by Chris Shugart
A Secret Weapon Against Overeating
No diet is easy, but you can make any diet easier by manipulating your appetite hormones. Here's how.
Back in my 20s, when I was overweight, I'd make big plans to go on a diet and finally lose the fat. These were ambitious plans involving strict diets. I was motivated and determined.
The funny thing? I always made these plans after gorging on pasta and ice cream. Yep, it's easy to plan a diet when you're full. Then you get hungry again, and those grand plans go into the trash with the Taco Bell wrappers.
I finally lost the fat, but the diet failures taught me something: the success of any diet is dependent on appetite control. That involves smart food choices, plenty of protein, and the right caloric deficit. But it also requires something else, something I didn't know back then: hormone manipulation.
The Hungry, Hungry Hormones
The main reason people stop their diets is unsustainable hunger and cravings, and both are hormone related. Your appetite hormones regulate hunger and satiety (fullness) by signaling the brain when to eat and when to stop:
- Ghrelin, The Hunger Hormone – Produced in the stomach, ghrelin stimulates hunger and increases before meals. Levels rise with caloric restriction, fasting, and sleep deprivation.
- Leptin, The Long-Term Satiety Regulator – Secreted by fat cells, leptin suppresses appetite over the long term, but obesity can lead to leptin resistance, reducing its effectiveness.
- Peptide YY (PYY), The Satiety Booster – Released from the small intestine after eating, PYY promotes fullness and slows digestion.
Then we have GLP-1, which enhances satiety and insulin secretion, and insulin itself, which helps regulate blood sugar and appetite.
These hormones help keep you alive, but we can manipulate them to make dieting a little easier by increasing our intake of omega-3s.
Omega-3s: The Traffic Controllers
Think of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and primarily DHA) as the "traffic controllers" of your appetite signals. Your appetite hormones are the cars on a busy road leading to your brain.
When traffic is smooth, you get clear signals: hunger when you need food, fullness when you've had enough. But if there's congestion (due to inflammation, poor diet, or metabolic dysfunction), signals get jammed, leading to constant cravings, overeating, or never feeling satisfied.
Omega-3s, especially DHA, act like skilled traffic controllers. They flash the right signals at the right time to the right cars. You experience less hunger, stay full longer, and make fewer pitstops at the drive-thru.
Here's how that works:
- Omega-3s increase levels of PYY and leptin, the "I'm full" hormones. They also reduce ghrelin, the "feed me" hormone.
- DHA and EPA are highly involved in brain function, particularly in the hypothalamus, which regulates hunger.
- Omega-3s help stabilize blood sugar by improving insulin sensitivity. More stable blood sugar levels mean fewer energy crashes and cravings, reducing appetite.
- Since omega-3s slow gastric emptying, food stays in the stomach longer, prolonging fullness. They also modulate fat metabolism, shifting the body toward fat oxidation rather than storage, which influences hunger signals.
- Omega-3s support dopamine function, involved in reward-based eating. If dopamine function is balanced, you're less likely to crave high-calorie foods.
The DHA Difference Maker
Most omega-3 fish oil supplements contain mostly EPA (because that's the ratio found naturally in fish), but DHA is the real powerhouse for appetite control:
- DHA is more effective at reducing ghrelin compared to EPA. DHA also enhances leptin sensitivity, helping the brain recognize satiety signals better.
- DHA is also the primary structural omega-3 in the brain, especially in the hypothalamus, which regulates hunger.
- DHA has stronger neuroprotective effects than EPA, which supports better dopamine and serotonin balance, reducing cravings and emotional/stress eating.
What to Take
In studies involving omega-3s and appetite regulation, researchers use one to three grams of fish oil. Higher dosages work best. But given DHA's more targeted effects on appetite hormones and neurotransmitter balance, a DHA-enhanced fish oil works better.
Flameout DHA-Rich Fish Oil (Buy at Amazon) is double or triple the potency of most fish oil and has five times more DHA than EPA. The formula also contains Labrasol, a pharma solubilizer that increases bioavailability.
Normally, I recommend taking a full dose (3 softgels) at night to squash any excess cortisol and improve sleep. However, if your main goal is to reap the appetite-controlling benefits, take one softgel before each main meal.