Building A Fat Resistant Body

Our ability to lose weight depends on a hormone called leptin and how it functions in your body. Under normal circumstances, leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that turns down your appetite and speeds up your metabolism. This signaling mechanism, helps your body maintain a normal body weight. Appetite control is a function of the brain, more specifically, the hypothalamus. This is a small area lying between the thalamus and pituitary.

If you have trouble losing weight or are chronically overweight, there's a good chance your body has become leptin resistant. According to recent studies, the cause of leptin resistance is chronic inflammation. Inflammation not only causes leptin resistance—it also increases a person's risk of developing obesity-related diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Hormones that Control Eating.

The science below is both boring and highly informative. Though not necessary to read, if one is overweight, obese, diabetic etc, it is imperative you read the following in order realize the insurmountable power that a good diet can have on your health:

Several hormones are instrumental in control of the appetite center. Some increase hunger, others reduce the urge to eat. These have both short-term and long-term actions and are essential for control of body weight. Key regulators were presented by Schwartz and Morton in a "NEWS" article published in Nature. Several hormones were discussed:

1. Ghrelin. This is a peptide hormone which is released by the stomach and activates NPY/AgRP releasing neurons, thereby stimulating appetite. Ghrelin is released from the empty stomach. Its secretion abruptly stops following food intake.

2. PYY_3-36 is a small peptide released from intestinal endocrine cells. It inhibits "appetite-stimulating" NPY/AgRP producing neurons, thus signaling food intake and damping hunger.

Thus, hormones released directly from the digestive system steer appetite in tact with food consumption.

3. Insulin and leptin. Insulin release from pancreatic islets cells follows intake of both carbohydrates and proteins. We usually assume that the brain is not dependent upon insulin for uptake and metabolism of substrates for energy metabolism. After all, the brain has a large and relatively constant requirement for glucose as its primary energy source. Uptake of glucose from the circulation to the CNS must not vary according to insulin levels. However, the arcuate nucleus appears to have many properties that are in contrast to those of the rest of the brain. Among these are receptors for protein hormones involved in the control of metabolism. The arcuate nucleus responds to both insulin and leptin. Insulin dampens appetite by inhibiting NPY/AgRP-secreting neurons and by activating POMC-releasing neurons. Insulin appears to have both short-term and long-term actions and is essential in regulation of body weight. Resistance to insulin is very often associated with obesity and the loss of insulin's regulation of metabolism as seen in diabetes type 2.

Leptin levels follow body fat levels; circulating leptin levels are increased in obesity. As is the case with insulin, leptin dampens appetite by inhibiting stimulatory neurons and stimulating inhibitory fibers. Leptin release from adipose tissue is enhanced by insulin. Leptin is, therefore, one of the hormones that are coupled to food consumption. It appears that the arcuate nucleus can become leptin-resistant. Obese persons tend to have high circulating leptin levels but without response to leptin in the arcuate nucleus. Abnormalities in leptin appear to be correlated to overeating and obesity.

Science Over!!! Back to Normal speaks.

Having read this I realized how delicate yet complex and hardworking the human body can be when it comes to food management.
By eating the right foods and eliminating those that cause inflammation, you can restore leptin to its normal functioning and lose weight.

Here are a list of foods you should avoid and foods you should consume to combat inflammation and boost your body's fat-fighting abilities:

• Avoid trans fats. Trans fats are among the worst inflammatory foods that you can eat, because they interfere with the activity in the body of the essential fats, omega-3s and omega-6s.
• Avoid sugar. Simple sugars have an inflammatory effect because they boost insulin levels.
• Limit saturated fats. Saturated fats are typically solid at room temperature, and are not essential—meaning you can make them in your body.
• Consume the right ratio of essential fats. Some good sources of omega-3s are fish and fish oil, green leafy vegetables, flaxseed and walnuts, as well as soy and some beans. Ideally, the ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s should be somewhere between 3–6 to 1. It's a little bit like an orchestra, it's not just one or the other.
• Avoid processed foods. Processed foods contain numerous inflammatory ingredients. High Fructose corn syrup is very powerful at shutting down and triggering these hormones causing them to act abnormally; increase in appetite and shutting down the body's ability to detect that it is full. That is why it was produced in Labs as a "money making" ingredient. Well before I got educated, I sure helped make a lot of money for the food industry. I always make sure that when I place my groceries on the conveyor belt, they cannot be packed neatly in a box i.e no pre packaged foods. Anything that requires you to simply heat & eat is sadly processed. As I eliminated processed foods from my diet, my sleep pattern normalized, my joints stopped hurting, my headaches disappeared and more importantly my mood stabilized. My skin even became clearer. It was well worth the effort.
  

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