There is an obesity epidemic happening in America. More and more people are struggling with health problems due to over nutrition and too little exercise and despite peoples best efforts it is only becoming worse. There are a lot of reasons for this phenomenon, first, our diets (in general) are terrible. We eat too much, and the foods we prefer have wat too much unhealthy fat, too much sugar, and too much salt.
Sadly, people like unhealthy foods a lot, and more than ever before unhealthy foods extremely common. In fact, it is faster, easier, and much cheaper to find unhealthy foods than it is to find a healthy option. Plus processed and unhealthy foods taste great, and are specifically designed to be eaten often and in large amounts.
We know that eating like this affects our body, but how does this affect our brains?
As well as regulating metabolism in the body, insulin plays an important role in the brain. There are many insulin receptors throughout the brain, including many in the regions that tell us when and how much food to eat. When food is consumed, insulin is released from the pancreas into the body and eventually the brain. This helps the body regulate how fats, carbohydrates, and proteins are broken down and it also triggers various receptors throughout the brain.
If Insulin levels are too high for too long insulin resistance can build up in the brain (and throughout the body).
Insulin, as well as being triggered by the intake of food, also helps regulate energy metabolism. This means that insulin signaling helps let people know when and how much food to eat. If the brain becomes resistant to insulin it can cause people’s eating habits to become even unhealthier because they will not know when they should stop eating.
This insulin resistance in the brain can also be passes down from mothers to children. If a mother has insulin resistance and/or chronic over nutrition is can be passed down to her baby through exposure to high insulin levels pre-birth. It should also be noted that the environment after birth also has a significant effect on obesity and insulin resistance in the brain. Still, the importance of this pre-birth insulin resistance cannot be ignored.
So what can be done? Currently the only practical answer is to eat well and exercise. I know that everyone is tired of this advice, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Eating our vegetables and exercising will make us feel better and be healthier.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we can never eat a cookie ever again. We just need to be mindful of what we are eating and make sure that we eat a well-balanced diet and do some form of exercise on a regular basis. If we make a habit of eating mindfully it is okay to indulge every once in a while. It is when we eat nothing but unhealthy foods that it starts to affect our body, mind, and insulin signaling.
Insulin and Obesity
