BRAIN CHEMISTRY AND OBESITY

BRAIN CHEMISTRY AND OBESITY

Brain chemistry is another factor to consider if you are hooked on food. It is the interaction between one’s own manufactured “brain chemicals” and one’s behaviour, whether that be ingesting sugar or other chemicals or “acting out” behaviour, that stimulates the brain to establish compulsive and addictive behavioural patterns. Certain neurotransmitters give us an “excessive rush” when we ingest addictive chemicals, resulting in a compulsion to keep the “feel good” rush coming. We manipulate our moods by looking for stimulants like sugar, alcohol, drugs or nicotine to make us feel better. This behaviour is repeated when we engage in repetitive behaviours like running, overeating, relationship dependency, workaholism, gambling, addictive shopping sprees and sexual activities, to release our inner chemicals that give us that “feel good” rush.

Foods containing sugar are the drug of choice of many co-dependents. Our chemical and behavioural patterns are the results of being co-dependent, not the cause. There is a correlation between brain chemistry, co-dependency and emotional overeating.

Research has shown that overeating may be caused by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that helps us feel pleasure, thus when we eat, we often feel a slight high. Research has also shown that when we overeat, dopamine receptors are slightly depleted in the brain. In fact, people who have previously had trouble cutting down on food show strong evidence of dopamine receptor depletion. If there are fewer dopamine receptors in the brain, a person will have to eat more just to get that same good feeling. This means that an obese person is going to have to eat a larger amount of food to feel the same amount of pleasure that a slimmer person would feel from a much smaller amount.

Further information regarding the correlation between brain chemistry and obesity is contained in my latest book, Want to Lose Weight ……………But Hooked on Food?