Weight Loss-Related Hormones: Leptin, Ghrelin, Cortisol, Insulin (and Some Others)

Weight loss is managed with hormones leptin and ghrelin, but cortisol and insulin also carry out an important role. The ghrelin hormone is the "cravings hormone," and leptin is the "hunger hormone" or the "satiety hormone."  Plenty of leptin speeds up the metabolism; a reduced level decreases it. Ghrelin amounts go up considerably before you eat; it indicates hunger. It’s important to know that ghrelin is released by the stomach tissue. Ghrelin then moves down for around 2-3 hours following a meal. Research reveals that reducing levels of ghrelin results in reduced body fat. The ghrelin hormone encourages the brain to boost your appetite, but it also encourages the build-up of fat found in the abdominal region. Ghrelin levels raise after dieting because body wants to go back to a higher set point. That is one of the causes why fad diets are unsuccessful and why those on a fad diet yo-yo their weight. The body wants all of the processed foods that it was missing during the diet; Ghrelin is high all the time and people go back to eating processed foods with the result of putting all the weight back on. They didn’t reset their set point to a lower value or adjust to a new weight, they didn’t fix their hormones with Superfoods, and so, after a fad diet, they’re back to square one.

Leptin is your food cravings suppressor – the hormone that indicates to your body that you’ve had enough to eat. It is a key player in perfecting weight loss. Numerous foods can either block or boost leptin. Leptin signals your brain that you have adequate energy stored in your fat tissue to take part in regular metabolic processes. Leptin is released by fat cells and the brain should recognize that body has enough fat, which should mean that body has enough energy stored… but when you eat processed food, there is a disruption and your brain doesn’t recognize the leptin signals. The fatter you are, the more leptin is secreted. This is a perfect self-regulating mechanism because the brain should recognize that the body has more than enough energy stored as fat. However, it is a perfect self-regulating mechanism only in lean people and people that don’t eat processed foods. Their hormonal signals are fully recognized by the brain and everything works fine. But for overweight people, these leptin signals are not properly recognized and brain thinks “ Hey, these leptin signals are pretty weak, my body is starving, so let’s store more fat. ” This leptin insensitivity is also called leptin resistance and it’s primarily caused by inflammations, which are, again, caused by processed foods. Genetics, environmental factors, stress, and lack of sleep also contribute to influencing leptin-resistance, to a degree.

When men and women diet, they eat a bit less and their fat cells eliminate some fat, which then reduces the amount of leptin created. Then the brain detects starvation. Yo-Yo weight cycling results in lower leptin. Anytime you are on a fad diet that limits calories, that diet decreases leptin, increases ghrelin, and enhances your appetite. This seems like a hormonal snowball effect that hinders weight loss, isn’t it? That is why it is crucial to have the right, wholesome foods Superfoods diet as a component of your life as soon as you are done with the weight loss period and are on a plateau. The Superfoods diet reduces calories, but keeps your belly full with proteins and fibers and that enhance satiety, reduces your hunger (reduces ghrelin) and fixes your appetite. Consuming 5 meals a day also controls ghrelin production.

Evolution makes it hard for women to lose fat, simply because their body is preprogrammed to accumulate fat and energy for housing babies.

There are no leptin -abundant foods because our intestinal tracts cannot process it. But we can enhance our sensitivity to it, which will help our metabolism to go upward and our cravings to go downward. Our battle can be aided along by eating protein for breakfast and eating dark, leafy dietary fiber-rich vegetables and fish for lunch and/or supper.  Exercising also improves leptin sensitivity.

Swedish experts have found that thylakoids found in spinach and some other leafy greens work as a normal appetite suppressant that controls food intake, inhibits weight gain, and encourages weight loss. Thylakoids postpone digestion because they attach to fats and decrease hydrolysis of the fats. They also stimulate the release of cholecystokinin, which is the primary signal for satiety. Thylakoids also elevate the leptin amount for up to 6 hours after consuming a meal, and decrease ghrelin (measured 2 hours after a meal) and insulin.

Foods that reduce leptin sensitivity are – you guessed it – refined foods. All of them. Carbs are particularly terrible. Excessive carbohydrates do not only stop the leptin signals; they are also what we get ahold of when we are truly craving something. The more carbohydrates we consume, the more we desire them.

A couple of words about the last portion of persistent fat that you can’t lose, even when we have achieved our ideal weight:

Immediately after you eat, insulin and fatty acids are elevated. You are in the “fed” condition and there is no fat consumption going on. Your body relies entirely on glucose oxidation during the hours following a meal.

As the hours go by, and the nutrients coming from a meal are utilized, there is a move to fat-burning and usage of stored fat. This process is mediated by insulin and blood-borne fat acids. The Superfoods meal plans split meals with carbohydrates for 5-6 hours, which keeps insulin down most of the time. Because insulin closes down fat-burning, if you separate carbohydrate meals, that action will bring more fat-burning time.

As long as insulin is present in your system, your body will not burn fat. If you want to lose fat, do not eat carbohydrates 3 hours before a workout and don't eat carbohydrates within 2 hours after a workout. That time will be utilized for fat-burning. The more insulin you have in your system during workouts, the less fat you'll burn. Insulin transports calories into tissues, sugar into fatty cells and muscles, and closes down fat cells from delivering energy for a period of time.

There are usually two releases of insulin. The first one occurs once the carbohydrates enter the blood, which peaks 30 minutes after a meal. In the following 3.5 hours, insulin gradually drops in the blood. Glucagon (which is hormone completely opposite of insulin) starts trickling and increasing. Glucagon is accountable for fat dripping out of the fatty cells and being utilized as energy. It also draws sugar out of the muscles for energy. A Glucagon shot (injection) is provided to diabetics when they feel a sugar drop or feel faint.

Glucagon and insulin can't be increased at the same time. Numerous meals containing carbohydrates will keep your insulin levels increased and there is no opportunity for glucagon to do its fat-loss miracle.

So, again, divide meals with carbohydrates for 5-6 hours, so glucagon can do the trick. I’m talking about starchy carbohydrates like oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes and such. Carbohydrates from other vegetables do not impact insulin levels, so feel free to eat cooked meats with fiber-packed salads.

When fat acids in blood levels decrease, an energy shortfall is "sensed" and adrenaline and noradrenaline rise.

Adrenaline and noradrenaline move through blood and hook up to receptors on fat cells. A receptor can be thought of as a “lock.” Hormones and neurotransmitters are “keys” that are appropriate for that lock and make things happen. Ordinary fat contains a bunch of beta-2 receptors in proportion to alpha-2-receptors. B2-receptors are “accelerators” for fat reduction and a2-receptors are “breaks” for fat reduction.

The ratio between b2-receptors and a2-receptors controls how easy it is to allow-fat loss from one region of the body. “Easy” fat has a very good ratio of b2-receptors to a2- receptors, while difficult fat has a higher ratio of a2-receptors to b2-receptors. Easy fat is on our limbs and difficult fat is found on our bellies and love handles (in both men and women) and thighs (solely in women). Women can have up to 5-8 times more a2-receptors in her hips and thigh fat. Stimulation of the a1 and b-receptors is lipolytic (causes fat elimination) while activation of the a2-receptor is anti-lipolytic (blunts fat elimination). Persistent fat areas have a high concentration of a2-receptors, making it harder for fat meltdown to occur in that area. Stress and sleep also impact your ability to lose persistent fat. So, make sure that you get adequate sleep and reduce your stress level as much as you can. Also, eat frequently: 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. Missing meals boost stress. Here is where cortisol will come into the game.

Cortisol is the stress hormone. It’s a crucial hormone, and is essential for human survival.  Every time your body encounters any type of stress, your body produces cortisol, which then initiates a cascade of other physiological responses necessary for your body to continue functioning. 

You can look at it like a crisis generator. Cortisol turns “off” many of the regular physiological systems and turns “on” many short-term physiological systems.

In a regular situation, cortisol release only lasts for a brief burst of time. Following that, all metabolic functions go back to normal. But this is exactly where things can go wrong, simply because in many instances, the stresses that trigger your body to emit cortisol take place too often and stay “on” for too long.  

When your body encounters constant stress, it continuously secretes cortisol and that’s when cortisol becomes damaging to your body. Depending on how long and the amount of cortisol you have in your body, it can really damage your health and change your metabolic processes, leading to you to gain persistent belly fat! The Superfoods diet stabilizes cortisol production. When your stress and cortisol levels are elevated, the body basically resists weight loss. Your body reasons: days are tough and you may starve, so it holds the fat you eat or current have in your body. Cortisol takes fat from healthier locations, like your limbs and hips, and relocates it to your abdominal area, which contains additional cortisol receptors.

As a summary, remember this fact: certain belly fat is natural. Its main function is actually to guard your vital inner organs. To drop all your belly fat is to oppose nature. This is why it is so hard to achieve. I have decided to lose weight and not stress personally about few pounds of the belly fat I might still have.