Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Biochemistry and No Snacks

Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. This will become obvious as I try to explain the truths I have learned about biochemistry and snacking. But I think it is important to get beliefs in front of me to help better inform my decisions, i.e. shut the refrigerator door and go to bed! Entire books have been written on each of these hormones, and I have probably oversimplified their roles. But this is the way I see it. There is a kind of orchestrated hormonal dance going on throughout our cells. The food we eat and when we eat that food is controlling the dance. None of the following information is original with me, and I would cite it if I could, but I have just gathered notes from various books, blogs, and essays without documentation. This blog is for personal use only. If you are doing research you need to go to primary sources.

3 Important Hormones and how they relate to the No Snacking Rule

Leptin:
Leptin sensitivity and leptin resistance determine the human energy balance. Leptin is to humans as photosynthesis is to plants. It is the most powerful hormone in the human body. What does this have to do with snacking? There is a 24 hour leptin pattern. Leptin levels rise at night, are the highest the first two hours of sleep, fall during the evening, and are lowest around noon. A high leptin level tells a person that he is full. It is normal not to be hungry after supper. Not eating after supper and going 11-12 hours until breakfast is fundamental for establishing healthy  hormonal patterns. Improperly timed eating can disrupt all of our hormones and throw the body out of rhythm. Sleep is our primary fat burning time. But this can only happen when no food has been eaten for 11-12 hours. During the night the body gradually begins to burn a higher portion of fat for fuel. The 9-12 hours after supper is when the body can access the fat stores in the buttocks, thighs, and stomach. Sounds good to me! If anything is eaten before bed, this prime fat burning time is shut off! So no snacking after supper is a good rule, and it is simply a fact of biochemistry.

Insulin:
Insulin carries glucose to various cells. If we overeat at mealtime (seconds) or eat in between meals (snacks) insulin takes the glucose to the liver, muscles, etc. to be dropped off. But the cells do not need the fuel, so they refuse the delivery and turn off the receptors for insulin. This is insulin resistance. And the liver can also become insulin resistant. Eating between meals causes the liver to retain the calories it has in storage. A person who has a "clogged" liver suffers from fatigue, is tired easily by stress, has difficulty going 5 or 6 hours without eating, and the liver turns the calories into fat. Fatigue and getting hungry too often are evidence of an out of shape liver. 

Ghrelin:
Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the stomach that signals that it is time to eat. Cells in the stomach release this hormone which is controlled by a circadian clock that is set by mealtime patterns. Scientists call this group of hormones the timekeepers of hunger. In a normal weight person, ghrelin rises before meals to signal hunger. When leptin is too high in the overweight individual, ghrelin loses its normal function. In an overweight person ghrelin levels before eating are lower than normal, and the levels will stay high after food is eaten. This stimulates excess eating and especially excess eating of carbohydrates.  Eating between meals throws off the natural hormonal signals. We need to "set our clocks" by eating at meal times and not in between.

Conclusion:
When we eat in between meals or after our last meal at night, we are messing with our hormones and their signaling to each other. We need five or six hours between meals so that our bodies can work as designed. When we snack, even on healthy foods, we are interrupting the hormonal communication which controls our appetite and hunger signals as well as stopping fat burning and encouraging fat storage.

So whether Reinhard knew all of this hormonal stuff or not when he said No Snacks, it is nevertheless sound biochemistry. Those folks who advocate eating healthy snacks between meals just don't know how the innocent snack interferes with our hormonal balance.  I know there are some who must have more than three meals a day…diabetics and those who have had gastrointestinal bypass surgery come to mind. But the majority of us should avoid snacking. I personally think this applies to S Days as well. My body does not know it is an S Day, and I don’t want to interrupt the dance if I can help it.

5 comments:

  1. We must be reading the same things. I do not snack on S days either, partly because I don't enjoy my food as well if I am not truly hungry, but largely because I know now that hormones are behind everything and the happier Ikeep my hormones, the healthier I will be.

    I know once I get a good stretch of successful No S days, I stop being hungry, and need less food at meals. I used to think this was habit or 'getting used to it', but now I think that it is my leptin kicking in. It hasn't happened yet, but I have not been as strict with myself as I was last time. Thanks for reminding me.

    By the way, I recently discovered a good blog by a neurosurgeon you may be interested in. He treats his patients by working to balance their hormones - especially leptin.

    http://jackkruse.com/

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  2. We ARE reading the same things. I have read The Quilt, but I will admit to finding it difficult reading...I think he writes in a hurry. However, the photosynthesis analogy is his. There is a very long discussion going on MDA among folks doing a leptin reset and he comments off and on. Most of those people have real health issues. I am a healthy lady, but I definitely can tell the difference in cravings and overeating if I get off of NoS. And I do think it is the leptin sensitivity. Of course I also think insulin is involved.

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  3. I had a feeling you just might have read his blog. It's fairly new, though, so maybe others will benefit from it. He does seem to write in a hurry - or something. Someone said he could use a good editor - and I agree, but it certainly doesn't detract from the message for me.

    I have not looked at MDA in a while. I should check in there when I get a chance.

    I am sure insulin is involved - as are any number of other factors. I was 'normal' weight for years until I took steroids and nothing has been the same since. So, I have to throw cortisol in the mix. I had no idea how biga factor estrogen was until I read 'Why We Gain Weight'.

    It is certainly not as simple as so many seem to think.

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  4. Okay, I was going to read the MDA stuff some other time - but I ended up looking at it sooner and then following the topic of how not sleeping disrupts the process. I haven't slept well recently. I'm used to waking at 3 or 4 am - but this is different. I'm waking more like 10 times a night. Maybe that has something to do with why I keep wanting to eat more, and more often, than usual.

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  5. This all makes so much sense! I know that I feel better and sleep better when I am not snacking and eating healthy foods in reasonable amounts at specific meal times. My digestive system is happier, I have more energy, and my mood is improved when I stick to NO-S.
    What possesses me to snack or binge or do anything but stick to NO-S? That is the million dollar question!!

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