Get Back into Your Skinny "Genes"
Mar 25, 2023
Did you know that you have skinny genes? These genes also regulate your biological age. The most detrimental cause of aging is excessive calorie intake. But the calorie restriction theory is only half the story.
There is another factor to consider and that is the system that controls your hunger. Your hunger-satiety system in the brain modulates how you use energy. It consists of multiple neuropeptides that initiate or terminate eating habits. These are your hunger-satiety hormones. The balance determines whether you are a fat-burning machine or a fat-storage machine.
Hunger hormones slow metabolism down and increase body fat whereas satiety hormones boost metabolism and decrease body fat. Hunger hormones can be beneficial when balanced. The hunger peptide ghrelin, for instance, is a potent trigger of growth hormone. It binds to growth hormone receptors (GHS-Rs) and increases its release by six fold. Did you know that fasting and hunger boost your growth hormones to burn fat and repair tissues?
Does Food Cause Emotional Pleasure?
This only works when your hunger-satiety system is balanced with a good diet. The number one culprit that will disrupt this delicate balance is high glycemic foods. This includes refined carbohydrates, pasta, bread, pastries, and fructose beverages. Fructose in particular has been shown to cause leptin resistance, lipid disorders, hypertension, obesity and diabetes. The #1 most damaging combo to the satiety system is when you eat high sugar foods. Examples of foods to avoid include: ice cream, chocolate, candy, cookies and cake. These foods may satisfy your immediate emotional pleasure however they are setting you up for a metabolic setback with excess estrogen, excess cortisol, low testosterone, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia and increased belly fat.
Eat Protein
The #1 food to promote skinny genes is protein. Try eating whole and non-denatured plant-based protein to avoid all the animal protein issues such as hormones, drug injections, and whatever else they are using these days. Studies reveal protein can boost the satiety peptides CCK and GLP-1. The dual effect decreases food intake and increases weight loss.
Enjoy a protein shake before exercise to sustain muscle performance and increase the efficiency of muscle protein synthesis after exercise. A pre-exercise protein meal has shown to boost the body's metabolic rate for 24 hours after a workout. Don’t forget the real live satiety-promoting foods such as green leafy vegetables, raw nuts, seeds, legumes and root foods. Studies of tribes and communities that eat nuts and seeds are thinner. Why? They trigger a satiety peptide highly sensitive to dietary fat. Nuts can shift your cravings to increase metabolic capacity to convert fat to energy. Combinations of whey protein, berries, eggs, beans, meat and nuts have the best muscle nourishing properties.
Endure Hunger is the Key
Now for something you didn’t know. Train your body to endure hunger. Hunger combined with eating satiating foods and avoiding glycemic foods is similar to physical exercise. When you repeatedly challenge your body with acute temporary hunger such as intermittent fasting, it adjusts itself by decreasing the number of hunger receptors in your brain and makes you resilient to hunger. This increases the efficiency of your satiety hormones, and potentiates them to take control of your metabolism. How do you achieve this? You have to experience real hunger by either fasting for a day, regular intermittent fasting or under-eating. Gurus and yogis have been doing this for centuries.
As consumers; we need to educate ourselves now more than ever about food. When we avoid toxic foods we can affect corporate policy, legislation, and bring consciousness to our food sources. Read the labels and choose wisely.
Lastly, although I say "skinny" what I really mean is healthy weight and that is the ideal weight for YOU. You have the genes to get there and it is your birthright to be at your healthy weight.
