LOW FAT ISN’T ALL THAT
What’s the story with “diet” foods? Many of them are based more on
marketing than sound nutrition. For example, “low-fat” may mean that a
food is pumped with sugar or fake flavours. Take diet ice creams and fro-
yo: They’re touted as ways you can enjoy sinful sweetness without having
to make any sacrifices. Sounds like a miracle, right? No sugar added! Well,
they go heavy on the additives and artificial sweeteners. I once saw a diet
ice cream sandwich that had fifty—yes, fifty!—ingredients. Oy. Pigs are
actually fed artificially flavoured food because it will make them fatter—
not an example we humans want to follow. Better just to have a little bit of
the real thing. That’s the “S” in FIXES, after all.Leptin is the satisfaction hormone (dancing around like a leprechaun). Keep
those levels high, and you’ll stay satisfied. Leptin shuts off your hunger and
stimulates you to burn more calories. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone (angry like
a gremlin). If ghrelin levels are really high, they’ll make you want to motor
through a box of Girl Scout cookies in three minutes flat.
When your stomach gets empty at regular intervals throughout the day, it
stimulates ghrelin production. You get little messages that you should eat, and
some of those impulses are stronger than others. Those messages stop when
you’re satisfied.