Nature’s Appetite Managers

May 24, 2012

I had spent the greater part of 20 years on the edge of a binge.  I had no idea then how much I was aiding and abetting that process, and had just resigned myself to the fact that that’s just how it was going to be for me.  I was a food addict and had no doubt exacerbated the problem with my historically extreme eating behaviors.  I was just going to have to learn to manage it environmentally and live with it.

Turns out, there are lots of natural biochemical ways to manipulate appetite and, not surprisingly, many of us are unknowingly manipulating it in the wrong direction!  We also sometimes overlook the obvious and rush to place an inordinate amount of blame for our overeating solely on our emotions.  I can’t tell you how many times a client has relayed a long, involved explanation of the emotional backdrop to an overeating episode when the reality also was:  they hadn’t eaten in say 7 hours, slept only 3 hours the night before, and an open box of their favorite cookies was on the counter.  I mean really, even in my best mood on my best day….

To be sure, I don’t want to discount emotional eating.  It is certainly the most frequent explanation I hear for overeating, but we are swimming against the evolutionary tide if we try to ignore or thwart our own physiology.  Emotions create chemical pathways for one thing, and nature goes to some pretty extreme lengths to “nudge” us to eat.  Our physical body wants to survive, and frankly we wouldn’t be here if our ancestors hadn’t developed the physiological wherewithal to live through famines.

This explains a lot.  Have you ever wondered if you are missing, or perhaps have broken, a few of your biochemical off-buttons?  Armed with this information, you have new options.  How hopeful it is to learn that you may have been inadvertently making your cravings and desire to overeat ten times worse.  Instead of relying solely on the behavioral steps you can take that manage this from the outside in, you can now begin reprogramming your appetite chemistry too. You can actually make it easier from the inside out.

Here are just a few of the hormones and neuropeptides created inside our own bodies that push appetite in one direction or the other.  See how you can take advantage of these natural appetite regulators rather than being the innocent victim of their powerful influence.

Neuropeptide Y is a potent appetite stimulating protein that promotes carbohydrate and sugar cravings. Especially when the body has been underfed during the day, it lays in wait and will rise as soon you unsuspectingly pop a little something in your mouth. Then all hell breaks loose. Sound familiar? I had always thought I was forced to starve in pay back for my predictable evening strip mining of my kitchen, never realizing that I had it backwards, that the day time starving made those binges all but inevitable.

Worse or perhaps better (depending on what you do with it), it can “imprint” on your brain’s craving control center the pleasure of the first thing you eat when you are very hungry so that in the future these foods, especially when it’s baked goods and sweets, become particular triggers – like they needed any help.

Why not take advantage of this process by deliberately feeding yourself (or your kids) the foods that are healthy, that you want to like more when you are really hungry?  For example, putting out on the counter a platter of veggies and dip or cut up fruit for when your kids get home from school.  This cool little trick of biochemistry can actually help you all enjoy them more.

Ghrelin is a hormone released in the stomach lining that stimulates appetite. It is highest in the middle of the night (which explains a lot, fellow 50-something women!). It is increased with lack of sleep, which in part explains why missing or interrupted sleep (as well as shift work) is statistically associated with being overweight.  Of course, you don’t actually have to respond to the stimulus to eat more, or you could respond by eating “free” vegetables with some taste enhancing fat, but you will likely genuinely feel hungrier when you are overtired.   And, chalk up another “soft dollar” benefit of exercise…it decreases this hormone.

Leptin is a hormone produced in fat cells whose job it is to tell the hypothalamus that the fat cells are full and to turn off appetite. Studies show that it is decreased with lack of sleep also and bear this out by repeatedly demonstrating the relationship between obesity and the habit of consistently sleeping less than 6 hours. Since overweight people are, surprisingly, not lacking this hormone, it is believed that the excess fat actually creates leptin resistance. So, it’s there, but it’s not working. In a bizarre twist of nature, the heavier you get, the hungrier you may stay. The best solution?  Weight loss.

In the 2012 NY Times Magazine article “Do You Have To Be Super Human To Lose Weight” the author indicated there are early studies demonstrating that many of these biochemical changes (that reduce metabolism or increase cravings for calorie dense foods) brought about by obesity or repeated weight gains and losses may be able to reverse themselves after a few years of weight loss maintenance.  So, weight loss efforts are far from futile.

Cortisol is a catabolic (breaking down) hormone released by the adrenal glands during any kind of stress (including skipping meals during the day). Its job is to break down body tissues for glucose to fuel the fight or flight response.  The resulting release of glucose causes elevations in insulin and thus exacerbates insulin resistance.

Cortisol’s ability to create the illusion of lack of hunger really just tells us that we are dining on ourselves.  So, not feeling hungry in the morning is not a reliable indicator that we don’t need to fuel our bodies – unless of course it is still digesting all the food we wolfed down late last night!  The extra food calories we often stress-eat are directed right to our bellies by this hormone – continuing to fuel the whole vicious cycle. Worse yet, this particular mid section fat (the kind that is stored under the muscle wall around all the organs) is metabolically active, creating all kinds of nasty inflammatory chemicals that float around wreaking havoc 24/7.

Insulin is an anabolic (building) hormone whose job it is to store sugar, fat and amino acids. While we think that it was evolutionarily intended to turn off hunger, it is speculated that brain cells, like muscle cells, may become insulin resistant from excess sugar, resulting in increased appetite as well as fatigue and lack of concentration. We can blunt the insulin response and slow down how quickly sugar is released into our blood by consuming protein, fat or fiber with our carbohydrates…or just not buying the Girl Scout Cookies.

Cholecystokinin is a hormone produced in the stomach lining that signals satiety. It is released in response to the ingestion of proteins and fats only (not carbohydrates).  So, all the cereal and skim milk in the world won’t signal its release and tell your brain that you are sated.  Bulemics seem to produce less of this, but whether this is the cause or the effect of bulimia is not known.

Galanin is a peptide that increases fat appetite and preference. Teens have higher levels during their growth spurt (you might have noticed), and in adults, elevated levels are associated with greater body fat mass.  Again, a Catch-22 of weight gain.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that provides a sense of well-being and optimism, and whose production in the brain is up regulated in response to carbohydrate consumption. When blood sugars are unstable, whether from over consumption of the foods that turn to sugar quickly or even from long windows of time without food, it can become part of a cravings roller coaster.  Complex carbohydrates with their fiber content intact combined with protein and fat can help increase and maintain it, but simple carbs alone will keep those cravings going endlessly.

____________________________________

This can all be really good news!  There has been so much focus in the media about the “toxic” environment, as if none of us has any choice in where we choose to go, what we choose to purchase or consume.  I don’t know about you, but I find this to be an insult to an entire nation founded upon the principle of taking charge of our own destiny.  We are not sheep.  We we can choose at any point in time not to be victims of either the “toxic” environment or of our own physiology.

Begin your final weight loss journey now…