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Our body automatically regulates our caloric intake to prevent energy deficits and to maintain a stable body weight. Does our body somehow keep tabs on its available resources? The answer is yes. To a point.
Who Controls Hunger?
One such resource is blood glucose. Small increases in the hormone called insulin, which is secreted by the pancreas, lowers blood glucose and increases your hunger. Normally, our brain is very good at maintainign our blood glucose level.
Signals are received from your stomach, liver, intestines and whether blood glucose is either being withdrawn or deposited by the hypothalamus, which preforms various body maintenance functions including control of hunger.
Set-Point
This regulating or kind of thermostat, is called our “set-point.” Your set-point is your body weight that you maintain when you are making no effort to gain or lose weight. When your body weight goes below its set-point, you will feel hungry most of the time. However, when fat cells release a substance called leptin, it is carried through the blood stream to the hypothalamus, where it tells us to eat less (Williams et al, 2004).
A Matter of Genetics
Is it possible to somehow change our set-point? Unfortunately, the answer is probably not. Your set-point and leptin levels are partly genetic. There is currently no known method to lower your set-point. Even radical diets have little effect and may even make matters worse. They may even raise the set-point for fat resulting in diet-induced obesity (Ahima & Osei, 2004).
This report is not a diagnosis. We hope this information can guide you toward improving your life.
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