I'll just cut to the chase....it's your hormones....
Hormones interact with your brain, to prime your body for fat storage and overeating.
The way that our culture has evolved is to overeat 24/7. Overeating has lead to an obesity epidemic. Obesity, is defined as Body Mass Index over 30. According to the World Health Organization: "The issue has grown to epidemic proportions, with over 4 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese." In the USA, 4 out of every 10 Americans are obese. How did we get there? Well, over the years we've trained our body to eat sugar and flour, avoid fat and by doing this we've trained our bodies to overeat.
There are three main hormones when it comes to weight loss: insulin, leptin, and ghrelin. The most important one is insulin. The obesity epidemic we're experiencing today is caused by too much insulin.
Insulin is a fat storage hormone.
Leptin is a hormone that lets you know when you're full, signaling to stop eating. It's blocked when there is excess of insulin.
Ghrelin is a hormone that lets you know when you're hungry, signaling to start eating. It's negatively impacted by concentrated food, because it doesn't recognize calories consumed (for example, when you drink a sugary drink with 100s of calories).
When insulin is elevated in blood, your body can't use or burn fat as fuel. Many research studies have shown over and over again that insulin, insulin resistance and diabetes are on the rise due to an increased intake of fat-free, high sugar and high starchy foods. Simply said, too much insulin, leads to weight gain. Insulin also affects how much ghrelin and leptin are present and it affects their effectiveness.
Think of it this way, when you feel hungry, it comes in waves. If you don't eat, your body accesses body fat storage. But, if you have too much insulin, your body will not be able to access fat storage and you will feel even hungrier because too much insulin blocks your hormone leptin. When all is working properly, leptin is what lets your brain know that you're full and to stop eating. Leptin communicates with your brain to let it know you have plenty of storage (aka fat for fuel) and that you can stop eating.
Ghrelin lets you know when you're hungry and uses volume of food that you eat and the amount of fat in that food as a gauge; which is why eating a lot of highly processed food messes with ghrelin and things stop working properly.
If weight loss is your goal, then you need to keep insulin as low as possible. Insulin is raised each time you eat and drops when you don't eat. The problem comes in when we eat sugar and flour, because these foods artificially release insulin in response to high glucose in blood. The sure way to raise insulin is to drink soda or other sugary drinks. By consuming little to no sugar and flour, you get to keeps your insulin low, avoid the cravings and urge for binges.
Also, by eating less often, when you are hungry, not just because you're bored or craving a dopamine fix in the moment, we give insulin a chance to drop and raise naturally; leptin starts working and ghrelin adjusts.
Ultimately, you want to get your hunger cues to sync with your hormones; and you can do it by eating the following foods, in this order:
Foods to avoid; Sugar, Flour, Trans Fats, all Processed, Concentrated and Refined foods.
Foods to add: Spices and Fresh herbs. They add extra flavor and health benefits, without empty calories and many herbs have wonderful healing properties.
Eat seasonally, and get organic as much as possible.
In summary, loosing weight is possible for you. The key is to keep insulin low, by getting your hormones back into a balance. Your body knows exactly how much food it needs and what is most nourishing. When you eat naturally available foods, your body recognized them and knows what to do, it properly allocates them in your body for energy and your overall wellbeing.
Many of us have been conditioned to be hungry, when we're not because food is all around; so we think we want it even when we're not hungry. We're teaching our bodies to be sugar burners, vs fat adapted. To be fat adapted, means to use your own body fat as fuel. We're teaching our bodies to go into a state of withdrawal and craving every time we eat hyper palatable and artificially concentrated foods which our bodies can't decipher, so they compensate by turning off hormones and hunger scale.
If you've tried low fat diet and felt miserable, always hungry, thought there is no way I can do this, or there is something wrong with me then this information may be new or not. If you want to learn how to work with your hormones, feel healthier, gain energy and lose unwanted weight, please reach out and let's see if working together can help you lose unwanted weight and attain your health goals for good.

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