Your brain that is. Pretty much all bodily functions are a result of chemical reactions between your brain and the rest of your body. When it comes to food it can get complicated.
Basically our bodies run on two types of fuels, our fat stores and the food we eat, and these two types of fuels are meant to serve very specific purposes.
When our metabolism is working as it should we naturally switch between the two types of fuel as necessary. Our fat stores are broken down and turned into fuel for mundane activities, like being at our desks, watching tv, reading a book. The food we eat is reserved for more strenuous activity, such as taking the stairs, running to catch the elevator, and of course exercising. So technically, if our metabolism would just do its stinckin' job, we should be burning fat all day. Unfortunately, most of our metabolisms aren't doing their jobs. So we get stuck using the other type of fuel, the food we eat, for all our daily activities. This presents another problem. Not only are we not burning fat, but our brains are mainly powered by carbohydrates from the food we take in during the day. So as we burn through the food we eat, we start running low on carbs. The brain sends signals letting us know it needs more carbs, so we eat more. Now the brain only uses the carbs, the rest of our body didn't really need more fuel so all that extra food gets stored in all your least favorite places. Its a viscous cycle.
Another way our brains sabotage our metabolism is by making it a crutch. Our brain knows we need to eat to survive, when we eat endorphins are released that give us that "Yay! Food!" feeling. Endorphins are a chemical in the brain that increase our pain tolerance and improve our mood. That's why eating feels so good, and why we eat when we're bored or depressed.
Basically our bodies run on two types of fuels, our fat stores and the food we eat, and these two types of fuels are meant to serve very specific purposes.
When our metabolism is working as it should we naturally switch between the two types of fuel as necessary. Our fat stores are broken down and turned into fuel for mundane activities, like being at our desks, watching tv, reading a book. The food we eat is reserved for more strenuous activity, such as taking the stairs, running to catch the elevator, and of course exercising. So technically, if our metabolism would just do its stinckin' job, we should be burning fat all day. Unfortunately, most of our metabolisms aren't doing their jobs. So we get stuck using the other type of fuel, the food we eat, for all our daily activities. This presents another problem. Not only are we not burning fat, but our brains are mainly powered by carbohydrates from the food we take in during the day. So as we burn through the food we eat, we start running low on carbs. The brain sends signals letting us know it needs more carbs, so we eat more. Now the brain only uses the carbs, the rest of our body didn't really need more fuel so all that extra food gets stored in all your least favorite places. Its a viscous cycle.
Another way our brains sabotage our metabolism is by making it a crutch. Our brain knows we need to eat to survive, when we eat endorphins are released that give us that "Yay! Food!" feeling. Endorphins are a chemical in the brain that increase our pain tolerance and improve our mood. That's why eating feels so good, and why we eat when we're bored or depressed.
Keeping this in mind will help you recognize actual hunger versus faulty signals.
In our next post we'll look into how strength training can reset our metabolism and keep our bodies burnimg fat 24/7.
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