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Understanding how hormones affect when and how we eat

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

It’s about 2 p.m., you’re not really hungry because you just had lunch, but you’re feeling anxious about all of the things you still need to do today. You open a bag of chips and start crunching. Every crunch makes you feel a little better. Until it doesn’t.

You had plans to meet up with friends, but they fell through. Now you’re feeling sad so you make a frozen pizza and eat the whole thing by yourself.

It’s about 9 p.m. It’s too late to start a movie, but you don’t feel like going to sleep yet. You wander into the kitchen, open the pantry and grab some crackers.

It’s been such a busy day at work, you didn’t have time to stop for lunch so you eat during a conference call. You eat so fast you don’t remember eating and you still feel hungry. You pull out a chocolate candy bar to treat yourself to dessert because will this call ever end?

You didn’t sleep well last night, you’ve had coffee, but it’s not helping. You reach for some cookies, maybe a sugar rush will help.

If you see yourself in any of these scenarios, you have experienced emotional eating. Our bodies are craving certain foods to deal with certain emotions.

If you’ve experienced this once in a blue moon, then it may not be cause for concern. But if you see yourself repeating this kind of behavior with any level of regularity, it could be time to take a closer look.

Understanding How We Use Food

Feeling sad or lonely? Food is used to increase those feel-good feelings.

Feeling angry, frustrated or anxious? You hope eating will help you to feel more calm or soothe your nerves. 

Feeling bored? Eating is just something to do to fill the time.

While we might understand rationally that those aren’t the best coping mechanisms, there are of course other factors at play that drive those less than ideal decisions.

While we might be aware of the emotions associated with certain foods and behaviors, we might be less familiar with what’s going on underneath that’s driving those cravings.

If we can understand it a little better, perhaps we can manage it a little better, too.

The Hormones Driving the Emotion

Our hormones are key players in this story. Hormones are chemical messengers made in the endocrine glands that control major bodily functions including hunger, emotions and mood.

Let’s set the scene.

Imagine you’re in the park at a colorful playground. It’s a lovely spring-like day. The sun is shining, but not too hot. There’s a teeter totter with two kids about the same age are on either side, playing nicely. One goes up, one goes down. Everyone gets a turn. Everyone’s happy.

There are a few other kids on the playground, all playing nicely. You hear some laughter, a few sounds of glee. Birds are chirping too, it’s all just lovely.

This is your body as it should be, your hormones and emotions are all working together in harmony.

Let’s meet the characters. 

Ghrelin and Leptin are the two kids on a tee-totter, playing nicely. Weird names, but I’m not here to judge.

Ghrelin is usually referred to as the hunger hormone. It can detect that you’re hungry and will tell your body when it needs to take in energy (e.g. when you need to eat).

Leptin does the opposite (hence the teeter totter). Leptin signals when the body doesn’t need more energy. Leptin’s job is to regulate energy balance so that you don’t take in calories when you don’t really need them (e.g. tells you to stop eating).

Left alone on that teeter totter, Ghrelin and Leptin help your brain to regulate energy, satiety and hunger – telling your body when you’re hungry and when you’re full.

But Grehlin and Leptin are not alone.

On a beautiful day like today, once you eat, Dopamine comes center stage releasing that “feel good hormone,” which often tells us to keep eating. As long as Leptin is still in play, we’re all good because our body is still in a place to listen to the appropriate cues.

However, when we are triggered by a particular situation and emotions are running high or low, our hormones are out of wack, then things are not working in harmony.

Let’s say you’re having a stressful day. 

Here comes Cortisol, the playground bully and knocks Leptin off the teeter totter. Now Ghrelin is on its own, just sending out hunger signals.

Your body listens to those hunger signals, eats, Dopamine tells you to keep eating and Leptin is nowhere to be found. You continue to eat. Continue to release dopamine. 

And the next thing you know you’ve polished off that jar of peanut butter, that pint of ice cream or that bag of chips.

An oversimplification? Maybe. But if you’ve ever found yourself feeling insatiable, perhaps it makes a bit more sense now.

And maybe on the next episode we can explore what happens when Seratonin comes near the teeter totter.

Now that we know what’s happening. What are we to do about it?

Two things:

1. Make a plan to respond to your emotional eating triggers.
2. Set yourself up for success with a proactive approach.

Responding to Triggers

Think about those scenarios. If you saw yourself in any of those situations, those are your triggers. (e.g. stress, late night, boredom, etc.)

The next time you encounter one of those triggers, then ask yourself:

*Am I actually hungry?

*If the answer is yes, then we’ll talk about what a nutritious snack can look like.

*If the answer is no, then find something else to do.

If your answer is “yes, I’m hungry but I’m really craving something crunchy and salty.” Then, crunchy and salty you shall have.

But first, I want you to do two things.

Eat a fruit or vegetable.

If you’re eating, you should get some nutrition from it. And in this case, the fiber will help to slow the digestion of whatever else you eat, which will help to maintain your blood sugar levels (which has important long-term benefits) and help you to feel satisfied longer. And it’s possible that the crunch of the vegetable could help to satisfy that crunch craving.

So, have a carrot, celery, sliced bell pepper, grape tomato, green grapes or an apple.

Portion out your snack.

Add a serving size to your plate. Maybe add a nutritious dip like salsa, hummus or guacamole. And eat consciously. While you enjoy it.

A Proactive Approach

Know your triggers and your cravings.

*Have healthy snacks on hand that will help you satisfy your cravings.

If you tend to crave crunchy and salty, try popcorn or whole grain crackers. Keep chopped vegetables in the refrigerator. Celery loves to be stored in a glass jar in water, which makes it a really handy grab-and-go snack.

If you tend to crave sweets, fruits like dates and fresh berries can satisfy (maybe with a few chocolate chips). Herbal tea with honey might even give you that bit of sweetness you’re looking for.

*Make sure you are eating enough protein and fiber (like whole grains, leafy greens and power seeds) early in the day to keep your body satisfied longer. “Getting your protein” is really popular right now. Make sure to balance it with fiber from fruit and vegetables for maximum benefit.

*Drink lots of water. Often when we feel hungry, we are actually thirsty. So stay hydrated!

I hope that by understanding the characters that are driving some of your food decisions you can better respond to them in the future. And I hope you are thinking about some ways that you can be prepared, so that when Cortisol (or even Seratonin), storms into the playground you can say, “Not today. I’m in charge today.”

Be well, my lovelies.

Margaret Faintich

b’vive