Reset Your Body's Metabolism for FASTER Weight Loss & LESS Hunger In An Era Of Ultraprocessed Foods, With Dr. Jason Fung.

Ben Greenfield

Feb 28, 2026

Episode description

Full Show Notes: bengreenfieldlife.com/hungercode

On this episode, I got to geek out with Dr. Jason Fung and unravel why calorie counting alone doesn’t explain our weight struggles. Dr. Fung used jaw-dropping stats—like nearly identical calorie consumption between nations with wildly different obesity rates—to illustrate how hormones, digestion, and even the microbiome play a much bigger role than just numbers.

We also broke down the three types of hunger—homeostatic, hedonic, and conditioned—and explored how ultra-processed foods hijack our biology. Dr. Fung shared that ditching those foods is his top strategy for conquering hunger, while I revealed how staying busy and using GLP-1s can help curb appetite during fasting or travel.

Dr. Jason Fung is a physician (kidney specialist), researcher and New York Times best-selling author currently practicing in Toronto, Canada. trained in Los Angeles and Toronto and currently practices as a nephrologist (kidney specialist). His books, including The Obesity Code, The Complete Guide to Fasting, The Diabetes Code and The Cancer Code have challenged conventional thinking about these diseases, and introduces dietary strategies to manage them.

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Mindsip insights from this episode:

Blend seeded fruits to slow glucose absorption

Blending seeded fruits like strawberries can actually slow glucose absorption by releasing fiber and polyphenols from the seeds, unlike most other fruits.

#fiber

#glucose

Adjust your fat thermostat by understanding hunger and metabolism

Your body defends a specific level of body fat by adjusting hunger and metabolic rate, a set point that can be raised or lowered by hormones like insulin and GLP-1.

#insulin

#metabolism

Rethink exercise: focus on efficiency, not weight loss

Your body adapts to regular exercise by becoming more efficient and reducing its basal metabolic rate, meaning you don't burn as many extra total calories as you might think.

#exercise

#metabolism

Choose whole foods over processed for better hormonal response

The same food, like an apple, will have a different hormonal response if it's eaten whole versus processed into applesauce, because processing changes its digestion and absorption speed.

#hormones

#whole-food

Beware of calorie density in melt-in-your-mouth foods

Foods that melt in your mouth, like cheese puffs, provide calories with little satiety, tricking your brain into feeling like you haven't eaten much.

#nutrition

#satiety

Rethink calorie intake as a predictor of obesity

The correlation between a country's average calorie intake and its obesity rate is weak, suggesting calories alone are not the primary driver of weight gain.

#calories

#obesity

Learn to manage hunger alongside GLP-1 drugs for lasting weight loss

GLP-1 agonists are effective for weight loss, but without also learning how to manage hunger through diet, weight regain is likely once the medication is stopped.

#GLP1

#weight-loss

Prioritize hormones over calories to manage fat storage

Foods with the same calories, like cookies versus salmon, trigger vastly different hormonal responses that determine whether those calories are stored as fat or burned for energy.