Health - Family - Food

The key to controlling your weight in the long run is to reset hypothalamus activity. Our bodies are programmed to accumulate fat reserves whenever possible, and this instinct served us well long ago. When humans depended on hunting and gathering for their food, the reserves of fat that they had built up when food was plentiful could be the difference between life and death.

Now most people have plenty of food available all of the time, so they no longer experience period of feast or famine. Therefore, we really don't need large fat reserves any more. However, the hypothalamus has not evolved to recognize this situation. So unless we can reset hypothalamus function with healthy eating that is carefully planned, we will get fatter thanks to our body's old survival strategies.

What we need to understand is that it's not only the number of calories that we eat, but also what form those calories come in. Fats, proteins and different types of carbohydrates are all utilized and absorbed in the body in different ways and this makes a difference in whether they are burned or stored as fat. Choosing carefully is also the secret to reset hypothalamus reactions to work positively for you, not against you.

The hypothalamus gland is located within the brain. It performs various functions, one of which is regulating appetite. The hypothalamus creates signals that indicate when we are hungry and when we are satisfied. One problem that can occur is that the signal for being satisfied has a built-in delay. So it can take up to 20 minutes before the body realizes that enough food has been eaten. To try to compensate for this lag, you should concentrate on eating slowly so that you don't continue to eat after you are actually full.

Fat contains nine calories per gram, more than twice the four calories per gram found in proteins and carbohydrates. Therefore, while any healthy diet requires some fat consumption, you need to be very careful to limit the total amount of fats you eat. What fats you do consume should be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Quality protein is always a good choice, because it deters hunger longer than carbohydrates, is needed for healing and tissue building, and is converted to fat very slowly.

When it comes to making the hypothalamus stop their role in fat accumulation, foods which contain carbohydrates definitely lead the way. The body assimilates carbohydrates faster than proteins, vitamins etc. These carbohydrates act as catalysts for the hypothalamus glands, which begin storing complex lipids. Some special kinds of carbohydrates are found in sugar. You should not confuse these sugars with the sweetening agent we use in everyday cooking. These lipids don't contribute to the lipid build-up caused by triggering of the hypothalamus glands.

A diet containing foods good for your body will stop the hypothalamus from sending signals to store fat. Eat what is recommended for an average human. This will typically include a balance of nutrients, including healthy fats, and a minimum of certain types of sugars.