Leptin and Ghrelin: The Hunger Hormones?

One of the most common areas overlooked when it comes to losing weight is the roll the digestive system plays.

There are several area that can throw a wrench in to the works and can negatively influence your metabolism and curtail your ability to lose weight. This applies to almost everybody that is watching a strict calorie controlled diet and can’t seem to get any traction when it comes to dropping excess weight. Whether you think you have digestive problems or not.

The strategies detailed in this article is for informational purposes only. Please consult your physician if you are on blood sugar or blood pressure medication.

Ghrelin is a hunger hormone made by your gut that tells the brain when you need food or when you’re hungry. It also plays another roll. It is also an anti-inflammatory hormone.

So here you have Ghrelin that acts as a combatant if the body is dealing with inflammation. So it is being activated to stave off inflammation, it is also sending false signals of food cravings of high calorie food and a subconscious desire to indulge in the pleasure of eating for pleasure’s sake. Examples are binge eating and  cravings for carbs. Effectively impacting two regions of the brain, one relating to cravings and the other relating to the pleasure and compensation from stress by eating excessively.

Inflammation and the bacterial imbalance in our gut can be partially explained by our use of antibiotics. Even those taken years prior. The very nature of antibiotics is  the cause of eliminating the good bacteria with the bad.

All toll, our use of antibiotics, high junk food sugary diets, coupled with our alcohol intake is setting the stage for digestive inflammation, food cravings, thyroid problems and our continued struggle with weight.

Science now overwhelmingly supports the idea that imbalanced gut flora are present in overweight people and are metabolically active in a way that promotes weight gain.  Even imbalanced bacteria in your mouth, which reflects digestive imbalance in general, has been linked to obesity.

Leptin is the hormone involved with appetite suppression. It is triggered when the body has had enough to eat. Leptin resistance has also been know to occur when diets are loaded with soda, refined flours, sugar and its various forms such as honey and maple syrup. Obese people have been know to exhibit and abnormally high level of leptin. these people are know to be resistant to leptin much like those with type 2 diabetes are resistant to insulin.

Here are a few ways to keep ghrelin in check and increase leptin:

​Avoid MSG: this will make your appetite explode because your body loses the ability to know when its full because MSG suppresses leptin. You end up eating more and becoming hungry sooner. All fast foods use it. Remember the joke about eating Chinese food and an hour later your hungry? This is why.
Avoid Fructose: Fructose inhibits leptin and insulin rising to normal levels after a meal, while increasing ghrelin and triglycerides. The biggest culprits are high fructose sweeteners in drinks and foods as well as fruit juice.
 
Avoid Very Low Calorie Diets: For those eating 1,000 calories or less a day, you are creating an environment in your body to trigger a sense of uncontrollable hunger leading to overeating.

Eat Every 4 Hours: In order to keep ghrelin low, you need to eat every 3-4 hours since it is produced and secreted on a four hour schedule. Leptin on the other hand is reduced after short term fasting thereby increasing your appetite. A very effective form of fasting for weight loss is eating breakfast at 10:00AM, eating lunch at 2:00PM and diner at 6:00PM. That would create a period of 16 hours of fasting from dinner to the following mornings breakfast.

Eat High Fiber Foods: Its a strategy involving food that has high volume and low calorie. Filling the stomach with this nutrient rich foods reduces ghrelin and before the point of overeating. Salads and soups or other water rich foods are an easy way of getting full.

Get 7 Hours of Sleep: It has been observed that less than 7 hours of rest have seen an increase of ghrelin, reduced amounts of leptin and increased levels of hunger. There is some suggestion that sleep apnea and the lack of sleep it creates plays a roll in being overweight.

Reduce Stress: Stress is associated with higher productions of ghrelin and higher body weight. this can be easily accomplished with light exercise, meditation and listening to Yanni.

Eat Protein at Every Meal: Protien’s density takes longer to digest therefore making you fuller longer and its been associated with lowering ghrelin production and increasing leptin sensitivity.

Proper Amounts of Omega-3: Overweight people release an overproduction of molecules that are used to combat inflammation. These inhibit the sensitivity of leptin that tells the brain the body it full. Omega-3 fatty acids decrease the production of the molecules and reducing inflammation in the body. Great foods for naturally spiking your intake of Omega-3’s are salmon and other oily fish like mackerel, anchovies, sardines, as well as kale, walnuts, flax seeds and summer squash.

Heal Thy Gut With Probiotics and Prebiotics: Maintaining proper bacterial flora in the gut goes along way to help reduce ghrelin and increase leptin. Foods that improve proper balances are garlic, onions, leeks, artichokes, bananas and fermented foods like sauerkraut. Foods with live cultures like yogurt or the popular drink Kombucha which is a fermented drink of black tea and sugar. And there is also supplements.
 

If the body is not properly nourished, it’s own natural systems fail. Natural signaling occurs if the stomach reaches fullness, or if it goes without food. This has occurred naturally since the dawn of man. Staying with a naturally evolved diet such as the Paleo Diet and eating at well timed meals, will sufficiently keep the body in harmony with natural laws. 

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