Why Can't I Stop Eating?

Your first, OMG! moment in Hack Your Hormone’s chapter: ‘Why Can’t I Stop Eating?’ is DT’s anecdotal explanation of why, when we think we’re eating healthily, we are constantly hungry, desperately trying to stave off the crave and living in a permanent state of self loathing, confusion and failure.  Ultimately, the blame lies with the food industry and the garden path it leads us down. DT highlights that just ten companies own around 90% of food products that we buy, and they, therefore, have the power to manipulate what we load our plates high with.  These ten companies hire ‘ingredientologists’ (whatever the hell they are) to make their food as addictive and palatable as possible. Can you imagine if they were so honest, they let the mask slip just enough, and they confessed to wanting and needing you to have hormonally driven blood sugar lows so that you keep reaching for their processed fare. Unfortunately, this is exactly what they count on, how they drive their sales up and how they trap you in a cycle of eating excessive carbs, inflammatory oils and hidden sugars.  These are their favourite ways to get you hooked and wanting more. DT is keen to highlight that it’s not your willpower, you are not weak or rubbish at sticking to a healthy regime.  In fact, it’s a case of the body snatchers, and big food companies have taken control of yours!  What’s more, not only are they making you addicted to their products, their overly processed foods are destroying your Leptin receptors, meaning, they are actually deliberately and knowingly hurting you and making you overeat. That’s just not okay!

Vegetable oils - strips essential gut mucus, causing Leptin receptors to retract so our brain has no idea when our tummy is full. Once you pop, you can’t stop, so just don’t start. 

Emulsifiers - these bind ingredients together - they make things look creamy and delicious.  Basically it’s food glue (vom).  Look out for things like soy lecithin, carrageenan, mono and diglycerides in ingredient lists and avoid them like the plague.  Emulsifiers inhibit the gut’s ability to detect what’s in your food, which stops your gut from releasing Leptin by shutting down a hormone called Cholecystokinin (CCK) which triggers Leptin. You might not realise it, but you will find yourself subconsciously seeking food and find yourself always just a little bit peckish. 

Sugars and its sneaky disguises in supposedly low fat, “healthy” alternatives:

• Fructose
• Glucose
• Any syrup or rice syrup
• Barley malt
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Sucrose
• Agave nectar
• Dates
• Honey

There are about 200 words for sugar, but the above are all worth memorising so you can immediately spot them when you’re checking labels, something that should become a bit of a hobby.

Hack Your Hormones dispels some of the Myths around supposed “Healthy Eating Habits”, and DT explains what to avoid and how to hack your way to a full tum. 

Eating little and often is the way to shed those pesky pounds! Um…is it though? DT explains that constantly spiking our blood sugar makes you hungrier.  Our bodies cannot convert all this energy that we are giving it when we are constantly snacking. Instead, all that extra energy converts to fat, which we store and don’t burn off.  As a result, our brains get foggy and we get back on our search for our next fix. 

When you’re feeling low, you’re more likely to have higher cortisol (stress) levels and low (satisfied) serotonin, meaning you will be reaching out for those carbs and processed quick fixes. All of which convert to sugar, and yes, you’ve got it, spikes your blood sugar, making you feel hungry again quickly, resulting in a cyclical nightmare.  All you have to do is break the cycle and Hack Your Hormones can help.  Thank God! 

Dopamine makes us feel good, but it’s also the hormone that is the source of addictive behaviour. Changing our Dopamine hits from food to nutrient dense food, or something else entirely, is a great way to control those cravings. Figure out how you trigger your Dopamine highs, but make sure you keep your body guessing.  If you seek your Dopamine high from the same thing, at the same time, all the time, the effects will wear off.  Have you ever been so absorbed in a box set that you hope it never ends? Then one day, after committing to the binge, you reach episode 167 and you’re like, meh. That’s your body's way of telling you that this no longer gives you that same Dopamine buzz.  The moral of the story is you need to highlight what brings you joy, what gets you going so that you can weave these things into your diet or routine randomly. Keep your Dopamine boosts fresh!

Intermittent fasting encourages autophagy, which is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells so that new ones can regenerate. Toxic proteins can contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers and cancers, which is one more reason why pushing back your eating window can really support with your overall health and well-being. If you’re constantly digesting, the body and brain cannot regenerate and replenish as effectively. 

Another “DT” hack is changing the order in which you eat things: eating veggies, proteins and fats first will blunt the impact of those glucose spikes and help you to achieve satisfaction much faster. By eating veggies first, you create a mesh in your gut which slows down the insulin spike.  

I think this is my favourite: fat is good for you. Yey! Good fats give you fuel and if we don’t consume enough fat, we will store the fat we do consume.  If we consume it, we burn it. Simple.  If you’re loading up with the nutrient dense food that your body will tell you it needs, you experience that fullness your body craves, and your Leptin response will tell you to stop.  If your body isn’t being fed the nutrients, or the fats it's crying out for, you will likely overeat and snack throughout the day to reach full satisfaction. 

Finally, DT dispels the myth that Cholesterol is the Devil and will immediately kill you if it’s too high. There are two types of cholesterol: High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL). To keep it simple, HDL is good and LDL is bad.  You can pretty much guarantee that all processed foods are LDL, so just another reason to steer clear. It’s worth highlighting that HDL is essential for producing vitamin D, Oestrogen and Progesterone.  It also supports your liver to absorb excess fats during digestion, so spread that butter and back away from the marg! Since the publication of Hack Your Hormones, DT believes that the NHS will soon admit that what has been spun about cholesterol will be retracted and the focus will shift to insulin resistance. 

Ultimately, if you have the time to prepare and get yourself “food” organised, you will prevail! Hack Your Hormones offers accessible advice on how to go about doing this, so what are you waiting for?  Get hacking!