How Exercise Cuts Food Cravings
One of the biggest problems faced by dieters is the craving for a certain food, which is usually in the high calorie or high fat category.
This is the reason for more failed diets than just about anything else, so whatever you can do to suppress those cravings will help you to fulfill your diet strategy.
And that doesn't include giving in to the cravings by eating the food to try and make it go away!
Suppress Snack Cravings
There is one very natural way of suppressing the craving for high calorie snacks and that is to do something as simple as some exercise on a daily basis.
Tests have shown that sitting around in an office all day or leading a sedentary lifestyle not only slows down the metabolism and gives you too much time to think about eating something that you shouldn't, but they also create a set of physical circumstances that lead to the feeling that you need to eat something.
Researchers in Brazil at the University of Campinas Exercise have found that that doing exercise to lose weight can restore the sensitivity of neurons in the brain that are involved in the control of satiety (feeling full). This, in turn contributes to a reduced need for food intake and particularly snacking, which consequently leads to fat loss.
The study so far seems to point to excessive consumption of saturated fats creates a failure in the signal that is transmitted by neurons which control satiety in an area of the brain known as the hypothalamus. These transmitter failures can not only lead to uncontrollable food intake, but also to the sensation that your are hungry which leads to snacking on high calorie snacks and consequently, obesity.
Decreased Food Intake
The study group, which is led by Jose Barreto C. Carvalheira has demonstrated that by exercising obese rodents, they demonstrated signals of restored satiety in hypothalamic neurons, which led to decreased food intake. According to Carvalheira,
"In obese animals, exercise increased IL-6 and IL-10 protein levels in the hypothalamus, and these molecules were crucial for increasing the sensitivity of the most important hormones, insulin and leptin, which control appetite"
The findings show that physical activity does contribute to the prevention and also the treatment of obesity. It does this not only by increasing the expenditure of energy but also by modulating the neuron signals that tell the brain that we are sated, leading to reduced food intake.
While physical activity has always been known for being an effective treatment for obesity, only now have its effects on the control of the brain functions concerned with body weight begun to be understood.
These findings reinforce the need for regular exercise while changing the current paradigm that has been established between the need for physical activity and losing weight especially in obese patients.
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Posted on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 in News | 1 Comments
1 thoughts on "How Exercise Cuts Food Cravings"
Jason says:
I would never have thought that exercise could actually cut the food craving. I always thought you'd be more hungry after exercise since you were doing all that activity. Guess I was wrong about that, but its handy to know about, thanks!