The body has many hormones that regulate hunger. We are going to look at two hormones and how they affect our eating behaviors.

Ghrelin
First, there is Ghrelin. When your stomach is empty, it releases ghrelin, which travels to your brain to let your brain know that you are hungry. This is where you feel like your stomach is gurgling or growling with hunger. When you eat food, the belly tissue stretches as your stomach gets full. This stops the release of ghrelin and lets your brain know that you are full.
Sugars do not stretch the stomach the same way complex carbs, proteins and fats do. People with a diet high in sugar tend to eat more at each sitting because the ghrelin is still being released by the stomach. Processed foods cause the same issue where you can eat more of them before feeling full because it doesn't stop the ghrelin release the same way natural foods do. In addition, it takes time (about 20 minutes) for the stomach to stretch and stop making ghrelin with any meal. If you eat slowly, your stomach has time to signal fullness to your brain. If you eat quickly, then you will be over full before your brain knows it, and you may end up eating more than you need to satisfy that hunger sensation.
Leptin
Second, there is leptin. When you have higher levels of fat stored in your body, the leptin will release and tell your body you have energy and you don't need more. If you have low stores of fat, then leptin won't be released and your body will be signaled to eat more to get more energy.
If your leptin system is out of regulation, it can be very hard to lose weight. Your body may signal a need for more energy even if you have fat stores. Crash dieting can cause a leptin level increase which can be a reason that people gain weight back after losing it quickly. There are things aside from losing weight slowly that can help regulate the leptin cycle and help you lose weight. This includes high quality sleep, early morning sunshine, eating high quality food instead of processed foods, not losing weight too fast and low stress levels.
Dopamine
I'm going to add one bonus hormone. Dopamine is the motivation and happy hormone. It makes you feel good. There are many ways (healthy and unhealthy) to get a dopamine release in the brain. Sugar causes an incredibly powerful and incredibly unhealthy dopamine release. This is why so many of us love sugar. It's also why it is such an easy response to a bad day or a stressful situation. Sugar makes us feel good for a moment. Unfortunately, you end up needing more sugar each time to get the same dopamine benefit, and this is where a lot of us have sugar cravings and struggle to give it up. When you are craving sugar, it's a sign your body is looking for dopamine. Next time I will talk about dopamine in more detail.
Comments