Do You Wonder Why You Are Feeling Hungry?

Which emotion affects you to a greater extent to act upon? Feeling full or feeling hungry?

Our human nature is interesting: There is no system in place restraining our calorie intake. But, if you feel hungry you just have to eat. Hunger seems to master many other emotions required to survive. This made a lot of sense in the Stone age, where people had to outlast in periods of time of little to no food. Nowadays,, it is extremely challenging to lose weight permanently because of all of the fast food restaurants at every turn.

Over 40 the feelings of being hungry are often more severe due to the changes in the hormone system. Are you aware of how your body creates the feelings to let you know you are hungry?

There are two systems in place in your brain that require balance in order for you to lose weight over 40: The calories you take in, and the quantity of energy accessible. If the accessible energy drops under a limit, feelings of hunger are produced and you have to think of eating. This is not weakness of character, its biological.

There is a difference between feeling satisfied and feeling full. After age 40 your metabolism slows and you burn less calories. This is when you need to learn to eat just until you feel satisfied, and stop eating when you have that satisfied feeling. This must happen if you expect to lose weight permanently after 40.

Interestingly enough, we usually stop eating before our bodies absorb the nutrients in the foods. How long it takes you to eat and how often you eat meals has a big effect on feeling satisfied. An easy way to lose weight permanently is to increase the come of meals and the time spent eating- youll feel satisfied earlier.

However: You have to eat consciously. Watching TV, driving or reading while you eat will distract your mind, and it won't register that you are eating. This will cause you not to realize when you are satisfied, and you will end up eating more, which will jeopardize your attempt at permanent weight loss.

There are many messenger substances signaling the brain you need to eat. These substances make you feel hungry, repress physical activity and increase the amount of energy that is stored as fat. When you go on a diet or stop eating, Neuropeptide Y is secreted.

This is why you find it difficult to lose weight permanently, and sometimes feel like your energy is low: The less you eat, the more the endocrine system protects your body fat. This protection continually increases after 40, and the only way to lose weight permanently is by implementing a gentle life style concept.

Many Neuropeptides are involved in making you feel hungry. Orexin A and B are secreted when you feel hungry, and they cause food cravings and overeating, which is common when you are on a diet. So this is not a lack of will power, its the nature of your body.

Leptin is another Neuropeptide that is developed by fat tissue. It transmits to your brain how filled the fat storage system is. Women have more body fat than men by nature and correspondingly higher levels for Leptin. You will start to feel hungry when the Leptin levels drop below a certain point.

The body image in western culture is highly influenced by unnaturally slim celebrities. A certain amount of body fat is actually healthy, and without it youll feel hungry day in and day out, leading to all kind of emotional troubles.