30 LOSE IT! VOLUME 30
BY RUTH MARCUSADVICE
This hormone is made in the
pancreas and its primary job is
to allow cells to absorb glucose
from the bloodstream to use
as energy. If you eat too many
refined carbohydrates over an
extended period of time, this
mechanism can become faulty and
ultimately damaged, resulting in
insulin resistance. The cells no
longer respond properly to insulin
prompting the pancreas to secrete
more insulin and causing a build-up
of glucose in the bloodstream.
When this happens and
insulin can’t do its job, you can
experience what is known as
insulin resistant hunger. Rather
than being physically hungry, you
might experience it as a ‘gnawing’
desire to eat.
Think back to the earlier
example. Even though yout’s only 11.30am but you’ve already
started counting down the minutes
until lunchtime, which is at 1pm.
Today you’ll be lucky if you make it
to noon. You can feel yourself
becoming irritable and impatient,
and the smell of fresh coffee and
croissants wafting over from your
neighbour’s desk isn’t helping either.
To take your mind off food, you pop a piece of
gum and start scrolling mindlessly through social
media. But then there it is on Pinterest: a slice of
moist chocolate cake, dripping in caramel. And
before you know it, you’re in the canteen ordering
a brownie and a large latte. It feels as if you haven’t
eaten in days, but in reality you had a bowl of oats
and a banana at 8am, rice cakes with Marmite at
10.30am and several cups of coffee in between.
So why are you so ravenous?That gnawing feeling in your stomach is telling you
that you need a snack, pronto. But actually you’ve
already eaten – and it wasn’t that long ago either.
So what gives? Here’s why you’re getting pangs and
how to improve appetite control.HUNGER
GAMES
INSULIN