I’ve talked a lot about intuitive eating and how to restore your relationship with food. The reason for this is because I know, first hand, that if you don’t have a healthy relationship with food, nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter if you reach your “goal weight”, it doesn’t matter if you’re doing everything “right”.
If you are obsessing about food, if it’s all you think about it, if it gives you constant anxiety, you will never find food freedom. And you’ll never truly feel good.
So one of the first things I do when I work with people, is I get them to reestablish a better relationship with food and their bodies. (Check out this post on body neutrality to learn more.)
We talk a lot about intuitive eating and learning to trust your gut. Learning to honour your cravings, learning to eat when you’re hungry.
But what happens when your diet up until now has been largely processed foods?
Where Intuitive Eating Misses The Mark
Intuitive eating is such a powerful tool because it takes the temptation out of food. By giving yourself permission to eat what you want, you no longer feel triggered by the “forbidden” foods you used to try to restrict (and then inevitably binge later). This work is so important.
However, where intuitive eating sometimes misses the mark, in my opinion, is that it doesn’t account for the fact that some foods—by their very creation—are addictive and hard to stop eating. These heavily refined and processed foods can actually hijack your hunger signals and override them. So if you’re someone who’s been living off a diet of refined foods and fast food for years, it might not be so simple as learning to eat intuitively.
That’s because these foods kind of run the show.
What Are Hyperpalatable Foods?
Hyperpalatable foods are heavily processed, refined foods. These are the foods that are man-made, super delicious and hard to resist. Think chips, ice cream, pizza, cookies.
Why are these foods so hard to resist? Well they’re designed to be that way. In fact a lot of money and research goes into making these foods irresistible! Teams of people collaborate on finding ways to get you to eat more. (So if you thought there was something wrong with you because anytime you eat a bag of chips, you eat the whole dang thing, think again! You’re responding exactly as you should!)
These foods are so irresistible thanks to something called “stimuli-stacking”. This is where multiple flavours are combined to make foods extra exciting to the human body. In nature, you wouldn’t be able to find foods that are high in both sugar and fat. So your brain, which is always looking for ways to find you more calories and keep you alive, feels like it hit the jackpot.
Add in the fact that these foods are designed to airy, melt-in-your-mouth (think cheetos) and are often salty and sweet, and it’s no wonder you can’t turn them down!
How Do Hyperpalatable Foods Control Hunger?
There are a few ways hyperpalatable foods can overthrow your hunger.
1. They Interfere With The Brain’s Hunger Signals
Hyperpalatable foods tend to be void of nutrients and fibre, and high in sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oils. This is a recipe for inflammation. These foods can cause inflammation in the brain, particularly in the hypothalamus (which oversees your nervous system and endocrine system), and can lead to impaired metabolic function and dysregulated appetite. (Source) Low-grade hypothalamic inflammation has been linked to obesity and disruptions in feeding behaviours. (Source)
Essentially your brain begins to override hunger signals because it likes the “hit” it gets from eating these highly palatable foods. So eating becomes driven by pleasure, not hunger.
Again, eating for pleasure isn’t a bad thing. But if your hunger signals are out whack, it makes practicing intuitive eating (where you learn to trust and honour your hunger) nearly impossible.
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2. They Disrupt Gut Bacteria
The other problem with hyperpalatable foods is that they can disrupt gut bacteria. For one, the overconsumption of these foods can actually affect and negatively impact gut diversity, leading to imbalance of good vs bad bacteria. This can set the stage for gut dysbiosis, yeast overgrowth and pathogenic bacteria. All things we don’t want, because a change in gut microbiota can lead to inflammation (including the hypothalamus) and metabolic disturbances. (Source)
Inflammation in the gut can actually disrupt hormones that help with hunger. Leptin, for example, is a hormone secreted by fat cells that help to promote satiety. Typically the more fat you have, the more leptin you have circulating, telling your body that all is well, and you won’t starve. However, inflammation in the gut (and consequently) inflammation in the brain, can lead to leptin resistance. This is where there is enough leptin, but your brain isn’t acknowledging that it’s there, so you don’t get that signal that you’re full.
Another satiety hormone, cholecystokinin (CKK), which is secreted by the small intestine, can be affected by lipopolysaccharides (LPS). These are endotoxins, or bacterial toxins that have been shown to promote inflammation, and they can be found in people who consume high-calorie, high-fat diets or who struggle with leaky gut and dysbiosis. Studies in rats have found that chronic exposure to LPS can reduce the effect of CKK, so once again we aren’t getting that satiety signal to stop eating. (Source)
Finally, certain gut bacteria can actually control and influence what you eat. For one, they can create peptides that are very similar to ghrelin, a hormone that causes hunger, meaning that your gut bacteria can actually influence appetite regulation. (Source)
Bacteria also have their own preferences for the foods they want to eat, like fat or carbohydrates, for example. And some bacteria can only grow on a single nutrient source. Gut bacteria are able to produce small, neuroactive agents, that can by-pass the blood-brain barrier, as well as neurotransmitters, like dopamine and serotonin—both of which influence appetite regulation! (Source)
Key Takeaways
If you are someone who is starting to include intuitive eating practices into your life, but struggle with cravings, consider what the whole of your diet looks like. If your diet has been made up primarily of refined carbs, packaged foods and takeout, there’s a chance that you might have to “reset” your body and your palate, so that you can get your hunger hormones in check.
The best way to do that? Start including whole foods into your diet and limit your intake of hyperpalatable foods.
This is something I cover in my 6-week program The Nourished Body Reset. While doors are closed right now, you can get on the waitlist here.
With love,
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