Here you will find background information to the book The Hamster in Your Brain and the Hamster Brain Method digital program.
Regular exercise has multiple useful effects on our body, when it comes to losing weight. Exercising provides good feedback for our biological clock, which causes digestive- and burning processes to proceed more effectively. Besides, moving around suppresses our feeling of hunger, probably because our ancestors found it hard to hunt or gather food on an empty stomach.
Sleeping well helps your biological clock and has a positive influence on maintaining a healthy weight, and even on slimming. Although the definition of ‘sufficient sleep’ is very broad. People are different and not everybody needs the same amount of sleep. That is why we will never impose on someone to sleep eight hours per night. On the other hand, it is highly desirable to get high-quality sleep, which is deep and undisturbed.
Goals are useful because they indicate the direction in which you want to go. However, there is more to it than that. Maybe the method you choose to get there is even more important than the goal itself. And once you have taken a good step with your method and have started replacing an undesirable habit with a desirable one, you have already succeeded in a way.
There exists a fourth area of the brain that is involved in your body weight: the external cortex. The external cortex is different from the other three, since you won’t find it in your head, but maybe on the couch, next to you, or on social media. Because the external cortex has many guises.
Suppose you have decided to lose weight; how did you actually reach this decision? The answer is that you reflected upon it and then made a decision with your prefrontal cortex. Where to find it? Slap your flat hand, thumb up, against your brow, and you will have covered a large part of your conscious mind.
Now, how are you coerced into doing something? And when do you do what the hypothalamus wants you to do, and when do you rather listen to the prefrontal cortex?
Non-fermentable dietary fibres are fibres that are not digested in the intestines. They are good at absorbing water and this way, they enlarge the volume in your intestines. Besides making your bowel movements easier, these fibres also contribute to the feeling of saturation, without supplying energy themselves.
Wine, beer, cocktails, spirits, in short: alcoholic beverages. In their latest directive, the Dutch Health Council states that it is better not to drink any alcohol at all. This guideline has been criticised, in particular by interest groups related to the alcohol industry, for example Stiva, an association that strives to promote sensible alcohol consumption.
In the exercise that goes with this post, we ask you to involve one or two persons from your surroundings in achieving your goal. From previous studies we know that certainly not everyone likes to share thoughts and feelings on this subject with others.
Many processes in your body proceed according to a fixed frequency. Such a frequency, or rhythm, is essential to make sure your body and brain function well. It is important to get some sleep if your body demands it. Likewise, it is important to eat at the right time, and not when your body is not really ready for food. The rhythm in our body is largely indicated by our biological clock.
