Food Reward: How to Cause Your Brain to Defend a Lower Body Fat %

Dieting can be tough, but sometimes the reason why some people struggle to lose fat can in fact be that their own brains want to "defend" said people's unnaturally high level of adiposity (1).

This idea makes some sense.  The human body, like any biological system, is innately driven to maintain homeostasis.  This is why we have to lift progressively heavier weights in order to build muscle.  The body needs a legitimate environmental reason in order to maintain a higher level of lean body mass.  Muscle is metabolically "expensive" so to speak, thus, your body will only keep it around or add more to it if there's a legitimate survival need.

The same can be said for fat.  If a person finds themselves in an environment conducive to fat gain, they will likely gain fat.  Indeed, as obesity researcher Dr. Guyenet states "reward and hedonic systems, if stimulated in the right way by food or drugs, can increase food intake and body fatness" (2).  In those individuals who are most susceptible to it, an environment comprised of virtually unlimited hyper rewarding foods leads to an adaptation or survival response on the part of said individuals' "energy homeostasis system" (3).

Simply put, a dietary environment of hyper palatable foods (made readily available via the industrialization of food production), causes those people who live in this environment to respond with greater levels of food consumption and perceived hunger (4).

So what sort of diet leads to a reversal of this situation and a return to a lower level of defended body fat?

Some interesting research into the effects of food satiety offers some valuable clues (5 & 6).

In a study conducted by Holt et al., the researchers involved set out to establish a "satiety index" (SI) of foods that would offer information about what sorts of foods best promote feelings of "fullness."

Those foods that proved most satiating, and thus resulted in lower levels of overall energy consumption, were those with "lower energy density, and higher water, fiber and protein" content.  Foods with the lowest satiety, and consequently those correlated with higher levels of energy consumption, were higher in palatability and caloric density.

The authors of the study concluded that "simple, 'whole' foods such as the fruits, potatoes, steak and fish were the most satiating of all foods tested."  Dr. Guyenet adds to this conclusion as follows:

This study, along with many others, suggests that focusing on simple foods that have a lower energy density leads to greater fullness and less subsequent food intake, and conversely that highly palatable energy-dense foods promote excessive food intake.  Potatoes, sweet potatoes, meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, rice and beans are foods with a moderate level of palatability and energy density, and are consequently helpful for weight loss and maintenance.  Conversely, baked goods, candy, ice cream and fried foods have the lowest SI, reflecting their extreme palatability and energy density.  

While your food choices are ultimately left to your own discretion, it can nevertheless prove helpful to keep these ideas surrounding food reward theory in mind the next time you decide to go about losing fat.

It's much better to work with rather than against your body's internal homeostatic systems.  While this is just my own personal opinion, the research seems to validate it.

What do you think?