Comfort Foods Can Affect Your Weight Loss Efforts



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A new Australian study showed that there was a clear link between stress, obesity and neurons in the brain. Experts also discourage the consumption of comfort foods when they feel stressed because they could lead to instant weight gain. ( pixabay )

Having fun while eating comfort while feeling stressed brings immediate gratification. However, stress intake causes the body to store fat, an instant way to gain weight.

The problem with comfort foods is that they are sweet, high in fat and high in calories. Some of the most unhealthy comfort foods include macaroni and cheese, which has 380 calories, fried chicken and waffles with more than 1,000 calories, and chicken pie with 370 calories and 850 milligrams of sodium, close to half of the day sodium consumption;

Risks related to stress

A study conducted by a team of experts from the Australian Institute of Medical Research Garvan (Australia) found that a high-calorie diet badociated with stress resulted in greater weight gain than the same diet consumed in a stress-free environment.

The researchers also discovered what they considered to be the brain's comfort food center located in the hypothalamus, which controls food intake, and in the central amygdala, which controls the emotional response.

According to the study that used experiments on mice, central tonsil neurons called neuropeptides or NPYs are responsible for an exacerbated response to a combined stress and high-fat diet intervention.

"This study indicates that we need to be much more aware of what we eat when we are stressed, in order to avoid faster development of obesity," said Herbert Herzog, head of the Eating Disorders Laboratory at Garvan Institute.

Research has also established that insulin controlled a molecular pathway in the brain that activates during stress and leads to greater weight gain. In the same way, the stress badociated with a high calorie diet triggers insulin resistance in the central tonsil. It's a vicious circle that inevitably leads to obesity if food stress remains uncontrolled.

Insulin and stress

Insulin is a hormone that helps the body to absorb glucose and maintains a balanced blood sugar level. Insulin resistance prevents the cells of the body from taking glucose. Chronic stress alone only slightly increases blood insulin levels, but when it is badociated with comforting foods, insulin levels can increase up to 10 times. times more.

When the amygdala becomes insulin-resistant or numb, the nerve cells increase their levels of NPY and, in turn, promote a more abundant diet and a slower burning of fat.

The Garvin team said that when neuropeptide production in the amygdala is stopped, weight gain is reduced. Similarly, in the absence of NPY, weight gain in a high-fat diet with stress is equal to weight gain in a stress-free environment.

With the study indicating that insulin has greater effects in the brain than previously thought, scientists hope to further explore the effects of insulin on certain brain functions.

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