When it comes to weight loss, certain hormones in the body can make or break your efforts. We always talk about maintaining a calorie deficit to shed weight, but some hormones do decide whether you are gonna lose weight or not. We are specifically talking about insulin, cortisol, thyroid, leptin and ghrelin hormones. The biggest mistake most of us tend to commit while trying to lose weight is overlooking the importance of hormones in the fat-burning process. That’s one major reason why crash dieting would never work for significant weight loss because such a diet would throw all the important fat-burning hormones out of whack and after some initial loss of water weight, the body would just stop burning fat because the hormones wouldn’t cooperate. To put it out rather bluntly, some hormones like insulin make you fat and keep you fat! Hormones are responsible for both weight gain and weight loss and that’s why it’s important to harness the power of fat-burning hormones to drop pounds like crazy, and when you think about balancing hormones, you should think about boosting leptin (which is also called the “satiety hormone) first because its dysfunction keeps one in a constant state of hunger and you would constantly crave for food, all through the day, leading to pile up of calories, and creation of more fat in the body. So, in this post, we go into detail on how to boost leptin hormone for weight loss.
The Ghrelin-Leptin Balance and Why It’s Important For Losing Weight?
Ghrelin is the the “hunger” hormone which signals the brain that it’s time to replenish energy and that the body needs food to do so whereas leptin (satiety or fullness hormone) signals the brain that there’s enough energy and your appetite decreases, and you would stop craving for food. In short, leptin (which is secreted by fat cells) regulates appetite and signals the brain that you have had enough food. Leptin and ghrelin usually work in unity, maintaining an optimum balance, ghrelin rising only when there is a need to replenish energy and leptin signalling when there’s enough calories and energy in the body. However, when leptin function gets impaired, leptin fails to send signal to the brain, and the body tends to pile on calories, uncertain of when to stop eating. As a result, one tends to overeat and gain weight in the process. Leptin resistance can also slow down your metabolism. All these factors not only prevents weight loss, they can make you gain weight with each meal. When someone becomes leptin resistant, it becomes very difficult to lose weight because the body is always in a state of hunger and does not realize that it has enough energy in the system. So, in essence, these two hormones basically run the show when it comes to appetite. Leptin also plays an important role in the regulation of thyroid gland, growth hormone, and adrenal glands. So, we can easily state that when leptin malfunctions, you would find it difficult to lose weight because the body is constantly in a state of hunger.
How To Increase Leptin To Lose Weight?
1. Sleep for 7 Hours or More: Sleep deprivation throws all hormones out of whack, especially leptin and ghrelin, increasing the level of ghrelin and dropping leptin. When you sleep well at night, the levels of sleep hormone melatonin increases which in turn lowers hunger and stress hormones (ghrelin and cortisol respectively). Also, a good night’s sleep is extremely essential to reset metabolism and keep the fat-burning process correctly.
2. Eat foods rich in antioxidants to trigger Leptin Release: Foods such as banana, pomegranate, pumpkin, kiwi, avocado, carrots, green leafy vegetables, garlic, mango, blueberries, kidney beans, apples, turmeric, are all rich in antioxidants which trigger the release of leptin hormone. Also, here’s a list of “Top 45 Foods to Suppress Appetite and Reduce Hunger.”
3. Bring Back Healthy Fats in your Diet: We are talking about healthy fats found in olive oil, butter, ghee, coconut, omega-3 fatty acids, etc, that not only help with weight loss, they are needed for healthy skin, hair, and even nails. Healthy fats from dietary sources help you to overcome leptin resistance and bring its level to optimum levels.
4. Say No To Sugar: Too much sugar and insulin in the body can cause leptin resistance, so the most prudent thing to do is to give up on added sugar/refined sugar. In fact, check out these “8 Best Healthy Replacements for Refined Sugar.”
5. Live an active lifestyle/Exercise/Get Moving: Regular exercise, for at least 40 minutes a day, five times a week, optimizes the function of all essential hormones, including leptin. Be active and your feet through the day, and say bye bye to sedentary lifestyle. Even brisk walking would do the trick.
6. Eat a Protein-rich Diet: A protein-rich diet boosts the release of leptin, adiponectin, and human growth hormones. Check out the Rati Beauty diet for elaborate protein-rich weight loss plans.
7. Zinc is an all-rounder Mineral: Zinc has amazing benefits – from boosting immunity to regulating hunger and fat-burning hormones, it can do all! Whole grains, almonds, pumpkin seeds, eggs, peanuts, sesame, spinach, mushroom, and fruits are rich sources of zinc and with optimum amount of this mineral in the body, leptin secretion increases significantly.
So, these were some tips to boost your satiety hormone, leptin naturally. Check out the Rati Beauty diet on the Rati Beauty app on how to include the leptin-beneficial food in your diet.
Top 45 Foods To Suppress Appetite and Reduce Hunger
8 Best Healthy Replacements for Refined Sugar
