ghrelin Archives - Your body ~ Your brain ~ Your diet

Why You Crave Junk Food

May 18, 2021September 1, 2022 MariaC Brain reward system, cortisol, Cravings, dopamine, ghrelin, leptin, serotonin, vagus nerve

Feeding potato chips to rats makes them want more, even when they are already full. Humans are remarkably similar. Open that bag and you know how it will end. Even so, go easy on yourself; you’re not weak, you’re normal. Your brain is responding the way it is programmed to respond. The trick is to short-circuit the system — the brain’s reward system.

Feed Your Brain

How Stress Makes You Overeat — And How to Stop it

December 23, 2020September 1, 2022 MariaC cortisol, dopamine, ghrelin, HPA axis, leptin, mesolimbic dopamine pathway, reward centre, stress

Stress is bad for your mental health. It’s not great for your heart or immune health, either. Furthermore — and just to rub salt into your wounds — it can also make you fat. But the consequences of stress are not inevitable: once you understand what’s going on, you can fight back.

Weight loss

Three Effective Ways to Control Your Hunger Hormones

October 26, 2020September 1, 2022 MariaC CCK, ghrelin, ketogenic, leptin, PYY

What makes you want to eat? However complex your motivations may seem, the hunger game is essentially a game of hormones. Don’t turn it into a power struggle — you can learn how to trigger or suppress the hormones involved in the desire to eat, and stay in control of your appetite.

Weight loss

The Curious Case of the Man Who Ate Nothing For Over a Year

September 29, 2020September 1, 2022 MariaC autophagy, Fasting, ghrelin, gluconeogenesis, Intermittent fasting, ketosis

In June 1965, a 27-year-old Scottish man weighing 456lb (207kg) decided to stop eating until he reached his desired weight of 180lb (82kg). Angus Barbieri ate nothing whatsoever for 382 days, achieved his goal, and lived to tell the tale.

Weight loss

Why “eat less, move more” doesn’t work for weight loss

November 23, 2019September 1, 2022 MariaC adaptive thermogenesis, Calories, carbohydrate, CCK, fat overshooting, ghrelin, Insulin, ketogenic diet, ketone, protein, PYY

Numerous studies have concluded that dieting is associated with long term weight gain. This phenomenon has even been given a scientific name: fat overshooting. In other words, you will regain the weight that you lost, and then some. This apparent paradox is attributed to a decrease in resting energy expenditure and “adaptive thermogenesis”, as the body (the thyroid gland) adjusts its metabolic rate to match the reduction in calorie intake. It doesn’t have to be like this. The long-term solution is easier, more effective and evidence-based. It involves these three principles.

Weight loss

How to burn fat overnight

October 21, 2019September 1, 2022 MariaC biological clock, Body Clock, circadian rhythm, ghrelin, growth hormone, insulin sensitivity, Intermittent fasting, ketones, leptin, social jetlag

As you sleep, your body clock orchestrates the secretion of important metabolic hormones that influence the way you gain and lose weight. These hormones — which include growth hormone, insulin, ghrelin and leptin — are produced in a cyclical manner. Obey your biology, as outlined in the following three steps, and you’ll find that losing weight is much easier when you work with your body, not against it.