Why Is Your Internal "Food Clock" Packing On The Belly Fat?

Everyone knows that around the Holidays, you are more apt to gain weight.

Now, everyone associates this weight gain with overeating – which is rightly so!

But, the extra calories, alone, may not be the reason for your ever-expanding waistline.

Now, I bet you didn’t know this:

Overeating – along with working during the night and late night snacking - may reset your body's inner workings.

And that when your inner workings – or inner “food” clock – is thrown off, then chances are your food cravings will go through the roof – at the most inopportune times!

Your Inner “Food” Clock

Your body holds a very intricate system – a network of sorts – that keeps your body operating smoothly and efficiently.

You may have heard about one in particular – your circadian rhythm – which is responsible for keeping your body in a day/night routine throughout your normal day – or 24 hours.

Now, researchers have found out that you have a clock that alerts your body – even before you eat – to turn on certain genes and molecules necessary for digestion, food absorption, and release into your bloodstream.

Plus, they have also discovered that in the absence of a certain protein, PKCy, may alter when your body craves foods.

The authors feel that this protein, when it binds to a certain cellular receptor, acts to stabilize the internal food clock in your brain and your muscles.

For instance, if you are a normal daytime eater (which most are), then feeding during your normal sleeping hours will stimulate your body to crave foods at night, or so the research would suggest.

Although feeding at different times may change your internal food clock, so does overeating!

How?

When you overeat, or eat at the wrong time of day, you may end up desynchronizing your internal clock, so your body is not able to adjust to the changes in feeding times.

Which, as the research suggests, could be one reason why overnight workers are more likely to be overweight than people with a normal food clock.

The authors concluded:

“Taken together, these results suggest that PKCy plays a role in food entrainment by regulating BMAL1 stability.”

A NEW Reason for Weight Gain

Although overeating, eating at the wrong times, and other changes to your eating patterns may cause you to gain weight, new research is looking at new treatment options for overweight, obese, and diabetic patients as it pertains to specific genes that regulate your food clock.

If you’re serious about weight loss this New Year, then controlling your portion intake, eating at the right times during the day (if you’re not a night worker), and controlling your late night snacking, may be ways to encourage weight loss during the holiday season, and beyond; and help control your inner “food” clock in the process.


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Reference:

Zhang L, Abraham D, Lin ST, Oster Hm, Eichele G, Fyu YH, placek LJ.  PKCy participates in food entrainment by regulating BMAL1.  PNAS 2012;109(50):20679-20684.