Nutritionist and guest blogger Anita Mulderij will answer this question today.
Anita: 'Watching your health and losing weight doesn't just have to do with the right diet and enough exercise. Your brain also plays a role in this. If our body is working properly, hunger is automatically regulated by your brain. Your brain, as it were, communicates with certain hormones to make this happen. In many overweight people, the function of those hormones is disrupted. How is this possible? What does that have to do with? And above all:how do you reverse this?
The culprits It's not for nothing that they say:you are what you eat. When you mainly consume foods that contain a lot of carbohydrates or sugars, two important parts of your brain are affected. Namely the part that regulates hunger, and the part that influences the triggering of memories and desires. It makes you 'forget' to stop eating, even when you are full. They simply cannot contain their appetite for bad and too much food.
The appestat
The what? The appestat is the part of your brain that regulates hunger. If all goes well, the appestat will notify us when we are full. This part is also linked to the areas in the brain that regulate how much you move. So it ensures that you get exactly the right amount of calories for your body. Are you moving less? Then you eat less. Are you slim? Then the appestat does its job perfectly. Do you suffer from binge eating and maybe also overweight? Then that could mean that the appestat can't do its job properly. That way you don't get a signal when you're actually full. If you continue to eat more and gain even more weight, your need to exercise will also be suppressed. In short:a vicious circle.
Overeating
Overeating has to do with "broken" appestat. The appestat can function less well if it is not given the right nutrition. Over the past decades, we have replaced many foods with foods high in carbohydrates and sugars, making obesity a common problem. So overeating is not necessarily related to laziness or a lack of willpower. These large amounts of sugar mislead our bodies into overeating. In fact, research has shown that sweet and fatty junk foods affect our memory capacity. That means that even if we have eaten more than enough, we can be tempted again by the smell of junk food because it is linked to a good feeling.
Solution
How do you stop your brain from tempting you to overeat? How come the appestat no longer does its job properly? By the food you take in; namely foods bursting with carbohydrates and sugars. That's the crux of the problem! So start with your diet. Avoid processed products (they often contain sugars and added ingredients), eat as much fresh as possible and prepare as much as possible yourself. And that doesn't necessarily have to take more time or be more expensive.'
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Text:Anita Mulderij | Image:Shutterstock
