How Hormones Affect Our Eating Habits (And What To Do About It)

Our brain and body perform tons of actions that we aren’t even aware of. Our eating behavior and patterns are highly affected by our hormones and our gut health. Let’s explore how hormones affect our eating habits.

The brain is responsible for energy management in our body. Hypothalamus and brain stem send neural signals to our gut. These neural and endocrine signals are believed to have an important role in short term regulation of our appetite.

Mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors in our gut (GI tract) signal through the vagal nerve to the brain stem to tell the brain whether to stop eating or keep on eating. This is how our body performs the basic communication of food regulation.

The communication is carried out by a number of gut hormones and satiety peptides:

1. Gherlin: It is known as the hunger hormone. It is responsible to give our mind the signal to start eating. In other words, it tells us when it’s time to eat food.

2. Leptin: Leptin is responsible for adiposity signals to tell us to stop eating.

3. Obestatin: Obestatin is still being researched so the effect on humans is unclear. But it may play a role in long term regulation of food intake.

4. Insulin: Like Leptin, Insulin also sends adiposity signals when there is enough insulin released in the bloodstream. It also tells our brain to stop eating.

5. Satiety Peptides: In addition to the hormonal signaling, different satiety peptides like Peptide YY (PYY), Cholecystokinin (CCK), Pancreatic Polypeptide (PP), Amylin, Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) etc. play a major role in appetite regulation.

Although our brain and body is designed to balance the act of eating for energy regulations, we have developed problems like impaired hormonal signaling due to leptin resistance, insulin resistance and hedonic valence (taste, smell, visual appeal of processed foods).

The root cause of diseases and conditions like obesity and type-2 diabetes are the result of such impairments. Once our body has more fat cells, out body produces more leptin and we feel less sated after eating. So, we go in a downward spiral of hormonal impairments and health problems.

Hyper-palatable food causes our body to ignore leptin signals because of the release of ‘feel good’ hormones like dopamine and serotonin in insane amount. This not only leads to addiction but we also go against our body’s homeostasis mechanism.

When we eat too much of hyper-palatable food, it injures our brain neurons in the hypothalamus. This causes hypothalamic inflammation which leads to leptin resistance.

So what’s the solution? While there is no quick-fix solution, the root of the problem can be solved by the following methods:

Lose fat

It will help your body fix the insulin and leptin resistance so that you can regulate your food intake and not feel hungry all the time. I understand that it could be hard to lose weight when you already have the condition but if you make effort to learn about what you eat and build some discipline than I promise you that you will soon go in an upward spiral of better health.

Eat whole real food and less processed foods

Make sure your food is palatable but not hyper-palatable. It should give you pleasure but not up to the point that it destroys our internal body functioning.

Eat complex carbs with fiber in it

They will keep your blood sugar steady for a longer time and you won’t feel hungry as often. Your energy levels will also stay up between meals.

Snack less and try intermittent fasting

The most basic version of intermittent fasting is eating in an 8 hour window and not eating for the rest of the 16 hours. If you give your body some rest from eating, it will be able to process hormones better and you will be able to control your eating habits overtime.

Manage stress and sleep well

Stress is a great contributor to overeating or emotional eating. Make sure to reduce stressors from your life and get quality sleep of 7–9 hours.

Eat slowly and mindfully

Take time to chew your food so that the body gets time to send the signal to the brain to stop eating.

It will take at least a few weeks before your body adapts to the changes and repairs itself. You can fix the problem if you stay patient and persistent enough.

Food engineering is manipulating our tastebuds and internal body functions. It’s our responsibility to take care of ourselves and not let the junk food industry influence our health and body in a negative way.

I wish you good luck and strength to take charge of your health in your hands so that you can live happily and healthily.

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