Recently, I was looking at an old copy of Prevention Magazine. (January '03). A small article caught my eye called "Science Finds the "Feed Me" Hormone.

This group may not need to know about this, but....



This hormone is called ghrelin (pron "gree-lin"). It actually stimulate hunger and can cause the yo-yo effect that makes people lose and gain weight. (I know that I have a much bigger appetite than my DH!).

I started looking on the internet to see if there was a way of counteracting ghrelin and found this article http://www.40-40-20.com/nutrition/l...erhormone-alert.

Basically, it says that grazing (eating 5-6 small balanced meals a day) and not allowing yourself to get hungry is the way to prevent ghrelin from kicking in.

Since I have a problem with hunger a lot and couldn't figure out why (my DD thinks I should allow myself to get hungry more to allow my stomach to shrink), this could be an answer. I hope the information helps you too!

(I'm going to repeat this in several places.)

__________________
Ilse

380/286(current)/154
5'6"
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible"
Walt Disney

(Drat, I just typed a whole long piece and lost it!)

Ilse, thanks again for bringing this to our attention. I really feel it is very important!

Bren,

I decided to follow up our conversation in here because what I'm doing is decidedly more Zonish than "general" LC. I'm also going to restate somethings you already know in case someone pops in here.

As I said yesterday, I didn't feel as satisfied with just my egg snack. It was my habit for quite some time to have just 2 eggs for my early morning snack, (I don't call it bfast because the kids don't get up at 5 am! I feed us all bfast around 8) but that was also during the time frame that I was inadvertently restricting my calories. Thanks to Mick's insightful observation, "Sharron, that doesn't look like too much food!" I started trying to be sure to get in ENOUGH calories/carbs rather than limiting them. I was having some success with it and walking regularly before I got ill at the beginning of the month.

So, what I observed yesterday was that I lost weight both days -- 2# day before yesterday and 1/2# yesterday.

However, I felt more satisfied on the day I ate more earlier -- and more "balanced" and Zone-like. I was hungry all day yesterday and even woke up headachy this morning. Not sure about that one: Detox, low bgs or allergies?

I'm following a semi Zonish/Atkins/paleo model right now as I don't feel it is wise for me to induce ketosis since I've been so ill recently. My ratios are decidedly not 40-30-30. They are more like 20-30-50, which works out to roughly 75-100 grams of carbs for me. It was 80 yesterday and 95 the day before. Curious...

I did the tuna on ww with a glass of raw milk again this morning and my headache is decidedly better than when I got up. I'm thinking it was more bgs than anything else at the moment.

Anyway, I thought I'd keep track of my "Zonish-grazing" in here and see how I progress. I'm losing weight again, and I'm thankful for that

Sharron, I'm delighted you've had some success the past couple of days, both with your headache, and with hunger control--not to mention being down a couple of pounds. Something is working, and that's great, even when we're not exactly sure yet what elements might be the keys! Keep us posted.

__________________
BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Thanks Bren

One more thing that I observed after I did my fitday stuff so I could tell you what my ratios were:

I ate less calories and more total carbs on the day I felt more satisfied! Yesterday I had 100 more calories and about 15 less carbs than I had the day before. It isn't a big difference, but I thought it was enough to mention for record keeping sake

Blah, I did badly overall yesterday. Nothing redeeming at all about it -- I didn't even get any real veggies in :o

Trying again today...

I did much better at grazing yesterday, even though I had an unusual meal at noon-time.

My report:
I slept better and woke up more refreshed. I did not have the low blood sugar at 3 am like I often do that keeps me awake (hmmm, is that adrenal related??) Yesterday, I did not wake refreshed and was headachy until I ate something substantial.

I've been having tuna sandwiches and a glass of raw milk 1st thing since we started discussing this topic. I am now out of tuna. I didn't want to repeat the egg mishap, so I had 2 eggs with 1 piece ww toast and a glass of real milk. We'll see how I do.

Nothing to report weight wise, but it usually takes a couple of days of "clean" eating to lose bloat -- I'm bloated 3# from no veggies 2 days ago.

Neat. Sharron. You are learning some new things about yourself.

I did have a blood sugar crash in the middle of the night and I'm not sure why--but had to get up about 2 and eat a cheese and cracker. Honest, I really had to, LOL!

__________________
BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Bren, I believe you. It happens to me often... Usually it is because we ate dinner too late and I didn't have my before bed snack, but not always though. Sometimes I just try to "tough it out" until morning, but usually if I eat a string cheese I can go back to sleep... That is, presuming I have string cheese and my little snarflettes didn't eat it all