The Hormone Making You Hungry
It may be not even need to be said, but hunger is the number one factor affecting your weight loss efforts. What is hunger? It is your body telling you that it needs food and it tells you this using the hormone called Grehlin!
Knowing how to moderate hunger is essential for long term weight loss so an understanding of how to manage this hormone can definitely help.
What Exactly is Grehlin?
Grehlin is a hormone which is produced in your stomach and secreted when your stomach is empty. It enters your bloodstream and affects a part of your brain called the hypothalamus, which helps regulate your hormones and appetite.
Ghrelin's main function is to increase appetite. It makes you consume more food, take in more calories, and store fat.
The higher your levels of ghrelin, the hungrier you get. The lower your levels, the more full you feel and the easier it is to eat fewer calories. Therefore, if you want to lose weight, lowering your ghrelin levels can be beneficial.
How to Lower Grehlin & Reduce Hunger
Ghrelin seems to be a hormone that can't be directly controlled with drugs, diets, or supplements.
However, there are a few things you can do to help maintain healthy levels:
- Prioritize sleep. Poor sleep increases your levels of ghrelin and has been linked to increased hunger and weight gain.
- Increase muscle mass. Higher amounts of fat-free mass or muscle are associated with lower levels of ghrelin.
- Eat more protein. A high protein diet increases fullness and reduces hunger. One of the mechanisms behind this is a reduction in ghrelin levels.
- Include enough fibre in your diet. Fibre is filling but doesn't add to calories and decreases the release of grehlin.
- Lose weight gradually. Massive dietary changes can make grehlin kick in with a vengeance and make it impossible to be successful with your weight loss goals.
Because hunger is the number one reason given by people for not sticking with their weight loss programme, managing your grehlin levels can be the difference between success and failure.