How Leptin Regulation Helps YOU Maintain a Healthy Weight

And Tips to Balance your Leptin Levels

Have you ever had trouble losing or gaining weight?

If so, one hormone may be responsible. This hormone is called Leptin.

Leptin is a hormone released by your adipose cells. Adipose cells are fat cells, stored underneath your skin, in your muscles, in your bones, and in-between your organs.

This special hormone tells you when to eat and, more importantly,

when to stop eating.

When your body weight increases, leptin increases as well. This sends a signal to your brain to decrease your appetite, and use your own fat stores as fuel. As long as you listen to your appetite, your leptin levels regulate themselves; however, if you binge-eat, you are ignoring your body’s leptin hormone that tells you to stop eating.

The more you ignore the warnings from leptin, the more leptin is produced. This cycle leads to an overproduction of leptin that your brain learns to ignore.

Even though there is a lot of leptin in your blood, your brain will stop registering it, leading to leptin resistance.

The opposite can also cause negative health issues. When you lose weight, your leptin levels crash and your hunger cravings increase. This can make continued weight loss even more difficult. When your leptin levels are too low, you will be hungry all the time.

Leptin is called the “starvation hormone” because it protects our bodies from dying of starvation. Diets activate the starvation mechanism in your brain. In ancient times, humans needed the starvation hormone to save us, but in our modern society, our leptin levels can seem to work against us.

With grocery stores and massive food farms, we no longer need to hunt and gather. When you exercise less and eat more, it can be easy to develop leptin resistance or leptin deficiency. If you are experiencing either an overactive appetite or a lack of hunger, your leptin levels may be unbalanced.

Are your leptin levels too high or too low?

Luckily, there are a few tricks that can fix unbalanced leptin levels.

If you are experiencing leptin resistance, these practices can help decrease your appetite.

1. Avoid inflammatory foods. These can include any food with high TRANS fats, high sugar content, or high carb content.

2. Add more anti-inflammatory foods to your diet such as fatty fish, blueberries, avocados, spinach, and turmeric.

3. Exercise! Moving your body on a daily basis will help regulate your leptin levels.

4. Get at least eight hours of sleep per night, on a consistent schedule.

5. Take alpha-lipoic acid or fish oil supplements to aid your anti-inflammatory diet.

If you are experiencing leptin deficiency, these tips can help bring your leptin levels back into the healthy range, allowing you to lose that weight and maintain a healthy appetite.

1. Eat more fiber. Eating oatmeal and gluten-free whole grains such as quinoa will make you feel full, raising your leptin levels.

2. Eat protein for breakfast. Eating eggs and bacon for breakfast will help regulate your leptin levels. Avoid cereals as they only decrease leptin.

3. No high- fructose products. Fructose lowers your leptin levels. Avoid sugar and fake sugar products.

4. Eat more fruits and vegetables! Complex carbohydrates will increase your leptin levels. Stay away from white bread, sugar, and other simple carbohydrates.

5. Get more sleep! Again, sleep is your friend. At least 8 hours of sleep is recommended for consistent leptin production.

6. Work out! It is important to exercise regularly. Add High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T) to your workout routine to boost leptin production.

Even if you only apply a few of these changes to your lifestyle, you will feel healthier and more energized.

If you struggle with maintaining a healthy weight,

balance your leptin production.