Overeating on Dopamine Affects

Do you eat food to live, or live to eat food?

The honest answer to this question can determine if you are at risk of regular overeating.

The fact is we’re all hardwired to go out and seek food. Food is our nourishment, it provides us with all the essential nutrition to sustain life. For this reason it is vital that we have a subconscious and emotional drive to seek out food. The potential problem is, with the availability and variety of food, our body’s instinct for nourishment can be misinterpreted by our minds. This need can cause many people to eat too much, most often without the individual realising he/she has ingested too many calories.

People are struggling to break the habit of overeating, but could it be more than a lack of will power for weight loss and improving your health?

Some 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. This system causes us to want to seek out food and eat at regular intervals so we stand a better chance of gaining a full range of nutrition, thus have a better chance of surviving. Imagine if our ancestors didn’t feel pleasure from eating. They would have no motivation to hunt for food. If this was the case we probably wouldn’t be here today!

Research into the Dopamine system has also shown that when we overeat, Dopamine receptors are slightly depleted in the brain. In fact, many obese patients 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 would 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 could feel from a much smaller amount of food. Resisting temptation goes a long way toward keeping those receptors active, which is why slimmer people may be satisfied after eating a bite of cheesecake, rather than a whole slice!

There has been a similar pattern shown in drug addicts and alcoholics. The more the user takes the greater the reduction of receptor sites, and this causes them to take greater amounts of drugs or alcohol for the same feeling. This gives credit to the argument that individuals can, in fact, have an addiction to food. It is a condition that needs to be treated like any other addiction, through counselling, education, and constant monitoring. However, drug and alcohol addicts do have one advantage – they can regain control of their addiction and never touch drugs or alcohol again. Unfortunately, individuals addicted to food have to regain control of their eating habits while continuing to face food everyday. How successful would an alcoholic be if he/she had to drink a little everyday?

The devastating link between the Dopamine Cycle & hunger

If this is true and the Dopamine system is playing a large part in some obesity cases, then there is another problem, the signal for hunger. Some scientists have suggested that the signal for hunger can be stopped when the stomach wall is stretched. In other words, when our stomach is full and cannot hold any more food. We have all felt that sensation. This makes sense as a safety precaution because feeling pleasure from eating could cause us to not stop eating, potentially causing damage to the stomach. The problems occur when we overeat regularly. This regular overeating can cause the stomach’s capacity to increase.

This is demonstrated by the fact that all obese people have a much larger stomach. The wall has been stretched regularly over the years and therefore the stomach now has the ability to hold more food. When eating, the larger stomach needs more food to cause it to stretch and switch off the hunger signal or the individual may experience constant hunger. This is where the Dopamine cycle causes them to constantly want to eat more.

This is possibly where normal diets don’t work, because they involve the patient consuming smaller portions to control energy intake. Smaller portions won’t fill the enlarged stomach enough to stretch the stomach wall, thus the vicious cycle of hunger and Dopamine signals continue until the resolve breaks and the patient relapses.

Breaking the cycle

In order to be successful at losing weight, an individual caught in this vicious circle must have support, guidance, and understanding. They need to understand the Dopamine cycle itself and how they can help get their body back into shape. Taking up a hobby, like exercise, can also help keep the mind off food. Of course, exercise is also going to help you lose weight!

Foods that digest slowly (vegetables and other foods with fiber) can help the stomach feel fuller longer, so these foods may also help break the cycle. Obese individuals need help getting thin. They need support, understanding, compassion, but firmness at the same time. They need someone to encourage them to stick to healthy eating and a regular exercise routine. As the stomach shrinks back to a normal size, they stand a better chance to break this vicious cycle.

Have a great day!