Reset Hypothalamus To Stay In Shape
A key to sustained weight control is in knowing how to reset hypothalamus function preventing the body from trying to create fat reserves. Our body has the life saving ability to store food energy as fat, in history when times were good and food was plentiful this served as a useful purpose. Hunter-gathers often had times when there was little or no food and these reserves of fat meant survival rather than starvation.
Now most people have plenty of food available all of the time, so they no longer experience period of feast or famine. Therefore, we really don’t need large fat reserves any more. However, the hypothalamus has not evolved to recognize this situation. So unless we can reset hypothalamus function with healthy eating that is carefully planned, we will get fatter thanks to our body’s old survival strategies.
One thing to realize is that the total number of calories you eat is not the only factor when it comes to weight management. It is also important to consider where those calories come from. Different types of foods are processed by the body differently and this can affect whether excess calories are burned or stored as fat. By choosing the correct foods, you can actually reset hypothalamus responses to work for you in achieving your weight loss goals.
The hypothalamus gland is located within the brain. It performs various functions, one of which is regulating appetite. The hypothalamus creates signals that indicate when we are hungry and when we are satisfied. One problem that can occur is that the signal for being satisfied has a built-in delay. So it can take up to 20 minutes before the body realizes that enough food has been eaten. To try to compensate for this lag, you should concentrate on eating slowly so that you don’t continue to eat after you are actually full.
Fat contains nine calories per gram, more than twice the four calories per gram found in proteins and carbohydrates. Therefore, while any healthy diet requires some fat consumption, you need to be very careful to limit the total amount of fats you eat. What fats you do consume should be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Quality protein is always a good choice, because it deters hunger longer than carbohydrates, is needed for healing and tissue building, and is converted to fat very slowly.
What you want is a diet selected to avoid the kinds of foods that produce the dumping of hormones into the circulation that can lead to fat building up and other negative reactions. Foods that are sugars in simple and quick to process forms such as granular sugars and liquids like honeys and syrups may stimulate the hypothalamus too much and it will release a flood of hormones. Instead, select the more complex structured carbohydrates in fruits, vegetables, cereal and whole grains, for slower digestion and a calmer hormonal response.
healthy eating is the key to dodging the ancient need of the hypothalamus to save fat for lean times. A good diet geared to normal weight maintenance will rely on healthy fats, proteins, whole grains and other complex carbohydrates while avoiding simple sugars.
Unlike the primitive ages, now we have an assured regular food supply. Therefore, fat reserves have outlived their usefulness and we need to reset hypothalamus which sustained humans through lean times by ensuring build up of fat. Human body assimilates different foods differently, some of which have a natural tendency to accumulate as lipid reserves. Eating slowly helps the hypothalamus send the “stop” signal. Healthy eating, with the right mix of nutrients in the right quantities at the right time, supplies our body with ample energy to perform daily metabolic functions and eliminates the need for hypothalamus to conserve fat.
- J. Boda
