How to feel full without eating too much - Fool your digestive system

A number of people search for tricks to fool their digestive system. Most of the times these people are those who want to limit their food intake but they feel it impossible to stop themselves while eating. "How to feel full without eating" is a common question that such people ask google. The reason behind this question can be anything ranging from being overweight or fighting to get rid of diabetes or some heart disease or just to remain in good shape. The reason may be any but the main motive is to stop ourselves from eating extra calories that can increase our weight. We have done some research on this question to know if it is really possible to fool your digestive system and feel full without eating too much. We hope that once you read this article your question will be answered.

It is harder to draw a line for the adequate amount of food a person needs as it depends on your height, gender and lifestyle. Two person with same physic may need different amount of food depending on how they spend their day. A person with more physical workload will need more food than a person with a sitting job. So it is our body which can tell us how much to eat. We just need to listen to it.

There are two terms used in this article, you should know before you read further.

1. Satiation : feeling of fullness at the end of a meal.
2. Satiety : a measure of how long it takes before you feel hungry again. Different types of food have different satiety value.

No matter how hard you try, it is nearly impossible to fool your body. You may succeed in some aspects of your experiment but in the end you will find that you were fooling yourselves. The tips given below will help you in making a better coordination between you and your digestive system. It can help you in reducing your weight or keeping it at an optimum level. We have divided these tips in to sections named how to eat and what to eat.

How to eat ?

• Drink a glass of water 30 minutes before a meal. Water rich foods like soup, fruits and vegetable will make a satiation feeling without consuming excess calories.
• Instead of using a big plate for dinner with regular amount of food, use a small plate which can be filled full with lesser quantity of food that you eat regularly. You will feel full in that lesser amount once you empty your plate. Try it some time. This trick works better if someone else do it for you.
• If you chew your each bite just 3 seconds extra, then you will eat less. When you chew your food more then some oro-sensory factor activates and sends satiation signals to brain much before your regular amount of diet.
• Avoid distractions like television, music, mobile phone or computer while eating. These activities make you eat for a longer duration. Distraction while eating interrupts the satiation signals between your brain to stomach and you end up eating more than required.

What to eat ?

• Fiber has high satiety value as it takes longer to get digested. Fiber rich food can help you better in maintaining a gap between two meals.
• Same applies on fat as well. Adequate amount of fat is also necessary to slow down the digestion process and let your body absorb some fat soluble vitamins from your diet.
• Protein is given most importance by bodybuilders as it is a muscle building food. Protein in diet also increases the peptides level in stomach which talks with brain to send satiation signals. 20 to 40 grams of protein is must in every meal.
• Refined carbohydrates should be avoided as they are the satiety killers due to absence of fiber and some other essential nutrients. You might have noticed that once you start eating some processed food (rich in refined carbohydrate), the feeling of satiation comes when you have eaten much more than required.
• Don't eat too much sugar in a single diet as it causes rapid spike in insulin and after some time you crave for more food.
• Even if hunger hits in between your regular meal timings then you may eat some snacks. But your snack should be rich in fiber and protein and must be under 200 calories limit.

If you have got a healthy body then it will tell you what you need and when you need. Just listen to it. You never need a timer to drink water, your thirst is the inbuilt mechanism in the body to tell you that it needs water. Some people may consider these tips as way to fool the digestive system but these are mere tips to eat good and stay fit with lesser amount of burden for your digestive system.

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Is Insulin Resistance really a disease ?

Insulin Resistance is popularly known as a major reason behind Diabetes. But very few of us know if Insulin Resistance is really a disease in itself or not. Yes, Insulin Resistance is a major reason behind diabetes if it remains in body for a longer duration. But the truth is that Insulin Resistance is a protective mechanism for our body. You will understand it once you read this complete article. To understand this mechanism better you need to go through the working of Insulin hormone and its resistance mechanism. Then you will know how Insulin Resistance is actually a protective mechanism for our body.

How does Insulin works in our body ?

Whenever blood sugar level rises in our body, insulin hormone is released. This hormone get mixed in our blood supply from pancreas and then sits on insulin receptors on each cell. It makes the body cells being capable of receiving glucose from blood and fulfill their energy needs. Once the energy demand of all body cells is fulfilled and if still some extra glucose is available in blood stream (apart from the minimum blood glucose level) then insulin converts in to fat and stores in different fat stores of body for usage during energy demands during high intensity work load or during starvation. 

What is Insulin Resistance ?

It is a mechanism in human body where all or most of the body cells become resistant to insulin temporarily. It means that body cells don't accept insulin hormone to sit on their insulin receptors. It makes the blood glucose level remaining elevated for longer duration. However it occurs more often in a diabetic person but if it happens in a controlled manner then it is a protective mechanism for our body.

Why Insulin Resistance is a protective mechanism ?

Helps in survival of brain: Our brain is just 2% of body mass but requires 20% of energy. When our brain needs more energy supply due to any work load, our brain can trigger insulin resistance in remaining body so that the glucose in blood is not utilized by any other body part and our brain keep working. After all brain is most important for body.

During development of fetus: Insulin resistant can occur in a pregnant women to provide more glucose to the brain of developing fetus. At that time there are two brains in woman's body and require more energy to work and develop.
When our brain need more energy: 

Negative effects of long term Insulin resistance

• If insulin resistance becomes a permanent feature of your body or occurs more often then it can cause diabetes type 2.
• Insulin resistance makes your pancreas work more to produce more insulin and already available remains incapable to lower blood glucose. This long term workload on pancreas make them incapable to produce insulin anymore or the insulin production is permanently reduced.

What makes Insulin Resistance uncontrolled in our body?
So now you know that "Insulin Resistance" can make us unhealthy if it become uncontrolled. What makes it uncontrolled is the main thing to worry about. Most of the researches found that obesity is the main reason behind it. Large stores of fat in our body are capable of generating its own hormones which disturbs the hormonal balance in body and cause insulin  resistance to occur without any need.

How to protect yourself from uncontrolled Insulin Resistance ?
You already know it ! Just control your weight. Waist of above 40 puts you at very high risk of insulin resistance. Most of the patients of diabetes never notice this condition when they remain pre-diabetic for years. So wake up now and control your waistline.

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Reactive hypoglycemia - Low blood Sugar after having a meal

Hypoglycemia, Diabetes Type 1, or Low Blood Sugar are different names for same medical condition. Reactive hypoglycemia is a rare medical condition where a person have low blood sugar within one to three hours after having a meal. Reactive hypoglycemia is an indication of a person becoming diabetic or Insulin resistance. If you feel low in energy just after few hours after having a meal then you may be suffering from this condition. But before making any conclusion you must read this article.

How is it possible to have low blood sugar after having a meal ?

When we eat something our body breaks the food into glucose which is further supplied into the blood to provide energy to all cells. When blood sugar level rises our body releases insulin hormone to control that blood sugar and set it to an optimum level. In case of Reactive hypoglycemia our body releases more Insulin than required which decreases the blood sugar below the required minimum level. It is an indication of person getting diabetic.

Symptoms of Reactive Hypoglycemia

• Hunger
• Sleepiness
• Light-headedness
• Weakness
• Shakiness
• Anxiety
• Sweating

These symptoms are common in some other medical conditions as well. But if you are feeling these symptoms within one to three hours after having a meal then you should get your blood sugar tested for both fasting and after having a meal.

How to save yourself from Reactive Hypoglycemia ?

If it is confirmed from your test results that you have Reactive Hypoglycemia then you must take some steps to save yourself from diabetes. So of the major steps to be taken are

• Reduce your weight: If you are overweight then reducing your weight by adopting a healthy lifestyle will help help you.
• Exercise regularly: Exercising regularly boosts our metabolism and increases our immune system. It also helps in reducing weight and burning excess calories.
• Sound Sleep: A sound sleep of around 7 hours is must for a healthy person.
• Balanced Diet: This last step is not the least but it is the key to be fit again. You should avoid foods with high glycemic index. High Glycemic index foods are those food items which can increase your blood sugar rapidly. These food items are usually rich in carbohydrates which can be directly converted into glucose by our digestive system. Instead your should eat those food items which are rich in fiber.

What kind of food is best if you have Reactive Hypoglycemia ?

As told earlier that you should totally avoid foods with high glycemic index. You should eat a diet rich in fiber, protein and an adequate amount of fat. Fiber, protein and fat slows down the digestive process and less amount of glucose is supplied into the blood supply for a longer duration. It does not let the blood sugar rise suddenly and limited amount of insulin is released into blood.

Apart from the above suggestions it is best to consult a specialist and get a proper diet plan to fight Reactive Hypoglycemia. Always remember that it is a symptom of diabetes and healthy lifestyle can keep you away from this.

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Do we really use just 10% of our Brain ? Myth vs Fact !

A number of people believe that humans just use 10% of their brain on average. Those who have have higher IQ might have crossed this average percentage. A normal person would easily believe this theory, as we have a tendency to believe in super humans with super intelligence, and it is not possible if all of use 100% of our brain. Else there will be no difference between a normal person and Albert Einstein. But the truth about this theory is totally different.

Do we really use just 10% of our Brain ?

Homo Sapiens (or today's Man kind) is made after evolution of millions of years. In this process of evolution we got some new abilities as per necessity and also lost some feature if they were of no use any more. We are still evolving today but the it is not visible in one generation or two, it takes thousands of years to notice any visible effect. Today we have a perfectly balanced body and every organ has a use according to present environment. If you believe this theory then you must agree think twice before agreeing to "10% of brain" theory.

How may we get a brain 10 times the necessity. It is simply a wrong fact. Those who found it, either did some wrong analysis or believed in the fact that we are successors of some alien species that came to earth a long time ago and we are yet to know full potential of our brain.

Real Science is that that believe on facts, not on any preconceived notions. A number of people keep believing in the 10% of brain theory without questioning it.

From where do we get this 10% of brain theory ?
Before we answer this question you must know that The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research did a survey in 2013 and found that 65% Americans believe that just 10% of our brain is used by us in a lifetime. However now this brain usage percentage has increased to 35% in some cases but still this myth is surviving and will not come to an end anytime soon.
Timeline of origin of 10% brain theory

• Harvard psychologists William James in 1890 told audiences that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which was taken as a plausible clause by educated people of that time.
• In 1929 a book "Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain" was published which contained a chapter on 10% brain myth.
• In 1936, American writer Lowell Thomas added a falsely precise percentage and said that Professor William James used to say that humans use just 10% of their brain.
• In the 1970s, psychologist and educator Georgi Lozanov proposed a teaching method called suggestopedia with a belief in its base that humans use just 5 to 10% of their mental capability.
• Some people also believe that in late 19th century and beginning of 20th Century when early brain researches were going on, scientists were unable to find the functions of a large part of brain. It lead to a misunderstanding that only 10% of brain is used by humans.

 Today the truth is known that 100% brain is used during a day. However it is possible that during one particular task only 10% brain is active. But a large percentage of population still thinks that we use just 10 to 35 percent of our brain.

Facts that will make you believe that we use 100% of our brain.

• The very first fact is that we evolved and got only that much capability which is necessary. Getting a brain with 10 times of normal capability is something unnecessary and impossible to develop under the normal biological process of evolution.
• Death during childbirth was often associated with large skull size. If our brain is really unnecessarily large then we should have lost it by natural selection and mortality rate during child birth would have been less.
• Every person with a brain damage (either accidental or stroke) always loose some capability due to loss of a part of brain. However some lucky people may get their lost capability back due to neuroplasticity if the that was not a major brain damage.
• Some recent researches based on brain scans confirmed that all parts of brain remain active all the time. Some parts remain more active during a particular task, but we can't take any part of brain as non functional.

Every part of brain has got a function, either physical, mental or emotional. Some parts of brain just handle our internal metabolism. All functions of brain are really very hard to know as some of these parts make us think, make us dream, make us plan. Our brain can take us to a scene decades before and can also make us think of that future when we will not be here. Whatever we look, we are much more than that. The fact that we don't utilize our full potential is true, but nature has granted us with power to do much more in our life with a brain of three pounds.

After reading this article you must stop believing that extra 90% brain can give you psychic powers some day, which is falsely advertised in a number of sci-fi movies. Your views on this article are most invited in the comments section. 

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Human Brain vs Computers - Something Unbelievable

You won't be same after reading this. Nature has granted us with a immensely powerful computer fitted in a very tiny space with very less power consumption. You can't even utilize its full capability in several lifetimes. The more we use our brain the more it learns and become more efficient by practicing the same task again. If you want to know the power of your brain compared to modern computers in a terminology that you understand then read this complete article.

What is there in our brain ?

• Our brain have 80 to 100 billion neurons.
• Same amount of Neuroglia, also called glial cells. These cells protect and insulate neurons, provide nutrition, remove dead neurons and destroy pathogens.
• Neurons are found in 26 different sizes.
• Size of neurons varies from 4 microns (.004 mm) to 100 microns (.1 mm). Their length may vary from few millimeters to few feet.
• 400 miles of Capillaries to provide blood and nutrition to them.
• Each neuron makes 5000 to 10000 connections with other neurons.
• So there are 500 to 1000 trillion connections in our brain. 

Brain compared to Computers

Even the best computer in world can't reach the capability of brain. However you may not fit a pendrive in your skull to store some movies in it, but your brain can remember things faster than any super computer. The memory of our brain has the capability to store much more data than any super computer on earth till now.

• Memory Capacity of Brain:  According to Paul Reber, Professor; Director of Brain, Behavior, & Cognition at Northwestern University, our brain can store upto 2.5 Petabyte (which is one million GB). This much memory is enough to play continuous video on TV for 300 Years.
• Processing Speed: A neuron can fire upto 200 times per second. For 86 billion neurons it makes 17.2 trillion action potentials. According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, Neuroscientist, our brain processes 400 Billion bits of information per second, but yet we are aware of 2,000 only. All of our senses send 11 million bits of data per second to the brain but it can process only upto 60 bits of data per second. It is possible only if you compress 11 million bits into just 60 bits (just like we make zip files in computers). Such compression technology is not yet possible for man made computers.
• Power consumption: If we use the same memory as our brain and same processing speed in a computer then it will use 1 gigawatt of power, which will need a nuclear power plant. But when it comes to our brain, it uses less than 20 watt of electricity in the form of electrical impulses between neurons. Our brain is just 2% of our body weight but consumes 20% of our calories and 25% of oxygen. In resting state our body needs 1300kcal of energy which is equal to 63W of energy. 20% of this consumption is just 12.6W . So 12.6 watt can be stated as power consumption of brain. This much efficiency is impossible to imagine in any man made machine.
• Serial Processing and Parallel processing: Some researches found that our left brain do the serial processing tasks while right brain do the parallel processing tasks.

Interesting facts about Brain

These fasts will make you believe more in superiority of human brain compared to any computer.

Cognitive Reserve (brain's cache memory): It increases in size with a person keeps learning new things all over his life. When such person takes rest from busy life after retirement, his or her cognitive reserve remains same and his efficiency in mental tasks remains much better than the people of similar age group.
Neuroplasticity: It is a feature of our brain to learn new things and repair its circuits in case of a damage due to accident or stroke. Previously it was thought that brain can't repair it self after a certain age, but now we know that brain can repair itself through neuroplasticity.

A computer can be programmed to do one particular task much better than a human brain. For example a supercomputer can beat a chess grandmaster, but the same supercomputer can't store visual memories, language skills, cooking skills, thinking ability and most important emotions. Human brain is a capable to control the human body to do any physical or mental task or a combination of both. So these two things are not comparable at all. Man often try to challenge nature, but nature is something to be known, not something to beat. We need to learn a lot from the nature. Thats why we call it mother nature.

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Neuroplasticity - The key to Brain Fitness

Previously it was believed that brain develops only during childhood and no changes can occur inside brain after reaching adulthood. But now this concept is found wrong after we found about "Neuroplasticy", an important feature of human brain to makes changes in its circuit according to the needs of a person. It not only helps in learning and mastering a skill but also in recovering from a brain injury. Once you read more about neuroplasticity, you will be amazed to find that you have got one of the most amazing self-learning, self-repairing and self-cleaning computer in your brain whose learning and remembering power is much more than what you think.

What is Neuroplasticity ?

Our brain is huge collection of neuron cells. These neuron cells make connections between themselves, just like a circuit in an electronic chip. Different circuits are made and dedicated for different tasks. The more you need a circuit, the more easily accessible it becomes. What ever you learn intentionally or unintentionally is stored in your brain and is recalled when necessary. The least used or unnecessary memories either remains least accessible or some other circuit is formed using those neurons. The more you use a circuit, the more powerful and efficient it becomes. A mathematician can do complex calculations just by using his brain while a normal person world need calculator for that. But the same mathematician may not play a guitar, while a professional guitar player can do magic with that. Some skills need just our eyes, mouth and brain while a different skill need coordination between our ears, hands and brain. Different circuits in brain are developed and made efficient till we remain alive as per our daily needs.

How to utilize neurolasticity to keep your brain fit ?

You must have heard the proverb "Practice makes a man perfect". It implies perfectly on your brain. The more you work with your brain, the more efficient it becomes. Its learning ability increases with its usage. It makes you more efficient in a task, if you practice it several times. You can become  a master of any language, any subject, any dance, any music, anything just by practicing it. The more curious you remain all over your life, the better brain you will have by the time your life will come to an end. You attitude towards learning new skills will only help you at an old age. Those skills that you learn in your life might not always help you in your life, but they will exercise your brain. Your brain neurons or the circuits won't get rust and they will be used whenever necessary in your life only if you keep using them.

Stress and Neuroplasticity

Stress can kill neurons and the connection between them can also be damaged. So it is necessary to remain out of depression and stress. It is possible with a good lifestyle, balanced diet and learning attitude. Too much thinking about negative topics of your life can make you depressed or stressed. Try not to fall prey to depression by keeping yourself busy at such times. The neuroplasticity feature of your brain can be paused or damaged by depression or stress. Due to the same reason you can't learn new skills if you are in stress.

How neuroplasticity help you recover from brain damage ?

Sometimes people loose some of their brain functions due to accidental damage or medical conditions like stroke, which damages some neurons or the connection between them. Some of these brain functions might be recovered through neuroplasticity. It happens naturally with a little patience and practice. When we practice again and again, our brain makes a new circuit with the help of remaining neurons for that lost function. It can happen only if there is no damage to the target organ and the nervous system.

Nature has granted us with enormous possibilities, we just need a little dedication and practice to make ourselves perfect for any task.

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Why do head hair grow more than other body hair

Hair on our scalp tend to grow much larger than other body hairs. Hairs on different parts of body have a certain fixed length and their length never exceed that limit. But do our head hair also have any such limit or they can grow infinitely. Even if they can reach a certain maximum limit, why do they grow comparatively longer than other body hair. We will try to find a satisfactory answer to these questions in this article.

Why do we have hair on our body ?  You may read this article before going further to increase your basic knowledge about your hair, not just hair on scalp. It tells about the basic necessity of hair. Same facts work for the scalp hair as well. Some factors made the head hair grow comparatively longer than other body hair. We will discuss those factors here.

Adaptation

Whatever we are now is due to adaptation. It is a biological process to make or modify our body according to need of our environment. In this process we loose some unnecessary features of our body and gain some new features to made our body adaptable to new environment. Hairs on our body also adapted to the changing environment. When our ancestors used to live in forests without much clothes to wear they had much more hairs on their body compared to today's human beings. Density and length of hairs on our body changed according to need and environment, but it took thousands of years for these changes to happen. Hair on head continued to grow longer than other parts of body for some reason.

Outer Appearance 

Outer appearance matters a lot in animal world. Mostly males of different species have longer head hair and beard to give them more masculine look and attract females to continue their genes. Man is also a social animal and adapted in the same way as other animals. In the modern world hair on our scalp are more an ornament for both ladies and gents. They can change you whole appearance and creates a social image of yours. However humans have evolved a lot but still we need these head hair to give us a proper look.

Protection

It protects our scalp from any external injury like cuts and scratches. Head is one of the most important organs as it contains the brain. Most of the time of the day we don't cover it and thus need more hair to give it proper protection.

• Hairs acts as cushion and can decrease the impact of a collision on head and thus saves the brain. 
• Hairs can also also protect us from ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Saving our brain from radiations might be a reason behind more dense and lengthy hair on head.
• Hairs on head help in maintaining the temperature of our scalp. Now human beings have more hairs only on that part of body which are heat release zones, such as armpits and groin. More hairs means more tendency to produce sweat and control the temperature.

Science behind longer head hair strand

Our hair have three stages of growth: Anagen, Catagen and Telogen. Anagen phase is the real growth period of a hair strand. Telogen phase is the resting and shredding phase of hair. Between these two phases comes the catagen phase which is an intermediate stage. The duration of Anagen phase decides the length of hair.  Anagen phase duration varies from few weeks to years. Most of the body hair have anagen phase of only few weeks and thus remain shorter in length. But the head hair have anagen phase of years. It makes the head hair continue to grow for years and thus making them reach the length in feets. Anagen phase of our hair depends on our genes and thus some people are more hairy than others.

If you have got some additional information about longer head hair then you may provide your insight in the comments section.

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