October 11, 2013
Why Your Diet is Doomed to Fail
Why Your Diet is Doomed to Fail
We are reminded constantly that eating too much and exercising too little will ultimately lead to weight gain. But when you eat sensibly and work out diligently only to find the pounds still don't drop off, what's going wrong? Scientists now have a better understanding of how the body responds to food and believe that, in some cases, failed dieters may be hard-wired to find weight loss more difficult. Everything from your nerves to your gut bacteria could be sabotaging your battle of the bulge. Here we find out how:
Cookie addict: Too much junk food can desensitize gastric nerves, so you eat more to feel satisfied and trigger the nerves to respond
FATTY FOOD SWITCHES OFF STOMACH NERVES
Last month researchers announced that if you struggle to keep weight off, then your nerves could be to blame. According to scientists at the University of Adelaide, nerves in the stomach - called the gastric nerves -tell the brain when we are full after a meal. But too much junk food can desensitize those gastric nerves so they stop working effectively. The result? You eat more to feel satisfied and trigger the nerves to respond. In their study, the Australian team showed that the nerves were less responsive after fatty food. And two weeks after switching back to a normal diet, the gastric nerve response was still below normal. 'This means you would need to eat more food before you get the same degree of fullness as a healthy individual,' says study leader Amanda Page, associate professor of medicine at Adelaide. In their findings, published in the Journal of Obesity, Professor Page and her team suggested the lack of response was made worse by leptin, the so-called hunger hormone. Though leptin normally helps to stem hunger pangs, when exposed to lots of high-fat foods, the hormone seems to affect the stomach nerves, dulling fullness signals to the brain. Although the study was on mice, Professor Page says a similar effect is likely to be seen in humans, and more research is needed to see if there are ways 'to trick the stomach into resettling itself to normal' after a high-fat meal.YOUR BRAIN IS MISWIRED

Weirdly wired: Some of our brains have a reduced response to the hunger hormone leptin that regulates appetite
YOU'RE AN APPLE SHAPE, NOT A PEAR
Your body shape - whether apple or pear - could determine how easy it is to lose weight. In a study of obese adults published in the Journal of the American Medical Association a few years ago, researchers found that people who carry their excess weight around their waist - the so-called apple shape - also rapidly secrete a lot of insulin (the hormone that controls blood sugar levels) after eating a little bit of sugar. This suggests they respond more strongly to sweet food. They also struggled to lose weight on a low- fat diet and, the study found, would do better on a diet that restricted simple carbohydrates from sugary and starchy foods like cookies and potatoes. People who carry their excess fat around their hips - the pear shape - secreted less insulin after eating sugary food and would lose weight equally well on either diet. 'There are a lot of studies looking at the way body shape influences weight loss,' says dietitian Louise Sutton of Leeds Metropolitan University. 'What this and other research has shown is that unstable insulin levels, such as those exhibited in the apple shapes in this study, create stronger hunger sensations, causing them to struggle with their weight and finding it hard to plan an appropriate diet.'YOUR GUT LACKS THE RIGHT BACTERIA
Whether you have the right type and amount of bacteria in your stomach could hamper your dieting attempts. Numerous studies in recent years have linked gut bacteria to hunger and metabolism. In the latest, conducted at Washington University, tests on mice which were given stomach bacteria from obese people showed that they became fatter than those receiving microbes from lean individuals. Transplanting the gut microbes led to metabolic changes in the rodents associated with obesity, said the scientists behind the study, which was published in the journal Science.
Mind-body divide: Some children are less responsive to their internal cues of hunger and will continue eating even when full
YOUR HEAD IGNORES YOUR STOMACH
Why is it that you are constantly wanting to snack when others are satisfied after a single meal? To find out if our internal hunger pangs really are dramatically different, even from those of other family members, nurses at the University of Pennsylvania looked at the eating habits of children and their siblings. Their findings showed that overweight and obese children ate an average 34 per cent more calories from snacks than their normal weight brothers and sisters, even though they had all been offered the same meal. Why? Dr Tanja Kral, the study leader, says the heavier children seemed to have an 'impaired ability to adjust for calorie differences' and that they also ate more of a meal after a calorie-rich appetiser compared with their normal weight siblings. 'Our findings suggest some children are less responsive to their internal cues of hunger and fullness and will continue eating even when full,' Dr Kral says.
Fasting upset: If you feel your body is battling against your attempts to diet, it could be true
FASTING UPSETS YOUR IMMUNITY
If YOU feel your body is battling against your attempts to diet, it could be true. Professor Gregory Freund, a nutritionist at the University of Illinois school of medicine, found that sudden attempts to slash calories or reduce food dramatically in a detox can trigger significant changes in our immune systems. This could mean efforts backfire because weight loss is made more tricky. He says diets with one or more fasting or cleansing days a week are especially troublesome. His studies showed that rapidly reducing intake seems to decrease the number of a type of immune cells called cytokines. These cells have been linked to weight loss, and low levels can increase the risk of piling on the pounds. Professor Freund says, that the reaction can be countered by taking 'smaller steps to your weight loss' and not attempting severe calorie restriction or fasting.reposted from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2449199/Some-dieters-doomed-fail-From-stressed-immune-miswired-brain.html
Good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle will kick a diet's butt every time! Click here to check out our 14 Day Nutrition Guide and get the most out of your workouts!
