Diet Myth #2: YOU’RE NOT AS HUNGRY AS YOU THINK YOU ARE
DIET MYTH #2: YOU’RE NOT AS HUNGRY AS YOU THINK YOU ARE
Common hunger is not brought about because you aren't eating enough. You could eat until you stuff your belly and still feel hungry just an hour after eating. Hunger is a product of your stomach telling your brain that is has not been properly nourished. The biochemistry of hunger is complex and driven by two main hormones produced throughout the body. Ghrelin, which is produced by cells in the lining of your stomach, sends a signal to your brain that causes you to feel hunger. Leptin turns off hunger by producing satiety, the feeling of being satisfied. To put it simply, ghrelin is your “I’m hungry hormone” and leptin is your “I’m satisfied hormone.”
More than any other food, fructose, the main sugar in fruit, does an awful job at turning off your hunger hormones. When you eat sugar, it triggers the production of your brain’s natural opioids, a significant initiator of the addiction process. Your brain essentially becomes addicted to stimulating the release of its own opioids.
Sugar/fructose also increases your insulin and leptin levels and decreases the receptor sensitivity for both of these vital hormones. This imbalance is not normal and should be avoided because it is a major factor in premature aging and age-related chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease.
Keep in mind that although it is perfectly normal for your blood sugar levels to rise slightly after every meal, it is not natural or healthy when your blood sugar levels become excessively elevated and stay that way. This happens if you’re eating like a typical American who consumes, on average, 2.5 pounds of sugar a week!
High blood sugar levels cause repeated surges of insulin, which cause your cells to become insulin resistant. Insulin resistance is similar to being in a room with a strong odor for a period of time, so that after a while, you stop being able to smell the odor. Insulin resistance leads to the production of even higher levels of insulin, eventually leading to type 2 diabetes. The same thing happens with leptin. Sugar gets metabolized as triglycerides in the fat cells, the fat cells release surges of leptin, and those surges result in leptin resistance. When you become leptin resistant, your body can no longer pick up on the messages telling it to stop eating and burn fat, therefore causing it to remain hungry and store more fat.
When your small intestine detects protein in the food you’ve eaten, it helps stimulate leptin. Unfortunately, just like with sugar, if you over-consume protein, it can cause insulin resistance, leptin resistance, and over-stimulate the mTOR. mTOR controls inflammation by managing cell growth, durability, and death. Too much increases inflammation and can lead to cancer, obesity, and neurodegenerative diseases. As a result, low-carb, high-protein diets may still be troublesome if you’re struggling with obesity, insulin resistance, or diabetes.
When your pancreas detects fat in your intestines, it releases a hormone that keeps ghrelin from replacing leptin, thus you remain satisfied. Healthy fats do not stimulate mTOR or raise your leptin and insulin levels.
The solution to normalizing your ghrelin, leptin, and insulin levels is fairly straightforward: eat a diet that emphasizes good fats, incorporates moderate protein, and minimizes carbs. The Bulletproof diet is a great example of this solution and helps hack hunger by balancing these hormones and keeping you truly satisfied.