HOW TO STOP BEING HUNGRY

HUNGER
Regardless of what the food companies want to make you believe, the sense of hunger is not triggered by the lack of food in your system. In reality, being hungry doesn’t necessarily mean that your energy reserves are depleted. In fact, most often, is the total opposite. In this article, I will show that having healthy bodyweight doesn’t boil down to will power and actually can be effortless.

Having difficulties controlling your hunger is not about having more will power or discipline, it is about having proper hormonal balance and this article I will show how to do it.

TYPES OF HUNGER
There are two types of hunger: Physical and Psychological. While the first indicates there are not enough nutrients for energy production, the second is an illusion triggered by the habit of constant eating or something, I would personally call: a hallucination produced as side effects of food addiction. Even though they’re not paying attention to it, a lot of people don’t eat because they experience some form of physical hunger. But because they’re not interested in the things they do. In other words, because of boredom. Their brains want to get a bit of stimulation.

Highly processed rich in sugars and carbohydrates foods work on the same reward mechanisms of the brain such a many heavy drugs. Have you ever heard the popular quote: “Food is the most abused anxiety drug”. Well, if you ask me I would say that it is simply one of the most abused ones in general. There are three hormones which play key roles when it comes to suppressing appetite and controlling hunger. Those are ghrelin, leptin, and CCK.

GHRELIN
Hunger is triggered by a hormone called ghrelin. Also known as “Lenomorelin”, ghrelin is made and released by cells located in the upper part of the stomach and intestines. The name of the hormone comes from the fact that it is a growth hormone releasing peptide. It is called the hunger hormone because it increases your hunger. The way it works is by sending a signal to your brain. That signal tells the brain that the body is low on fuel, so you have to eat something. Besides regulating your appetite, ghrelin also plays a significant role in the regulation of distribution and rate of use of energy.

Ghrelin is secreted when the stomach is empty and when it is full the secretion stops. For the average people fasting or not eating elevates blood levels of ghrelin and they drop after the person eats a meal. However, things are a bit more complicated, because it happens that different foods affect the levels of ghrelin differently.

A study showed that injecting mice with ghrelin caused an increase in their food consumption also lead to weight gain and less usage of fat for energy. Doing the same experiment with humans produced identical results because they increased their food intake with close to 30%. Now let’s take a look at the things that cause its levels to go up.

There are two main things that surely elevates ghrelin: The first one is the drastic caloric restriction many people use in order to lose weight. Staying on a caloric deficit for extended periods of time messes their hormones and after a while, that forces them to gain the weight back. The reason for that is because calorie restricted diets put the brain in starvation mode.

The second is the rich in carbohydrates and sugars foods. There is not just a single study which shows that although they give a bit of satiety those foods actually can elevate the levels of ghrelin almost twice, up to two hours after having a meal.

Another thing that is linked to high levels of ghrelin and obesity is not getting enough sleep. The better is the quality of sleep the lower levels of ghrelin.

LEPTIN
Leptin is the opposite of ghrelin. Both are peripheral signals with central effects. It’s mainly secreted in the fat cells, but also other varies tissues such as the hearth, skeletal muscles, stomach, and even the placenta. The name comes from the Greek word “Leptos” i.e. “thin”. How it works is by decreasing hunger and that is why it is called satiety or satisfaction hormone. Leptin primarily targets the brain’s area called the hypothalamus and there are leptin receptors also in the gut.

It makes perfect sense that since it’s produced by the fat cells the more body fat someone has, the more leptin they have and the less hungry they are, but things don’t work like that. In this situation, the fat cells are too many and they push way too much leptin to the receptors. Ultimately the receptors try to protect themselves from the excessive amounts by resisting them and the individual becomes what is called leptin resistant.

That means the hormone can’t enter the receptors in the person’s brain, so practically the hunger can’t be suppressed. Even though that person has a lot of leptin, it’s not available to his or her body. Obviously, that forces them to stay hungry all of the time. Latest studies show that leptin resistance is the leading factor for fat gain and obesity.

Make no mistake lack of willpower does not make people fat, the hormonal imbalances do. As you probably already guessing being in this position makes fasting impossible. To that, I would say you are damn right.

People who experience difficulties to stop eating when they’re already full usually suffer from leptin resistance and vice verse. Nowadays scientist also calls this condition hedonic hunger. That is a sure recipe for staying hungry and craving food 24/7. Usually, if the person’s leptin works properly he or she doesn’t feel any strong form of hunger or cravings. I know what you’re thinking: Binge eating disorder is a strong sign if someone is leptin resistant. My response to that is: Exactly, but that is not the end.

Because it puts the brain in starvation mode, leptin resistance also causes reduced energy expenditure and more fat storing. The brain thinks you need to eat more food and conserve more energy in order to avoid death. Being fat makes you hungry. Being hungry forces you to eat more, so you become fatter, sicker and hungrier. It is a vicious circle.

Another thing that heavily increases leptin secretion is insulin. High insulin levels equal high levels of leptin. People who struggle with chronically elevated insulin also have elevated leptin levels. One of the insulin’s functions is to store and convert the sugar from the bloodstream, so the higher the blood glucose, the more insulin is needed to take care of it. Ingestion of almost any food more or less leads to a spike in blood glucose, but different macronutrients produce different results.

Fats are the macronutrient that causes the smallest and the carbs are the one the cause the biggest.
Unless you consume insignificant quantities of things like butter, or other oils, having a meal makes your blood glucose to more or less go up. I think that is not new to most of us. The smaller blood glucose spikes the less of an insulin response it produces.

CCK
The name of the third important player in the game of overcoming hunger is Cholecystokinin. Also known as CCK, it is a peptide hormone that stimulates the digestion of fat and protein. It is secreted and synthesized by the first segment of the small intestine and acts as a massive hunger suppressant. In other words, it makes you feel full. One of the psychological processes in which it participates is satiety. A controlled study showed that people injected CCK actually experienced less desire to eat in general and reduced the amounts of food they eat. Therefore naturally boosting CCK production is a great hack you should to control hunger.

Cholecystokinin is released when there is an increase of ketone bodies or free fatty acids. When that happens CCK suppresses the production of ghrelin (the hunger hormone). Going on HFLC, keto diet produces almost equivalent results from those of gastric surgery. Another amazing benefit is the hormone function of increasing the signaling of leptin (the satiety hormone) to the brain. It suppresses a hormone called neuropeptide y. That one also increases your hunger, but when you have enough ketones, CCK down-regulates it, so you feel less hungry.

HOW TO CONTROL HUNGER
There are 5 main things you have to apply in order to achieve that.

1. Reduce body fat, therefore, you’ll decrease leptin production from fat cells.
2. Keep your insulin under control, you don’t secret too much Leptin
3. Eliminate foods that cause elevation of ghrelin levels.
4. Eat more foods that keep you full and well satiated.
5. Get enough high-quality sleep

Now you probably ask yourself how to do each of them and the answer is simple. There is one thing which guarantees you’ll achieve them effortlessly. That is Ketosis.

• Because they can control satiety and hunger hormones, it happens that ketone bodies suppress appetite in multiple ways. So being fat adapted allows you to literally forget about eating. By itself, hunger is such a great indication to find if you’re burning fat for fuel.
• If you want to find how to enter the ketogenic state the fastest possible way please feel free to check this post.

I hope that makes sense.
Yours truly:
Peteonthebeat