A scene from the 1978 western comedy “Goin’ South” is not easy to forget. At a wild get-together with his old gang, Jack Nicholson’s character asks, “Anybody hungry?”

A scraggly-looking fellow spits out that he’s so hungry, he could “eat a frozen dog.”

“Well, we’ll just go out to the kitchen and see if we got one already froze,” Nicholson replies.

That would be a fairly accurate description of hunger, say scientists who study such things. Hunger is a physical feeling that drives us to seek food. And it can be uncomfortable if eating is delayed too long.

Hunger has varying levels. I might feel more hungry for dinner when my lunch has been smaller than usual. But it’s not the same level as being so hungry you can’t sleep.

Appetite is somewhat different. It is more a desire to eat, sometimes whether we’re hungry or not. For example, I might be completely satisfied after eating dinner and still want to eat a bag of popcorn at the movie. That’s appetite.

Who cares? If we can understand the differences between wanting to eat and needing to eat, perhaps we can make better choices, say experts.

Turns out our quest to eat—as well as our feeling of satisfaction after eating—is controlled in large part by hormones. Two of the main ones are ghrelin and leptin. When your stomach is needing food, ghrelin sends hunger signals to your brain. Then after you eat and your tummy is satisfied, ghrelin shuts down and lepin tells your brain you are no longer hungry.

It’s complicated but research has shed some light on how we can help these hormones do their job most efficiently. Want to control your appetite and avoid overeating? Include protein-rich foods with each meal such as eggs, dairy foods, fish, meat, poultry, soy and nuts. Results from several studies published in a 2020 issue of Physiology of Behavior concluded that eating protein “suppresses appetite and decreases ghrelin.”

When and how much we eat during the day may also influence our appetites, say researchers. A 2022 randomized controlled feeding trial (the best type of study) published in Cell Metabolism looked at how the timing and amount of meals throughout the day affected the hunger and appetite of 30 overweight men and women who wanted to lose weight.

Compared to eating fewer calories in the morning and more in the evening, the participants who ate more calories for breakfast and fewer calories in the evening reported significantly less hunger during the day.

And tune in to your level of stress, which can cause appetite hormones to go haywire. Rummaging through the cabinet for comfort food at the end of long day might be one signal.

Good news. Exercise controls stress and also helps control an overactive appetite. So does eating regular meals and getting a good night’s sleep.

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