Jogging triggers cravings for fruits, swimming for biscuits

Jogging triggers cravings for fruits, while swimming prompts a desire for biscuits, says a new study, which found how our bodies react to different types of exercise.

Jogging triggers cravings for fruits, while swimming prompts a desire for biscuits, says a new study, which found how our bodies react to different types of exercise.

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The study has shown that intensive activity need not increase the appetite but certain workouts result in hankerings for particular foods.

Dr David Stensel of Loughborough University's School of Sport & Exercise Sciences found that some athletes like runners do not feel hungry after sport because their effort suppresses the ghrelin hormone that stimulates appetite – meaning that the calories they burn off are not immediately replaced.

His study suggests that people worried that their exercise regimes will cause them to lose too much weight should turn to swimming, which inspires a craving for fatty food like biscuits and chocolate, or weightlifting, which creates a hunger for potatoes and pasta.

"The body tends to respond to exercise so it can do it more efficiently in future. The lighter you are, the better for long-distance running, so your body will crave watery foods that lower your body temperature by rehydration while not piling on the pounds," the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

"But if you are making your body lift weights, then you will crave carb- and protein-rich foods that will bulk up your muscles. Similarly, if you are regularly swimming in cold water, your body benefits if your brain guides you towards foods that will give you a layer of protective fat," he added.

Stensel said that the body''s different reaction to particular types of exercise stemmed from a combination of physical and psychological factors.

He added that the suppression of appetite experienced by joggers was not corrected after they had recovered from their exertions.

"What is fascinating is the apparently paradoxical fact that people don't seem to overcompensate for missed meals when their body returns to its rest state," he said.

"So if you run for 90 minutes, you will burn around 1,300 calories but will not increase your food intake in the 24 hours after that exercise. In short, you burn all those calories but you don't get hungrier than you would have had you not exercised at all," he added.

The findings are published in his book Influence of Resistance and Aerobic Exercise on Hunger.