Episode 3: Overeating
During this episode I am going to teach you some of the the reasons you overeat.
Dopamine:
To start, food can actually cause addiction. When you eat foods that you enjoy, dopamine is released in the brain. This is the “pleasure, feel good” hormone. When you eat concentrated foods, such as flour and sugar, too much dopamine is release. Dopamine gives a short-term reward.
So the problem is that once we’ve had that surge of dopamine, our brain wants to have that again. But the way we interpret the pleasure gets blunted by our brains. What this means is that we do not get the same level of dopamine released as we did initially so we need to eat more and more concentrated foods – leading to OVEREATING.
When you stop eating flour and sugar, you will go through withdraw! If you go through withdraw from eating a food---- that speaks to the potency and toxicity of these substances.
Glucose, Fructose and Insulin:
We talked about this in episode #2 about sugar, but to recap:
Eating processed carbs and/or sugar leads to an increase in glucose and fructose which causes insulin to spike. Insulin's job is to open up the cells so our body can use blood sugar for fuel. When we eat concentrated foods we get a huge glucose surge leading to a surge in insulin. This leads to insulin resistance and lets the glucose hang around in the blood stream, causing a vicious cycle. Too much glucose in the blood reeks havoc on the body, but so does too much insulin. Too much insulin blocks an important signal from getting to our brain: the message that we are full and have had enough to eat – leading to OVEREATING.
Leptin and Ghrelin:
Leptin is the hormone that produces satiety, the feeling that we are full. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells our brain when we are hungry. Ghrelin "growls." Ghrelin is released when the stomach is empty and shut off when the stomach is stretched. When we eat the highly concentrated foods, they are absorbed rapidly and ghrelin continues to be produced by the stomach. At the same time, our insulin is spiking in response to the glucose and actually blocking the leptin, the satiety hormone, from reaching our brain.
Eating small frequent meals keeps the stomach less distended and keeps the ghrelin following, leading to hunger throughout most of the day which ultimately – leads to OVEREATING.
Cortisol:
When your body is under stress from lack of sleep or from emotions it can lead to an increase in your cortisol levels. Increased cortisol levels cause an increase in blood glucose in anticipation for the fight or flight response in case your body needs an abundance of energy. But this causes a spike in insulin due to the load of blood sugar, again leading to insulin resistance. Too much cortisol – leads to OVEREATING.
So what can you do?
- Limit or eliminate flour and sugar
- Eat 2-3 meals daily without snacking
- Sleep 7-8 hours per night
- Keep your stress under control by managing your thoughts and managing your situations
You are going to have thoughts holding you back from doing these things, these are called limiting beliefs.
Ask yourself:
- What limiting beliefs are holding you back from getting the results that you want?
- What change can you make today towards progress?
You got this, I’m here supporting you and rooting for you!
If you haven't yet, jump over to DoctorLaRocca.com and download the free Weight Loss Workbook.
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Dr. Kristine LaRocca