Did you ever wonder why mom never felt hungry after spending a day in the kitchen preparing a feast?
Dopamine is a chemical in your body that performs many functions, but here at betterme we're mostly concerned with its role in food cravings and satiety. Its function in eating is generally that it tells your brain to register feelings of being full once you've eaten sufficiently.
There have been a number of studies that show, Dopamine doesn't function optimally in some overweight people. Their bodies don't seem to get enough of the satisfied feelings Dopamine creates once you're full. Therefore, they continue to eat when others would have reached a state of satiety.
If you're trying to lose weight, here are a few facts to keep success on your side:
-Eating fast food has been shown to dampen the Dopamine response in the brain, registering less satisfaction and producing subsequent food cravings.
-There are indications that overweight people, who begin to lower their calories, slowly become more sensitive to the Dopamine response. In essence they start to feel full when it is more in the region that is advantageous to weight loss. So be patient, losing weight actually helps puts your body in a state that is more conducive to additional weight loss.
-Preparing food produces feelings of satisfaction even before one begins to consume it! This is why on holidays when your mom spent the day cooking, remarked at dinner time that she didn't feel very hungry. The act of preparation causes your brain to release Dopamine, thus creating a feeling of being satisfied prior to partaking in the food; which suppresses the appetite.
-Try to find rewards other than food. It will take some time to break old habits, but allowing food to remain as a reward will make you susceptible to food cravings.
Dopamine is a chemical in your body that performs many functions, but here at betterme we're mostly concerned with its role in food cravings and satiety. Its function in eating is generally that it tells your brain to register feelings of being full once you've eaten sufficiently.
There have been a number of studies that show, Dopamine doesn't function optimally in some overweight people. Their bodies don't seem to get enough of the satisfied feelings Dopamine creates once you're full. Therefore, they continue to eat when others would have reached a state of satiety.
If you're trying to lose weight, here are a few facts to keep success on your side:
-Eating fast food has been shown to dampen the Dopamine response in the brain, registering less satisfaction and producing subsequent food cravings.
-There are indications that overweight people, who begin to lower their calories, slowly become more sensitive to the Dopamine response. In essence they start to feel full when it is more in the region that is advantageous to weight loss. So be patient, losing weight actually helps puts your body in a state that is more conducive to additional weight loss.
-Preparing food produces feelings of satisfaction even before one begins to consume it! This is why on holidays when your mom spent the day cooking, remarked at dinner time that she didn't feel very hungry. The act of preparation causes your brain to release Dopamine, thus creating a feeling of being satisfied prior to partaking in the food; which suppresses the appetite.
-Try to find rewards other than food. It will take some time to break old habits, but allowing food to remain as a reward will make you susceptible to food cravings.
