Leptin: The Fat Burning Hormone

Leptin is a very important hormone and taking control of Leptin is one of the most important things that you can do for your health. Leptin is a hormone that is secreted from our white adipose tissue or fat around our buttocks, hips and thighs. It controls our entire nervous system and hormonal system which governs the vast majority of our functions and the state of our health. What this article will try to do is teach you how Leptin works when the body is in good health, how Leptin functions when the body has gone out of balance and what practical steps we can take to keep Leptin functioning correctly.

Leptin works by communicating with the Hypothalamus which is a small gland in our brain that governs the vast majority of our autonomic functions. This only shows us that the state of our physiological health governs our emotional and mental state. What occurs is that Leptin levels rise in response to food being eaten. When Leptin reaches a certain level it communicates with the Hypothalamus and instructs it to shut off feeding behavior and increase metabolic rate. This is excellent because in balance Leptin will stop us from over eating and ensure our body weight is at a healthy level.

The problem occurs when Leptin goes out of balance. This can occur due to stress, digestive issues, or most commonly eating too much sugar and poor quality foods and eating too often. What happens is that when we eat Leptin levels still rise but they feel to communicate with the brain. The brain basically builds up what is called Leptin resistance.

Some of the signals you may have Leptin resistance are:

• Uncontrollable eating after dinner

• Hunger before bed

• Excess fat around your hips and buttocks

• Sweating quickly when doing physical activity

• Low energy after exercise

• Still hungry after eating, even though physically full

This problem will quickly lead to weight gain and health problems, as the Hypothalamus gland will constantly send hunger signals and suppress metabolism. This leads to another two problems, insulin resistance and adrenaline resistance.Insulin resistance is often thought of as the precursor to type II diabetes. What occurs in insulin resistance is that the tissues of the body become immune to insulin and no longer use fuel effectively. The fuel is then stored by the body in our body fat. This leads to a whole host of problems such as poor energy from food and weight gain around the hips and stomach.Adrenaline resistance is the last problems in the triad of issues that lead to weight gain.

What occurs in this phase is due to Leptin not communicating with the brain and giving the signal to burn fat, the fat cells are no longer responsive to Leptin. Adrenaline is the signal for the fat cells to release fat to be burned as fuel. This leads to more fat cells which increase circulating Leptin levels which further increases Leptin resistance which creates further problems.The reasons that this cycle occurs in people are many and complex. The most common reason is that we eat too much food in general, particularly too many carbohydrates andprocessed foods. This is conjunction with people being told to snack leads to problems. Every time we eat we release Leptin so the more often we eat, the more resistant the brain becomes to Leptin. Also because we are eating carbohydrates we will release a huge surge of insulin which compounds the matter further.

Another interesting reason for the epidemic of obesity and weight problems that we see today is the birthing process. When we are born we are given a metabolic 'set point'. What this means is when we are born we have no influence on Leptin. Leptin receives a signal and then activates what our preset body fat percentage will be. The signal that triggers this message from Leptin is a substance in the mother's breast milk called colostrum. This needs to be received within 6 hours after the birthing event. It is also extremely important for the process of growing and temperature regulation.

What we will now look at is the ways we can rebalance Leptin and bring ourselves back to optimal health. These rules are taken from the book 'Mastering Leptin' which is written by Byron J. Richards

- Never eat after dinner. Leave 11-12 hours between dinner and breakfast.

- Never go to bed on a full stomach - this is extremely important as Leptin levels peak at night which allows the body to access prime fat burning time. Eating before bed delays this andreduces the amount of fat burning time and alters the Leptin secretion for the next day leading to abnormal food cravings.

- Eat three meals a day. Leave 5-6 hours between meals - This allows the hormones insulin and glucagon to work together optimally. After you eat insulin rises for about 2-3 hours putting you in a fat storage mode. After this time glucagon levels increase which puts us into fat burning mode. If we are snacking all the time we will not receive this message to burn fat from glucagon.

- Do not eat large meals. If overweight, always try to finish a meal when slightly less than full. The full signal will catch up in 10-20 minutes. If we eat large meals we will release too much insulin. This is not good. It will also keep the stomach in good shape as the stomach has to adapt to the size of the meals we put in it. The stomach is only about the size of our two fists put together and has incredible capacity to stretch.

- Eat a high protein breakfast - protein is the satiating of all the macronutrients. It also stimulates glucagon to burn fat and increase metabolic rate. When you eat protein for breakfast, what tends to occur is you do not get cravings throughout the day and you have better energy.

- Reduce the amount of carbohydrates eaten - this relates directly to the amount of insulin we secrete. The less carbohydrates we eat, particularly the processed carbohydrates the lower our insulin response will be. This is not an endorsement of very low carbohydrate diets as carbohydrates are the optimal fuel for the brain. Good carbohydrate sources include vegetables, fruit and legumes.

If these rules above are followed and there are still issues of Leptin resistance supplemental support may be considered. Please do this under the supervision of a qualified and knowledgeable health care professional as self medication can be dangerous and may not lead to the desired effect. Here are some useful supplements: B vitamins, malic acid, magnesium, coenzyme Q10, vitamins E and C.

- Fish oils - Reduces inflammation which suppresses growth hormone. Acts directly on adrenal adipose tissue. This is fat around the stomach-

- Conjugated Linoleic Acid - can reduce Leptin production by up to 42% and increases the burning of fats as fuel.

- Zinc - increase testosterone in males - this is a very common issue

- Acetyl-l-carnitine - enhances the correct rhythmic release of growth hormone and prevents hormonal depletion from stress

- Chromium - helps calories enter cells to help lower insulin resistance.If we can all take responsibility for our own health and make responsible decisions we will be rewarded with vitality, energy and an improved quality of life.

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