How to Train Your Brain to Control Your Weight

Your brain may be the key to controlling your eating behavior, according to a book titled The Amen Solution:The Brain Healthy Way to Lose Weight and Keep it Off by Daniel Amen, MD. 

He is a well-known neuropsychiatrist who has studied the brain images of thousands of patients in 90 countries over 20 years before writing his book. His research shows that there is an adverse relationship between body fat and brain function – that is, as body fat increases, brain function appears to decrease.

He has also identified 5 (so far) brain patterns for overeaters, each requiring a different approach for successful weight control. These patterns have much in common with those of people who are addicted to drugs, sex, gambling, etc. To further complicate things, one person could have more than 1 brain pattern.

Dr. Amen has found the following 5 types of overeaters, which are characterized by the corresponding brain issues, and are helped by the listed supplements and medications. Longtime Healthy Habituator readers will remember that I am not generally a fan of supplements. I am not endorsing their use in this article, merely reporting on this man’s work.

1. Compulsive Overeaters are very focused on food and report that they can hear food calling to them. They worry a lot and often have trouble sleeping, so are nighttime eaters. They have trouble letting go of hurts, and will often try crash diets that don’t work. They have low levels of serotonin and are anxious, so diet pills and caffeine are counterproductive. Increasing serotonin through exercise and supplements such as 5-HTP, inositol, L-tryptophan, saffron, or St. John’s Wort, and medications like Prozac, Zoloft, and Lexapro seem to be best for Compulsive Overeaters.

2. Impulsive Overeaters have poor impulse control, are easily distracted or bored, and eat without thinking. Their brain scans show low activity in the prefrontal cortex, which acts as the braking system. This pattern is common among people with ADD, who also show low dopamine levels. Without treatment, it is very hard for these people to follow an eating plan. 

Impulsive Overeaters do best with higher protein, lower carb diets, exercise, supplements like green tea, L-tryosine, and rhodiola, and medications like phentermine, Adderall or Ritalin. Brain calming substances make this condition worse by lowering worries and impulse control.

3. Impulsive-Compulsive Overeaters are a combination of the previous two patterns. They tend to overthink and get stuck in negative thoughts. They do best with exercise and a combination of supplements like 5-HTP, green tea, and rhodiola.

4. Sad or Emotional Overeaters use food to medicate their feelings of sadness and depression, or to calm their emotions. They are prone to low energy, winter blues, low self esteem, sleeping a lot, and gaining winter weight. Sad or Emotional Overeaters benefit from exercise, optimizing levels of vitamin D and DHEA, taking supplements fish oil and SAMe and the medication Wellbutrin.

5. Anxious Overeaters are tense, nervous, pessimistic, and eat to calm themselves. They often have stomach and headaches. What works for them is meditation and hypnosis to calm the mind, supplementation with vitamin B6, magnesium,and GABA, and the medication Topamax.

Nine strategies to help

Here are the 9 strategies (in brief) Dr. Amen suggests for helping your brain control cravings and overcome overeating:

1.  Keep blood sugar balanced by:

• eating a nutritious breakfast

• eat small meals throughout the day

• stay away from simple sugars and refined carbs

• eat some cinnamon

2.  Avoid or decrease artificial sweeteners

3.  Manage stress

4.  Plan to overcome eating triggers, like movie popcorn or parties

5. Identify unknown food allergies and avoid those you have

6.  Practice willpower (not just in eating; saying no to bad things gets easier the more you do it

7.  Exercise

8.  Get enough sleep - less sleep = more cravings

9.  Take supplements

OK, so that is a quick and dirty version of the book. Please get a copy and read it if you want to know more. Again, I am not recommending all of the actions in this article, especially as regards the use of supplements or medications. My intent is just to stimulate your thinking and perhaps some further research on your part.