Feed Your Brain to Beat a Craving

Need a new reason to try mini-meals where you eat every few hours? How about your brain? A recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation found that when your brain gets hungry, your willpower to stick to your healthy diet is more likely to go out the window. 

What does it mean for the "brain to go hungry?" Well, in brain-research speak, it means that glucose levels in the brain drop. When this happens the prefrontoal cortex — which is an area of the brain that regulates emotions and impulses — loses its ability to help you resist high-calorie foods. When glucose-starved, the hypothalamus and other regions called the insula and striatum also send the signal for you to eat, eat, eat. According to researchers who looked at brain scans for the study, this response was particularly striking when obese people where glucose-deprived and shown high-calorie foods.

So what's a girl to do to keep her brain full and her willpower high? Eat healthy foods and regulate your glucose by eating small meals every few hours! Feed that brain!

How often do you eat? And what are your favorite healty snacks to keep you fueled? Tweet us at @Shape_Magazine and tell us!

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