If you’ve ever compulsively finished a packet of biscuits or box of chocolates, you’ll know that the drive to eat is not simply about staving off starvation.
Controlling the release of ghrelin can help to keep our appetite and our weight gain in order. There are a number of factors that may affect the production of ghrelin: your environment, the quantity and quality of the food you eat, the quality of your sleep, whether you are stressed or anxious, and finally, your brain’s desire for a pleasant eating experience.Our relationship with food can be complex.
Junk food contains high amounts of sugar and simple carbohydrates, which push your blood sugars up, causing your pancreas to release insulin, which then brings your blood sugars down. Ghrelin then increases. And so, even though you ate a large and tasty meal half an hour before, the brain has you licking your lips at the thought of food again.It’s not just ghrelin production that sugary foods disrupt, but the release of a potent neurotransmitter, or brain hormone, called dopamine.
It’s not true for everyone. “When I’m feeling stressed, I actually stop feeling hungry and need to remind myself to eat, while my husband, Michael, starts opening all the cupboards, hunting for a sugary snack,” says Dr Bailey. “It is easy to mistake feeling stressed with feeling hungry, and often if you can distract yourself, those feelings that you must eat will pass.”We have established that hunger comes in many forms.
“One of the main drivers of hunger is protein, so I usually have a savoury, filling, high-protein breakfast, such as scrambled eggs, or omelette, or full-fat yoghurt with berries and nuts,” says Dr Bailey. “I find it keeps me feeling satisfied through to lunchtime and fends off those hunger hormones.”
Another benefit of allowing yourself to build up a bit of hunger, she adds, is that, “You soon learn that it does not just grow and grow, but is more like the tide – it comes and goes. “This is the best-researched form of time-restricted eating, and one of the benefits seems to be that it gives your gut a rest from the hard work of digesting and processing food. A bit like closing down a motorway overnight, which allows it to be patched up and repaired.”Even with the best of intentions, the modern food world is paved with sugary pitfalls. On a cellular level, we know our bodies love the sweet stuff.
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