Jan 12
17
If You Wish To Grow Thinner…
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“If you wish to grow thinner, diminish your dinner”
-Henry Sambrook Leigh-
We can all joke about it all day long and wish it could be so easy, (sigh!) but the truth paints a different picture. 
A recent article by the Medical News Today talks about how certain changes in our brain practically conspire to sabotage our plans to grow thinner, making us gain back those recently lost pounds…
…So if you are feeling as if somehow the deck is stacked against you because every time you lose weight, you gain it right back, understanding what happens inside your brain that’s causing this might help you stay even more focused on your goals.
According to the study, two recently discovered hormones, ghrelin and leptin are responsible for this apparent chaos in appetite control. Ghrelin is produced in the stomach every time we eat, or rather, its production increases right before a meal stimulating appetite. Leptin, on the other hand, acts on your brain to REDUCE appetite.
How do these hormones stimulate your brain to gain to not let you ‘grow thinner’…
Your brain is stuck in evolutionary times. No matter how much technology and food industry advances, the brain’s behavior toward food remain the same as it did thousands of years ago. In times of famine, it would make you gorge yourself on calories – just in case the next meal wouldn’t arrive the next day or the day after-
It’s all part of the body’s defense mechanism, and if the brain detects imminent danger- i.e, reduced food intake during dieting- it sets the wheels in motion for an increase of ghrelin and a reduction of leptin to balance things out…The result: Increased appetite.
It doesn’t stop there
Scientists are not quite sure how these two hormones work to perpetuate the obesity cycle, however, it seems clear that they create a SET POINT type of trap which implies that your brain has an ideal weight for YOU…so if you lose weight, the brain immediately sets its evolutionary anti-starving mechanism to ON and tries to get you back to your normal set weight!
Essentially, what happens is these two hormones are in constant communication. If you’re hungry, metabolism slows down and ghrelin production increases, while leptin decreases.
There is hope…
Beat your brain at its own rules.
Learn to eat like your ancestors. What did your grandmother or great-grandmother eat?
That alone will help re-program your stubborn set-point trap
Be conscious of what you’re about to eat next. Must you eat and watch TV? chew on an apple or some other good- for- you snack instead. Become a rational thinker/eater.
Avoid- or at least be aware of your emotional-eating habits. If you seriously plan to grow thinner, remember that overeating it’s not always due to biological triggers as we discussed, but depression, stress, and overall mood changes influence your eating habits.
To Your Health!
Luz Laureano
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Luz Laureano
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