Which feeling prompts you to a greater extent to act upon? Feeling full or feeling hungry?



Our human nature is interesting: There is no system in our bodies that restricts calorie intake. On the other hand, if you experience hunger you just have to eat. The feeling of hunger is dominant over numerous other emotions needed for survival. Centuries ago, people had to survive during periods of time when little or no food was available. Nowadays, with fast food restaurants in every shopping centre, this mechanism makes it hard to lose weight permanently.

Hormone alterations often start when you are over 40, and the feelings of hunger are sometimes more extreme. Are you aware of how your body develops the feelings to let you know you are hungry?

There are two systems in place in your brain that need balance in order for you to lose weight over 40: The calories you take in, and the quantity of energy accessible. If the energy accessible in your body drops to a certain level, feelings of "hunger" are developed and you then think of eating. This is not weakness of character, it’s physical.

Feeling satisfied when you eat and feeling full are two different affairs. As you know, after 40 your body burns less calories- so you should eat until you feel satisfied and stop eating when you’ve reached that point to lose weight permanently.

Interestingly enough, we usually finish eating before our bodies absorb the nutrients in the foods. The emotion of being satisfied comes largely from how much time you take to eat and how often you eat. An easy way to lose weight permanently is to increase the come of meals and the time spent eating- you’ll feel satisfied earlier.

However, you must be conscious of what you eat. Watching TV, driving or reading while you eat will distract your mind, and it won't register that you are eating. This will cause you not to understand when you are satisfied, and you will end up consuming more, which will threaten your attempt at permanent weight loss.

There are many messenger substances signaling the brain you need to eat. Neuropeptide Y is one of them. It makes you feel hungry, suppresses physical activity and increases the amount of energy stored as fat. If you stop eating, for example when you start a diet, Neuropeptide Y is secreted.

This is why you find it hard to lose weight permanently, and sometimes feel like your energy is low: When you eat less food, your endocrine system protects your body fat. And: After 40 this protection is getting stronger and stronger. The only way to lose weight permanently over 40 is by introducing a gentle lifestyle concept.

There are many more Neuropeptides involved in feeling hungry. For example, Orexin A and B are released when feeling hungry and cause overeating and food cravings- the common outcome when on a diet. This is the nature of your body, not a lack of will power on your part.

Leptin is another Neuropeptide that is created by fat tissue. It transmits to your brain how full the fat storage system is. Women have more body fat than men by nature and correspondingly higher levels for Leptin. If the Leptin level falls below a certain point, you’ll begin to feel hungry.

The body image in western culture is highly shaped by unnaturally thin celebrities. Without body fat you will feel hungry very often, which can lead to various emotional problems - and a certain quantity of body fat is actually sound to have.