Sandhya Raghavan
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Written By: Sandhya Raghavan | Published : December 18, 2017 10:57 AM IST
Ever wonder what makes you feel hungry or full? It's not just the food you eat. Two hormones, ghrelin and leptin are responsible for controlling your appetite. Of the two, ghrelin is the one that makes you feel hungry. When the hormone is released inside the stomach, it signals your brain that it's time to eat. Ghrelin is an important hormone, without which, you'd probably waste away without hunger. But in excessive amounts, it can also make your body consume more calories and store more fat. And that's why it's important to control your ghrelin levels. If your constant hunger is throwing a spanner in your weight loss plans, you should probably continue reading. Here are some scientific ways in which you can lower ghrelin.
Eat just enough
Eating disorders, both overeating and undereating, are the culprits. Obesity and its other extreme anorexia are both known to alter your ghrelin levels. So ensure that you stay healthy and eat just the right amounts to maintain your body weight.12
Sleep well
Night owls should try to get some decent shut eye. Sleep deprivation wreaks havoc on your ghrelin levels, making you eat more than usual. Short sleep duration has been scientifically known to lower your leptin levels (leptin tells your brain to stop eating) and increase your ghrelin levels.3
Build muscle
Shed that fat and put on some mean muscles. Muscle mass and ghrelin levels are inversely proportional. So hit the gym, lift some weights and have a high protein diet to build your muscle mass.4 Here's how you can put on more muscle.
Eat high carb-high protein diet
It's commonly known that proteins keep you fuller for longer. Studies say that a high carbohydrate diet with high proteins helps you stay satiated, for a longer time.5 Here are some foods that will keep you fuller for longer.
Maintain a steady body weight
Avoid messing with your body weight and don't go in for drastic weight loss measures like crash diets. Suddenly lowering your body weight can cause your ghrelin levels to go haywire.6
References:
1 Yi, C. X., Heppner, K., & Tsch p, M. H. (2011). Ghrelin in eating disorders. Molecular and cellular endocrinology, 340(1), 29-34.
2 Garweg, C., Scholtes, F., G rard, J., & Wahlen, C. (2005). Ghrelin and obesity. Revue medicale de Liege, 60(1), 35-40.
3 Taheri, S., Lin, L., Austin, D., Young, T., & Mignot, E. (2004). Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. PLoS medicine, 1(3), e62.
4 Purnell, J. Q., Cummings, D., & Weigle, D. S. (2007). Changes in 24-h area-under-the-curve ghrelin values following diet-induced weight loss are associated with loss of fat-free mass, but not with changes in fat mass, insulin levels or insulin sensitivity. International journal of obesity, 31(2), 385-389.
5 Jakubowicz, D., Froy, O., Wainstein, J., & Boaz, M. (2012). Meal timing and composition influence ghrelin levels, appetite scores and weight loss maintenance in overweight and obese adults. Steroids, 77(4), 323-331.
6 Hooper, L. E., Foster-Schubert, K. E., Weigle, D. S., Sorensen, B., Ulrich, C. M., & McTiernan, A. (2010). Frequent intentional weight loss is associated with higher ghrelin and lower glucose and androgen levels in postmenopausal women. Nutrition research, 30(3), 163-170.
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