There has been a surge in obesity in America and it’s commonly held believed that our insatiable craving for junk food is the main culprit.

Have you ever wondered why we always end up succumbing to our food desires? And did you know that by changing the way our brain works, we can lay off the unhealthy habits and get in shape? Our psychological well-being can make a tremendous impact on the physiological function of our bodies. With that being said, it’s possible to overcome the temptations and change the formation of our unhealthy habits by regulating our emotions and using our cognition.

In this article, I will unfold the biggest secret of the way our brain(limbic system) functions and hopefully help you understand losing weight is not far-fetched. As an old saying goes “If there’s a will, there’s a way”. Read on for the ultimate guide to weight loss.

Limbic System – Hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala

The first part of our brain that was developed as a survival component is called the limbic system. Don’t let the terminology trick you – it has nothing to do with our limbs or mobility.

It is a primary part of our brain that was designed to process the input from the external world for a better chance of survival. It also can process a wide range of emotional events to help us categorize actions that make us feel good and bad.

In short, it plays an important role in dieting, habit-forming, and weight management.

Limbic System comprises three structures called the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala that can make a significant impact on our psychological and physical well-being.

Hypothalamus is the epicenter of our brain that delegates tasks to different parts of our body and finds balance with our hormones, emotions, and whatnot. It’s associated with leptin which is the component that usually signals our hypothalamus that we’re full and then let the hypothalamus delegate tasks accordingly. In short, the hypothalamus regulates hunger, metabolism, and overall digestion too.

Hippocampus is the second portion of our brain that categorizes memories based on given stimuli and registers our emotions in the cerebral cortex so your body knows how to respond to certain situations or senses.

For instance, when we taste food that makes us happy or sad, we will register the feelings in the cerebral cortex. When our hippocampus is overactive or underactive, it will cause habits to form and even the hypothalamus to trigger an autonomic nervous system response to make us repeat the actions, be it good or bad.

Amygdala is another part that is associated with our strong emotions, such as anger, fear, and pleasure.

If we have strong fear for certain foods like junk foods, the amygdala will help us avoid those foods and make it difficult to form these unhealthy habits or store the memories from the hippocampus to trigger the autonomic nervous system response from the hypothalamus.

How to Condition Your Limbic System Better to Beat Food Addiction?

Now, after learning about how our brain functions and how it impacts our habit formation and dietary choices, you may wonder what’s the next step to control your limbic system.

In order to overcome food addiction, you can use mindfulness training to help you become disenchanted with your behaviors and more cognizant of the harms that your unhealthy eating habits give.

If we instill more context-dependent memory, we can use the youngest part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, to make rational actions in the future and restrain ourselves from unhealthy behavior.