If you’re hungry all the time, there may be a good reason why. Learn how the impact of insulin influences your hunger and how our food industry has gotten it wrong!
INSULIN
Your pancreas makes insulin and insulin’s job is to capture and burn glucose. Glucose is your body’s main source of energy. If you aren’t burning glucose, you are storing it. Your body is very clever and very resourceful. If you are eating too much food that requires insulin release (i.e., sugar (fructose, sucrose, or just excess carbohydrates), and you aren’t using the energy, it gets stored as fat. This could be fat on the outside of your body and fat on the inside, specifically your liver. Your liver is the guy that takes whatever you put in your mouth and transfers it to the proper channels. Your liver can use carbohydrates and fat for energy.
I’m sure many of you have heard of Insulin Resistance, but do you know what it means? It is when your muscle, fat, and liver cells no longer respond to the insulin signal. Glucose can’t get into your cells so they send signals to the pancreas to release more insulin, but it can’t release anymore. Glucose builds up in your blood, while your cells are still starving. Insulin resistance is the beginning stage of Type 2 Diabetes. The good news is this is reversible! But it will require some changes in what you are putting in your mouth.
EATING CARBS VS. FAT
Your body needs protein and fat because of the essential nutrients and amino acids that come from them. Carbohydrates are not bad, and I am not saying you should cut them out of your diet, but in the United States, we over-consume carbs, specifically processed carbs. Carbs from foods that are high in fiber like whole vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds are very good for you. The fiber helps keep your glucose levels down and you don’t have as much of an insulin spike. If you are eating carbs mostly from processed sugar, corn, and wheat you are not getting any fiber or nutrition. These are empty carbohydrates and they are doing nothing for your body or the function of your organs. They will be broken down and digested quickly, leaving you feeling hungry. Have you ever noticed when you eat something like a muffin or cereal you still feel hungry after? But if you sat down and ate 2 whole eggs cooked in butter you would feel much more satisfied and feel that fullness signal faster. Fat contains cholesterol which shuts off your hunger hormone ghrelin. But not any kind of fat will do. It should be good fat from grass-fed animals and whole, grass-fed, or raw dairy products. Sorry, but this does not include McDonald’s or donuts.
THE SUGAR SCAM
Sugar comes in many different forms and many different packages. Juice, sports drinks, soda (the worse sugar culprits), granola bars, ice cream, bread, pasta, and yes even fruit, they are all sugar-laden. Whether it’s sucrose or fructose, syrup, or solid, it is sugar. If you are unsure if you are eating too many carbs (sugars) during the day, track your food for a few days. It is a big eye-opener. I actually have all of my clients do this for 3 days. The majority of people I talk to say they “eat pretty good”. Then they write it down and we take a look at it and we see it isn’t “pretty good”. I can see that they aren’t eating enough, in most cases, and they are eating mostly carbs. No wonder everyone feels like they are starving!
Don’t fall into the low-fat, high-carb diet trap. It doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked for anyone. The United States of America is a good example of how eating more processed carbs is creating more metabolic diseases!
