The trick in losing weight and keeping it off is in squelching you body in its attempt to "save" you with fat reserves. In ancient times, food came from what primitive people could hunt or find and gather in. Sometimes there was plenty and sometimes there was famine. Now, we have food constantly available, and need to reset hypothalamus hormone production that once kept us alive by storing fat in good times to live through the bad ones.

In modern society most countries do not experience vast differences of feast and famine because a suitable amount of food is available all of the time. Our bodies have no real use for the large fat reserves that we store. In order to communicate to our bodies that we do not need this extra reserve, we must reset hypothalamus function by carefully planned healthy eating.

It is important to recognize that not only is the number of calories eaten important, but so is the form of those calories. Fats, carbohydrates, and proteins are all used in different ways by our bodies, and there are differences in how the excess calories from those sources are stored by the body. By carefully selecting the sources of our caloric intake, we can reset hypothalamus reactions to work in our favor instead of against us.

The hypothalamus is a gland deep in the brain with several functions, among them regulating the appetite. The hypothalamus sends signals to tell us to eat, experienced as hunger, and then sends signals to tell us we are satisfied. One difficulty is that the signal of being full is slow; it can take up to 20 minutes for us to realize that we have eaten enough. Knowing this, one factor in being the boss of your own hypothalamus is to eat slowly, so that you do not overeat long before it can send the "stop" signal.

Fat in the diet requires caution because it is so calorie dense, nine calories per gram compared to only four for carbs and proteins. A healthy diet requires some fats, but fats need to be limited to preferably as many polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats as possible. Any good quality protein is always a wise choice because it is converted slowly and deters hunger for a longer time and is needed for tissue construction and healing.

What you want is a diet selected to avoid the kinds of foods that produce the dumping of hormones into the circulation that can lead to fat building up and other negative reactions. Foods that are sugars in simple and quick to process forms such as granular sugars and liquids like honeys and syrups may stimulate the hypothalamus too much and it will release a flood of hormones. Instead, select the more complex structured carbohydrates in fruits, vegetables, cereal and whole grains, for slower digestion and a calmer hormonal response.

The way to dodge the hypothalamus' instinct to store fat for lean times is to eat a healthy and balanced diet, geared toward maintaining your current weight. Such a diet includes whole grains, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and proteins but limits the consumption of simple sugars.