’s alkaline. Apple juice has a pH of 3.35 to 4. Seven is neutral, alkaline is over seven.
The OP stated ‘apples’, not a certain type and certainly not juice, but thanks for clarifying what number is alkaline.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/18 "2015-05-29T23:44:58Z")
Apples are not alkaline.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/19 "2015-05-29T23:48:36Z")
> [@TheUser](#):
>
> I’ve searched a lot and haven’t been able to find an authoritative, satisfying answer.
>
> Not only I but apparently many other people have noticed that even after a huge satiating meal, eating an apple for desert will then result in hunger pangs 15 min. later, as if no meal had been eaten.
>
> Thanks
I have noticed the effect you’re describing. I won’t eat apples unless I know I have other food to hand. I get powerful, clawing hunger pangs (in fact more intense than I ever get even if I am hungry from fasting)
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### Author:  [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-apples-make-you-hungry/721094/20 "2015-05-30T00:34:37Z")
I notice the same thing with apples. Back when they tasted good, I could deal with it, but now? Feh.
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