Get the balance right and prevent overindulgence this Holiday Season!
While you might want to give festive excesses a skip this year, chances are you will not. With temptation everywhere, only the most stoic and resolute abstainer will be able to navigate this period guilt-free.
In the US, the fourth annual Writing Off the End of the Year survey conducted by SWNS Digital1 reveals that that over 60% of Americans agree that they deserve to indulge in holiday treats. On average, they expect to gain in the region of 7lb excess weight while in the UK, Brits gain an extra 6lb.2
It is important to take a step back and discover some of the root causes of why we overeat; the physical mechanisms we have in place to stop us overeating, and how developers of health and wellness supplements can assist consumers to cope with overindulgence to enjoy this special time of year.
Why we overeat
We eat too much and incorrectly for a variety of reasons. These include stress, boredom, a lack of meal planning, and the availability and cost of fresh produce and raw ingredients – prohibitive for some consumers.
We also have unhindered access to cheap and tasty but nutrient poor processed foodstuffs. While these are the commonly cited reasons, there is another, and this relates to gut health.
Our gut microbiome enables us to break down and assimilate the nutrients we need, but a well-functioning gut is also linked to regulating our appetite.
Research indicates that sensory neurons in the gut can signal the brain to stop eating and craving the wrong types of food. This has important implications for obesity, high cholesterol and metabolic disorders that cause harm to our bodies.4
Overeating is also related to brain function and the mechanisms that make us hungry. This is often driven by the relationship of salt and sugar in our bloodstream, but our brain also uses our previous ‘experience’ to predict when we should stop eating. It does this by making us feel full at the point where we have eaten enough in the past.5
Until recently, one of the most important nerve conduits in the body, the vagus nerve was underreported in how it connects the brain with the stomach and intestines, and the role it plays in regulating feeding behaviour.6
What’s the solution?
OpiBiotix’ award-winning SlimBiome® works by regulating feeding behaviours and promotes a healthy, hunger free weight management system. This system is backed by strong scientific principles – rather than willpower alone.
Not only does SlimBiome® promote feelings of fullness, but it also helps burn calories by promoting a healthy metabolism, while maintaining constant blood sugar levels to prevent overeating.
LeanBiome®, while targeted as a sports nutrition supplement to help increase lean body mass, also supports a healthy gut by harnessing the power of prebiotic dietary fibres and a trace mineral – keeping your microbiome in good shape.
In addition, consuming LeanBiome® and SlimBiome® significantly improves gut microbiome diversity and increases microbial groups associated with lean body composition, including Christensenella and Bacteroides.
Both these ingredients can be easily added to a variety of applications like shakes, bars, shots, gummies, pancakes, smoothies, and soups allowing consumers to start their day on a high nutritional note.
In terms of combatting high cholesterol, often the result of eating the wrong types of food (or too much of it), OptiBiotix has developed CholBiome®. This supplement transforms the way cholesterol and its impact on cardiovascular health is approached by harnessing the power of our patented probiotic (Lactobacillus plantarum) LPLDL – either on its own, or in combination with other natural, science-backed ingredients.
This natural bacterium works by harnessing the microbiome-liver axis to positively impact on the gut microbiome and has proven benefits on issues such as high cholesterol. It can also impact positively on liver function, often the first area where we will feel that we have overindulged as demonstrated in this human study.
The importance of good habits
While these supplements can help us to improve our gut health and moderate our eating behaviours, it is still important to inculcate good habits around food. Science-backed research tells us that limiting distractions, eating slowly, and filling up on healthy fibre-filled and protein rich portions can help us to gain control of our eating habits.7
Getting the balance right means enjoying your food, but not to the point where it has a negative impact on your health and wellness. For information on how our range of products can help you develop products that will help consumers to avoid overeating, contact our team now!
References:
2 Why can’t we stop overeating during the festive period? | Life and style | The Guardian
3 How to stop overeating: Effective strategies for controlling appetite (medicalnewstoday.com)
4,5,7, Seven triggers to overeating | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
6 How the Gut Signals the Brain to Stop Eating | Psychology Today