November - Hunger Hormones
Hunger Hormones
- Insulin, Ghrelin, and Leptin
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your body worked in a binary of yes vs. no, on vs. off, etc?
This would make it super easy to change your body in various ways. Want to gain muscle? Just do this, this, and that. Want to increase your metabolism so you can enjoy more food? Well, here’s the equation to create that.
But…for all of us in a body, especially the particularly tricky bodies of peri- and post-menopausal women, life isn’t quite that simple. Actually, your body never works in a simple yes vs. no binary, and that becomes much more obvious during hormonal changes. (so, if you’re in the peri- or post-menopausal part of life, your body isn’t “weird” or “wrong”, it’s just finicky).
One of the main problems with diets and dieting culture is that they sell the idea of that binary (“I have the answer for you!! You just need to do THIS!”), so when it inevitably doesn’t work (which is a fact of nature), you blame yourself. You believe that you must have done something wrong when in reality, it was always the diet that was wrong.
Hunger hormones like ghrelin, leptin, and insulin, are sold to us as an easy math equation to follow. But, they’re not. Many things outside of the food you eat can influence how these hormones interact with the cells in your body.
One of the most eye-opening nutritional studies I’ve ever come across was done by psychologist Alia Crum. She’s done a few incredible food habit studies that should have turned our ideas about nutrition and weight loss upside-down (but instead, dieting culture ignored them). This is the one that left me totally gobsmacked:
This short 3.5 min video does a great job of explaining it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIfhxt0JCok
If you’re not in a space conducive to watching a video, here are the Cole’s notes:
Your BELIEF about a food and how indulgent or “light” it is plays a major role in your body’s release of these hunger hormones, specifically ghrelin. We’ll be diving into this hormone in detail in this masterclass, but here it is in a nutshell:
High ghrelin = hungry
Low ghrelin = satisfied and full
When you eat something that you believe is filling, abundant, or decadent, then your ghrelin levels fall 3x more than if you believe that same food (exactly the same recipe and quantity) is “diet” or a low-cal food. This means you literally feel more satisfied if you believe that food is more satisfying.
So, ya, this is one of the reasons that you feel hungry constantly if you’re eating a low-cal diet. You know it’s not satisfying, you know you’re not eating enough, so your body doesn’t lower ghrelin enough and you stay hungry.
…isn’t that AMAZING?!?!?!?!
So, in this masterclass, we’re going to dive into these hunger hormones and how to make them your friend instead of battling them all the time.
This masterclass is in 3 Parts:
Part 1 – Insulin
Part 2 – Ghrelin and Leptin
Part 3 – How to make friends with these hormones
Happily, these hormones are befriended in similar ways, so you don’t need to manage 3 different protocols to keep them all happy.
Let’s dive in! Head over to Part 1!
Got any questions or comments? Comment below, jump to our private Facebook Group, or the Ask Lisa page :).