Outsmarting the Hungry Brain

It’s that time!

The slide towards the New Year.

Holidays with such busy days!

Meeting family obligations.

The inevitable weight gain?

This is the one time of year it pays exponentially to pay attention to what you eat and keep your life’s routines. It’s not too late!

Stephen Guyenet, Ph.D. declares in his book The Hungry Brain:

One practical implication of this research is that if you want to control your weight over the long term, focusing on the six-week holiday period will give you the greatest return on your effort. 

What does the research tell us to do?

Dr. Guyenet tells us there are six steps to a slimming lifestyle. Taking the time to know how the brain appetite works and what you can do about it is worth your health and enjoyment of the Holidays.

Fix your food environment

1. Get rid of calorie-dense foods that you can easily grab: cookies, ice cream, chips, crackers etc
2. Reduce your exposure to food cues in general: don’t make food visible in your home and at work, avoid food advertising in the media.
3. Create effort barriers to eating: food you have to cook, nuts in shells, fruit to peel or cut up

Manage your appetite

1. Choose foods with strong satiety signals from a moderate amount of calories: simple foods close to their natural state such as fresh meat, seafood, eggs, beans, lentils, vegetables, fruit, eggs
2. Get starch from potatoes, yams, squash, beans, oatmeal instead of flour-based baked goods
3. Eat more protein, to a point.

Beware food rewards

1. Be aware that the brain values calorie-dense combinations of fat, sugar, starch as well as protein and salt and limit them.
2. Since this brain motivation greatly overrides satiety signals, creating cravings and overeating, you cannot trust your hunger.
3. Beware and limit bacon, french fries, ice cream, chocolate, cookies, pastries because of their high brain reward.

Make sleep a priority

1. Restorative sleep has a major impact on eating behavior even if we are not aware of it.
2. Spend enough hours sleeping.
3. Attend to sleep hygiene: completely dark room, cool temperature, only use your bed for sleep
4. Keep regular hours going to bed and getting up.
5. Get bright outdoor light in the morning or midday, avoid blue-spectrum light in the evening.
6. Treat sleep apnea if you have it.

Move your body

1. Exercise regularly to increase the number of calories you burn and naturally lower the level of the fat set point in the brain.
2. Choose activities that fit into your schedule and that you enjoy.
3. Consider walking whenever possible and build it into your commute.

Manage stress

1. Identify if you are a stress eater: this can undermine your best intentions.
2. Identify the stressors that you feel you cannot control.
3. Mitigate the stressors: be resourceful and creative by making plans so you feel you have control.
4. Practice mindfulness by continually bringing yourself back to the present.
5. Practice meditation.
6. Replace stress eating with more constructive coping mechanisms: take a bath, get outside, call a friend, and so on.
7. Remove calorie-dense comfort foods from your environment.

I realize a lot of this is going against the grain of what society is presenting to us, and implementing these strategies can feel like swimming upstream. However, choosing for health at this time of year can go a long way in maintaining health in the new year.

Dr. Cheryl’s additions

I would also emphasize that staying hydrated will both keep your brain choosing more clearly and keep your body functioning more cleanly and efficiently. In addition, we often confuse thirst signals for hunger, and eat when we are really thirsty. By drinking pure water instead, we are way ahead.

I recommend drinking pure structured water, as you can make at home with the Natural Action Water Structuring units. There is nothing more satisfying to me than structured water for my thirst. 

Also, by planning ahead with having available a fiber-rich protein bar when you are delayed in cooking also goes a long way towards managing eating, especially during the holidays. My favorite is not available in grocery stores. It is made by Designs for Health and is called the Pure PaleoBar. 

The Pure PaleoBar is available in my office by the bar and I give a 10% discount for buying a case of 12. You can also order it through npscript.com. If you have never ordered from npscript, you can create an account under my name by putting my phone number as your access code: 6499234

Please comment below what you are doing to implement these ideas to outsmart the hungry brain this holiday season.