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Here's how to get things back on track.
A: Being persistently hungry can cause big trouble. So can overeating for comfort/pleasure. These two behaviors, say researchers from Baylor University's Children's Nutrition Research Center, are controlled deep within your brain by serotonin-producing neurons, but operate separately from each other — one in the hypothalamus, the other in the midbrain. They both can, however, end up fueling poor nutritional choices and obesity.
When hunger is your motive for eating, the question is: "Does your body know when you've had enough?" Well, if you are overweight, obese or have diabetes you may develop leptin resistance and your "I am full" hormone, leptin, can't do its job. The hormone's signal to your hypothalamus is dampened, and you keep eating.
When pleasure is driving you to overeat, that too can increase leptin resistance. Part of the impulse is physical. For example, mice who cannot taste sweetness still opt for sugar water over plain because once ingested it gets the gut and brain to release pleasure-promoting hormones. Part is emotionally driven — perhaps from associations of some foods with happier times. That too stimulates the release of comforting hormones and neurotransmitters.
So how can you learn to eat no more than your body needs and not use food to cope with tension or sadness? By overcoming leptin resistance with a combination of lifestyle changes.
