When we're stressed, our adrenal glands produce cortisol. Cortisol is intended for the times when we have to jump into action...part of the "fight or flight" response. It raises our blood pressure. It tells our cells to store fat, to create fat reserves.
If we combine the rush of cortisol with sugary, starchy foods we crave under stress, and we have a recipe for insulin resistance. This is is a condition where our bodies stop efficiently metabolizing blood sugar. As a result, more calories are stored as fat. We have trouble losing weight and we start gaining.
Cortisol and other elements of our adrenaline rush speed up our metabolism initially, which suppresses our appetite so we can focus on the task at hand. When the rush wears off, we're super-hungry because our body expected us to burn off all that extra blood sugar and fat. It creates hunger to compensate for this supposed activity.
If you've had some "pitfall" thoughts that have created additional stress, your stress and subsequent hunger-- will increase.
Cortisol also suppresses our immune system and deplete our serotonin and dopamine levels, sending us into a state of anxiety and eventually send us toward depression.
The fat cells around our body are particularly sensitive to cortisol and to high insulin levels. This area of our body is also very effective at storing energy. This is why when we stress, it leads to weight gain on our bellies. (pgs 36-37)
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Addiction and Yo-Yo Dieting: (pg 37)
We need to maintain healthy serotonin and dopamine levels to feel good, and if we are not eating the right foods or engaging in the right activities, our levels will fall too low. We may force ourselves to forgo our "medication" for a few weeks or even months. Unless we genuinely learn to replace it with something healthier, we will always be tempted to come back.
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Getting to Know Your Hunger: (pg 39)
When Do I Feel Hungry?
x_after something upsets me.
x_after something wonderful happens.
x_because I am bored.
x_when I feel like I deserve a reward.
x_based on a cue: after a TV show is over, when I get home, etc.
How Do I Feel Hungry?
x_suddenly I am ravenous
x_gradually, my hunger goes from being small, to a pressing one.
x_I crave particular foods or types
x_I feel desperate
x_I feel calm and pleasant anticipation
x _I am constantly hungry.
x_I am constantly looking forward to my next meal.
x_I look forward to the food itself
x_I look forward to some other aspect of the meal: the break, the time with family or friends, the chance to get away from work or out of the house.
If you are hit with constant hunger, there could be a huge emotional hunger in your life that is not being met. If you are eating healthy meals and snacks filled with booster foods, usually we will feel gradual hunger every two or three hours. If we have stuffed ourselves with a big meal, we may not feel physically hungry for at least six hours, as physical hunger usually comes on slowly and gradually. Eating when you are bored, to give yourself a break, on a set schedule, or in response to a cue might mean that you're eating food you do not really need.
Just restricting your access to food does not change the reasons that you were eating excessively in the first place. If your brain chemistry remains unbalanced--if your brain is still looking for dopamine and serotonin--keeping yourself from eating too much at one time will not change the dynamic.
The Reward Response: (pg 42)
Sugar and starchy foods relate to our hunger for serotonin and the high-fat foods feed our need for dopamine. Whenever anything pleasurable happens to us, we get a little shot of dopamine, a tiny burst of Yes! That little bit of dopamine serves as a reward for anything we do that feels good.
This dopamine reward is one of the reasons addictions are so hard to give up, even when we have physically detoxed from them. Even when the physical addiction is broken--when there are no more withdrawal symptoms and our body is back to normal--that dopamine reward beckons and it can be very hard to resist.
End of Chapter 2. To be continued.
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