Understanding Appetite and Eating Behaviours
By Sarah Osborne, Nutritionist BA (Hons). Dip CNM. mBANT. rCNHC.
Have you ever wondered why you feel hungry or full at different times of the day? Appetite is a complex and personal experience that is influenced by various factors.
It is the body's natural response to the need for nourishment and energy to maintain optimal health. Hunger is the primary driver and is controlled by hormones that stimulate or suppress appetite. To fully understand how our appetite works, we need to take a closer look at the biological, psychological, and environmental factors that shape it.
Our biochemistry plays a key role in regulating our appetite. Hormones, for example, can make us feel hungry or full. Our genes can determine how our bodies react to different types of food. Blood sugar levels also significantly impact appetite. When blood sugar levels are low, we feel hungry and seek food to raise them.
The microbiome, which refers to the microorganisms living within our bodies, also influences appetite. These tiny organisms can impact our gut health, which can, in turn, affect how we feel about food.
Communication between the gut and the brain is essential for regulating appetite. These two organs are closely connected, and signals sent from the gut to the brain can significantly impact our hunger levels and feelings of fullness.
Emotions, for instance, play an essential role in determining appetite. Stress and anxiety can impact appetite in different ways. In some cases, stress can cause individuals to overeat, while in others, it can lead to a lack of appetite.
Similarly, sensory cues can also affect our appetite. The sight and smell of food can stimulate the appetite, even if we are not hungry. This is why we may get a sudden hunger pang when we walk by a bakery or restaurant. Unpleasant smells or unappealing sights can have a negative effect on our appetite and put us off the thought of eating.
Social and cultural factors play a vital role in shaping our food choices and eating habits. For instance, cultural practices like meal timing and frequency can impact when and how much we eat. Social norms and expectations can significantly influence our food choices, with peer pressure and targeted marketing campaigns leading some of us to make particular food choices.
For some people with neurodivergent traits such as ADHD or autism, regulating appetite can be even more complicated. These traits introduce unique elements through interoceptive awareness, executive function challenges and dopamine availability, making appetite regulation quite challenging in some cases.
Where does dopamine play a role?
Have you ever wondered why that first bite of a new dessert tastes so delicious?
Or why do we prefer to eat some foods more than others? Well, you can thank dopamine for that!
Dopamine is a fascinating neurotransmitter that has captured the attention of researchers for its essential role in regulating critical functions in our brain and body. This chemical messenger controls a host of functions, including movement, motivation, mood, and reward. Nowadays, dopamine is most commonly referred to as "The Pleasure Molecule" due to its ability to create feelings of pleasure, motivation, and reward.
Dopamine is released by the brain when we experience something pleasurable, like tasting delicious food, spending time with friends, or doing activities we love.
However, the purpose of dopamine goes beyond simply providing pleasure and enjoyment. Its role is much more intricate and significant than that.
Dopamine not only triggers feelings of pleasure but also acts as a key motivator. It compels us to seek out pleasurable experiences and avoid danger to preserve our very survival! It is a crucial component of our brain's reward system and plays a vital role in regulating our emotions, behaviour, and motivation.
Our modern lifestyle has drastically changed from the lifestyle of our ancestors, who faced environmental threats and challenges that we no longer encounter.
Our evolutionary history has shaped our dopamine system, which was designed to help us survive in the wild. Early humans had to hunt, forage, find shelter, and face seasonal climate problems, food shortages, predators, disease, and death. All of these environmental challenges required a strong motivation to survive, which was provided by dopamine.
Dopamine works constantly to drive our desires and to seek out advantageous ways for us to live and thrive.
Today, we live in a world where most of our basic needs are met, but we face different challenges, such as work and financial pressures, social stress, a more sedentary lifestyle, and very different food choices.
Food and dopamine
In our modern diet, we have a wide array of highly palatable foods that are high in calories and rich in sugars and fats. Historically, preference for energy-dense foods was critical for survival because it provided energy storage during periods when food was scarce. Dopamine always drives us to seek pleasure and avoid dangers, such as hunger and food shortages.
For early humans, conserving energy while seeking food for survival would have been more than a strong preference; it would have meant the difference between surviving and not surviving! By consuming foods rich in sugars and fats, our ancestors could store energy in the form of fat, which helped them survive long winters. When we view the role of our brain chemicals in this way, we can begin to appreciate the power they have over our choices.
Dopamine is a very clever molecule, and where it can drive us to eat foods that will provide high amounts of calories, fat, and sugar, and that are easily available to us and will allow us to be satiated in a very energy-efficient way, it is carrying out it’s function very efficiently.
This sounds like a good system, so what’s the problem?
The modern diet is characterized by the easy availability of sugary and tasty foods. Studies suggest that as we get used to a specific food, the levels of dopamine in our body decrease, making us continue to eat even after we are full.
Dopamine is a molecule that craves novelty and newness, so when we encounter something new and exciting, our brains release more dopamine. This information is useful to great effect by food companies and marketers, who create and brand food products that appeal to our dopamine-driven impulses. Therefore, it is not surprising that a new, brightly packaged, high-sugar, salt, and fat-laden convenience food is more attractive than a simple apple.
Over time, our brains may get used to a certain type of food, resulting in a decrease in the release of dopamine when we eat it. This means that the pleasure and motivation we once felt from eating that food decreases. However, our brains start associating the pleasure and motivation we get from eating with other stimuli that are related to the food, such as its smell or appearance. This is known as conditioning. Essentially, our brains shift the release of dopamine from the food itself to these related stimuli.
Understanding the complex role of dopamine in our food choices and our relationship with food can help us make informed decisions and avoid the dopamine trap.
Three simple steps you can take to ensure a balanced appetite:
1. Focus on protein in your diet
If you are looking for ways to regulate your appetite, one strategy that could be effective is to consider increasing your protein intake. Research has shown that consuming a protein-based meal can increase the feeling of fullness after a meal and reduce cravings.
The digestive process breaks down dietary protein into individual amino acids, which are used to produce essential components for our body to function. Two amino acids, tyrosine, and tryptophan, are essential for the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. Tryptophan is also an ‘essential’ amino acid, which means that it is not produced by our body and therefore we need be consume it in our diet.
Protein-rich diets can help reduce hunger, and decrease food cravings. This means that including a higher protein content in your diet can improve appetite control and reduce cravings. In fact, some researchers found that protein intake can increase satiety and reduce subsequent calorie intake, further supporting the idea that protein can help us feel fuller for longer.
But that's not all. Dietary protein can increase the secretion of gastrointestinal hormones, leading to sustained reductions in appetite and calorie intake and better appetite regulation. In simpler terms, including protein in your diet can lead to better appetite control, increased satiety, and reduced food cravings.
So, how can you incorporate more protein into your diet? Some good sources of protein include lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, legumes, and nuts. Try to incorporate these foods into your meals, and add protein foods to your snacks whenever possible to help manage your food intake and reduce your cravings.
2. Focus on Fibre in your diet
Fibre has long been known to be essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system. But did you know that it can also help with cravings and appetite regulation? The reason for this is that fibre slows down the breakdown of glucose in carbohydrate foods, keeping you feeling fuller for longer.
Dietary fibre is a complex group of carbohydrates that are not broken down by the digestive system. This is because humans lack the enzymes needed. Instead, these fibres provide food for the microbes in our microbiome. This is another way that fibre plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy digestive system
Fibre is an essential part of a healthy diet. It's important to include fibre-rich foods in your meals to regulate glucose metabolism and promote overall health. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds are excellent sources of fibre that you can easily incorporate into your diet.
Incorporating fibre-rich foods into your diet doesn't have to be difficult. Simply add a handful of nuts or seeds to your morning oatmeal, swap white bread for whole-grain bread, or snack on fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the day. Small changes can make a big difference in your overall health, so start incorporating more fibre into your diet today!
3. Get plenty of sleep
Recent studies have shown that lack of sleep can have a detrimental effect on the parts of the brain that control our appetite for food. Specifically, research has found that sleep deprivation decreases activity in the areas of the brain that evaluate the desirability of food, such as the frontal cortex and insula cortex. At the same time, it increases activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain that processes emotions.
This change in brain activity is associated with an increased desire for high-calorie foods that promote weight gain after sleep deprivation. It turns out that the extent of this desire is related to how severe the sleep loss was for each individual. This suggests that insufficient sleep can lead to increased weight and appetite disruption by reducing the activity in the brain regions that evaluate food choices while increasing activity in the emotional parts of the brain that drive us to choose high-calorie foods.
So, if you're struggling to maintain a healthy weight, it might be worth considering whether you're getting enough sleep. By prioritising your sleep and making sure you get enough rest each night, you may be able to make it easier to resist the temptation of high-calorie foods and maintain a healthy weight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sarah Osborne
Nutritionist BA (Hons). Dip CNM. mBANT. rCNHC.
Sarah is a Nutritionist who specialises in the connection between ADHD and appetite, gut health, IBS, mood and sleep.
Her services include developing personalised nutrition plans, tailored coaching and functional testing in her ADHD Nutrition clinic.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sonutrition/
Website: https://www.sonutrition.co.uk/