Now in my last blog, I gave you all a brief run down on the Opioid system and why it makes food have a drug like effect in terms of addiction causing you to need more of a hit of sugar the next time around. For every yin there is a yang and the yang, to the Opioid system is the Dopamine system.

I mentioned previously that the Dopamine System is the motivation or the “wanting” we experience. Actually cocaine is a drug that when entering the brain chemically, releases dopamine in the brain. In a very similar fashion, food does the same thing, just with a smaller quantity of dopamine released in the brain (not such a big hit). The dopamine released is equated to a reward in the brain. This behavior becomes reinforcing and you now associate cocaine, or in the case of struggling dieters, food as a reward. In a study done in 2005, published in the Basic Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Journal, rats were offered sugar along with normal food. Over a week, the rat’s sugar intake increased 3 times. When the sugar was taken away the rats began to develop withdrawal symptoms.

When the rats began eating the sugar at the beginning of the week, they had large activation of their reward circuits. This activation was caused of course by dopamine. As a result, the reward system perpetuated the rats to eat more sugar, as this triggers possibility of more of a reward. The “Reward Deficiency Syndrome” occurred when the sugar was taken away as there was less dopamine receptors activated resulting in less activation of the reward circuits.

You guessed it! Obese people have less dopamine receptors. That means obese individuals need more sugar to receive the same reward signal. It gets better; dieting actually increases the reward effect. This is why when you are dieting for a while and you have that very first piece of cake after a couple weeks or months, you think that is the best cake you have ever had in your life. This sends you into a possible tail spin with your diet as you think “why did I give up all that stuff, it tastes so good!” But next time, it takes twice the amount of cake to release the same amount of dopamine and it just does not taste quite as good as it did the first time. I will let you all in on a secret, the first two bites of any food are the best. After that, the response signal in your brain has been blunted and the bites that follow are less vivid and tasty. Knowing that, why not just eat one? It is going to be better than the second and it is just disappointing from there on out.

Food intake is driven by a pleasure and reward system rather than an energy deficit or excess signal system. The big question is how do we restore our appetite regulation? In my next blog, I will give you the 9 top tips to restore your appetite regulation, so you can unwire your brain to needing and wanting that brownie.