Tag Archives: overeating

Eat an Appetizer to Promote Weight Loss

One of the main reasons I recommend having two meals, one of which being a small meal such as an appetizer, is to help avoid overeating. This may sound counter intuitive, but with busy schedules we can tend to eat late or not have much time and therefore end up gobbling up as much food as we can in one sitting. Shortly thereafter we are left having over consumed calories, feeling stuffed and lethargic.

It can take up to 15 minutes for your brain to register with your stomach that food is in your system, a large proponent for overeating. Many times we will keep eating the food that is on our plate waiting for that “feeling of full,” only to have completely surpassed it. Eating a snack or appetizer prior to eating your main meal will help start that communication between your stomach and your brain, so by the time you go to eat your main course you will only need to eat a portion of it to fulfill your bodies’ needs. (more…)

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Amy

Fat Controls Your Brain, Eating Impulses

If you’ve ever thought that your favorite food was “calling your name,” irresistibly drawing you to the refrigerator, it’s not just all in your head. Well, actually it is in your head. But, it’s very real. Let me explain…

A study at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas has found that fat from certain foods goes to the brain and triggers the brain to send messages to the cells in the body, telling them to ignore the appetite-suppressing signals from leptin and insulin.

The interference with the leptin and insulin hormones, which are involved in regulating your weight, goes on for up to three days. (more…)

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Jason

How to Overcome the Guilt of Overeating

I’m sure nearly everyone trying to manage their weight feels guilty when they overeat. There’s a reason they call it “stuffed.” It doesn’t feel good being bloated, especially after some time of eating reasonable portions and re-training the stomach to understand what a comfortable, full feels like.

My mom had a magnet on our refrigerator that said “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips!” Of course, there was a picture of a pig eating a piece of coconut cream pie on it. (Lest you think I come from a family of skinny-minnies, quite the contrary. Most adult women in my family weigh in the 200-300 pound range).

As a nutrition expert who works with emotional eating, eating disorders, and weight management I honestly think that magnet should say “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the mind.” While it doesn’t rhyme as well, I do think it is the true damage of overeating. The guilt people can carry can overwhelmingly sabotage any progress toward mindful, healthy eating. (more…)

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Rebecca

New Study Shows Saying “No” to Food Harder for Women

New research suggests that a woman’s brain may unconsciously have a tougher time resisting favorite foods compared to men. This study was conducted to examine why some people don’t stop eating after internal cues tell them that they are full. This is a problem for today’s society because chronic overeating leads to obesity, which is sweeping across our nation to an alarming high.

One of the researchers, Dr. Gene Jack Wang – senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, believes this helps place another piece to the puzzle in understanding behaviors and diet. Dr. Wang speculates that “women may have more trouble saying no to food because they sometimes have to eat for two.” He continues by saying that maybe evolution contributes to women having difficulty saying no because “of their important mission to have a baby.” (more…)

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Kinsey

Study Reveals Why Obese Eat Too Much

Eating makes many of us happy… it just takes some of us longer to feel the pleasure. There’s an entire emotional complexity to why people overeat. Many times it’s to keep emotional issues suppressed. But there could be an additional reason for overeating. New evidence shows that obese people eat more because they don’t get that pleasure as quickly as everyone else.

That pleasure of filling your belly with your favorite food is not just in your head. There’s a real chemical explanation for what is going on. (more…)

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Jason

Aussie Researchers Find Hunger Switch

Overeating is a complex set of circumstances that range from psychological to simple ignorance about the foods we eat. But, what if when it’s all said and done, doctors could simply turn off your hunger like a light switch?

The answer could lie in a molecule known as MIC-1.

Australian scientists have figured out how to switch hunger on and off using MIC-1. The discovery could stop weight loss in terminally ill patients or produce weight loss in the morbidly obese. MIC-1 is produced by cancers and targets receptors in the brain that switch off appetite.

Sam Breit at St Vincent’s Centre for Immunology, who originally cloned the MIC-1 gene, believes the findings could have a significant impact on a range of appetite-related disorders.

Posted on November 9, 2023 by Jason