The Hungry Brain
Stephan J. Guyenet, Ph.D.
2. The Selection Problem
The selector must be able to choose one option. If there are incompatible options, such as fleeing a predator or mating, the selector must be able to pick only one and allow it access to the resources necessary to execute its program. 2. The selector must be able to choose the best option in any given situation.
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The selector must be able to select decisively between options. If one option is only slightly better than the others, it still must win definitively, shutting off all incompatible options completely.
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The winning motivation initiates subsequent competitions in cognitive areas that are relevant to fulfilling that motivation, and then the cognitive areas initiate competitions in motor areas that are relevant to physically executing the plan of action. The strength of each bid is determined by experience, internal cues, and external cues, and the basal ganglia only allow the strongest bids to express themselves. This process occurs beyond our conscious awareness—we only become aware of bids after they’re selected.28 This is consistent with Daniel Kahneman’s idea (discussed in the introduction) that most of what happens in the brain, including many decision-making processes, is nonconscious.
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Many behaviors we view as trivial, such as pumping gasoline or washing the dishes, are actually tremendously complex. Artificial intelligence researchers are keenly aware of the difficulties of reproducing even elementary goal-directed behaviors, which explains why today’s computers are good at computing but not so good at making complex decisions without human guidance.
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5. The Economics of Eating
STEP AWAY FROM THE SNACKS The practical implications for avoiding overeating are clear: Don’t make it too easy for yourself to eat food throughout the day. Even effort barriers as small as having to open a cabinet, twist off a lid, peel an orange, or shell nuts can make the difference between eating the right amount and overeating. Keeping easy, tempting foods in plain sight, such as an open bag of chips or bowl of candy, creates a situation that is simply too tempting for the parts of our brains that are constantly on the lookout for a good deal.
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11. Outsmarting the Hungry Brain
The following six steps translate the research I detailed throughout this book into practical steps you can take in your daily life.
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- Fix your food environment Tempting food cues in your personal environment are powerful drivers of overeating due to their impact on brain areas that govern motivation and economic choice. Fortunately, one of the most effective tools in our arsenal is also one of the simplest: Reduce your exposure to food cues. Here are three measures you can take to do so.
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First, get rid of all tempting, calorie-dense foods that are easy to grab and eat in your home and work environment—particularly those that are readily visible on counters and tables. This includes things like chips and cookies but also some relatively healthy items like salted nuts. Get rid of the ice cream in your freezer. Don’t give yourself the option to eat these foods, and you’ll find that you crave them less.
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Second, reduce your exposure to food cues in general. It’s possible to overeat even healthy foods, so don’t tempt yourself too much. Limit the amount of visible food in your personal food environment at home and at work, particularly snack foods that are easy to grab and eat. Minimize your exposure to food advertising on television and elsewhere if you can.
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Third, create effort barriers to eating. These barriers don’t have to be large to be effective. For example, if you have to peel an orange to eat it, you probably won’t go for it unless you’re genuinely hungry. The same goes for nuts in their shells. Perhaps the most stringent effort barrier is to limit the food in your kitchen to items you’d have to cook or reheat to eat. Chances are, if you have to cook something, you won’t eat it between meals unless you really need it.
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a healthy food environment is one that effortlessly guides your eating behavior in the right direction. It doesn’t contain tempting, calorie-dense foods or ads that remind you of those foods; it contains little visible food in general; and it provides small effort barriers to eating the healthy food that is visible.
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- Manage your appetite If your brain thinks you’re starving, it will eventually wear you down, no matter how strong your resolve. The solution is to give it the cues it needs to realize you aren’t starving.
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The most straightforward way to do this is to choose foods that send strong satiety signals to the brain stem but contain a moderate number of calories. These are foods that have a lower calorie density, higher protein and/or fiber content, and a moderate level of palatability. This tends to include simple foods that are closer to their natural state, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, potatoes, fresh meats, seafood, eggs, yogurt, whole grains, beans, and lentils.
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In the long run, you also need to keep the lipostat comfortable with your target weight. We don’t know as much about how to satisfy the lipostat, and we’ll need more research to get a clearer view, but there is suggestive evidence that eating more protein and limiting highly rewarding foods can help. Regular physical activity, restorative sleep, and stress management may also support a leaner adiposity set point, facilitating weight loss and maintenance.
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- Beware of food reward The brain values foods that contain calorie-dense combinations of fat, sugar, starch, protein, salt, and other elements, and it sets your motivation to eat those foods accordingly. This motivation is partially independent of hunger, such that it’s easy to blow past satiety signals if you’re eating something you love—think ice cream, brownies, french fries, chocolate, and bacon. These foods are a lot more rewarding than anything our distant ancestors ate, and they can powerfully drive cravings, overeating, and eventually, deeply ingrained unhealthy eating habits. When we eat simple foods that are less dense in calories and closer to their natural states, they’re still enjoyable but they don’t have that intensely rewarding edge that drives us to overdo it. These include things like fruit, vegetables, potatoes, beans, oatmeal,
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Nuts may not be an ideal diet food, but they are less calorie-dense than they might seem because some of their calories pass through the digestive system unabsorbed. Choosing unsalted nuts reduces their reward value to a reasonable level. Simple foods like these help the satiety system and the lipostat stay in control of our eating behavior, matching our calorie intake to our true needs.
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- Make sleep a priority I hope I’ve already dispelled the myth that sleep is a waste of time. Restorative sleep is an important cue for the nonconscious brain that has a major impact on performance and eating behavior—even if we aren’t directly aware of it. The first step toward restorative sleep is simply to spend enough time in bed. This may be all it takes for many people to be well rested. For people who have trouble sleeping, it helps to make sure your room is completely dark at night, allow your room to cool down in the evening if possible, and only use your bed for sleeping and sex.
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- Move your body Regular physical activity can help manage your appetite and weight in at least two ways. First, it increases the number of calories you use, making it less likely you’ll overeat. Studies show that when people with excess weight exercise regularly, their calorie intake tends to go up, but usually not enough to compensate for the calories they burn (although this does vary by individual). Second, physical activity may also help maintain the lipostat in the brain, encouraging a naturally lower level of adiposity in the long run. Our distant ancestors had a word for exercise: life. Movement has always been a key part of our species’ daily activity, and our bodies require it to function properly. It’s a fundamental ingredient for good health, physical and cognitive performance, emotional health, and healthy aging. As such, it’s an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, whether or not your goal is weight management.
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It’s important to choose activities that fit into your schedule and that you enjoy; otherwise, they may not be sustainable. I think commuting on foot or by bicycle is a great way to build physical activity into your daily life in a time-efficient way. It may not be an option for everyone, but it is for many more people than may realize it. If your commute is too long to do by bike, try parking a few miles away from work and walking, jogging, or biking the rest of the way. You might find that you enjoy it. Sports like basketball and tennis are a fun, social way to be active.
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- Manage stress The threat response system evolved to protect us, but sometimes in the modern world it can undermine our quality of life and our best intentions to eat the right amount of food. I’ll outline five actions you can take to identify the problem and manage stress eating by giving your threat response system the right cues. The first action is simply to identify whether or not you’re a stress eater. If you are, then you probably already know it. The second action is to identify the stressor(s)—particularly chronic stressors you don’t feel you can control. These often include work stress, money, health problems, prolonged caregiving, interpersonal conflict, and/or a lack of social support.
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