Insulin, Leptin & Ghrelin: The 3 Fat Hormones

Insulin, leptin and ghrelin are three hormones that have a massive effect on your ability to lose weight and keep it off. By understanding the functions and actions of these 3 hormones in your body you will have a much greater chance of controlling them and so accelerating the fat - burning process in your body.

Insulin

Insulin is produced by the beta cells in the pancreas. It gets produced primarily in response to a rise in blood glucose and to a junior extent blood amino acids. Insulin is a storage hormone. Its function is to take nutrients from the blood stream and store them in body cells.

Insulin has the ability to increase the uptake of glucose into the liver and muscles for storage as glycogen ( storage carbohydrate ); it can also increase the uptake of glucose by fat cells locality it can then be stored as body fat; it also increases the uptake of amino acids into muscle tissue station it can be used to build muscle.

Since insulin is a storage hormone ( quite than a mobilising hormone ), it also stops the body from mobilising and utilising fat as a fuel source; it stops fat burning instanter!

Ergo, if your goal is to burn off body fat as quickly as possible, your goal should be to keep insulin as low as possible. By doing so your body will then be able to access as burn fat all day long.

So, how do you do that? There are several ways you can keep insulin low:

- Have many small meals throughout the day reasonably than fewer large meals. Larger meals nurture to cause a greater insulin response.

- Qualification your carbohydrate intake. A greater amount of carbs in a meal induces a greater insulin response.

- Emphasise more low - density carbs and less high - density carbs. The low - density carbs ( broccoli, cauliflower, callow beens, carrots, etc. ) have more fibre and less carbohydrate in them owing to the high - density carbs ( bread, pasta, rice, cereals, etc. ) have more carbohydrate and less fibre.

- Take a glucose disposal instrument with lunch and affair. glucose disposal agents are specific nutrients that increase the uptake of glucose and amino acids into lean tissue cells, not fat cells. They also abetment insulin in its function by drama as co - factors, which means less insulin is required to perform its function.

Leptin

Leptin is a hormone produced by the fat cells. It is present in the blood stream and its level is in direct proportion to the amount of body fat a person has. i. e. the more fat, the more leptin is produced.

Leptin ' s primary function is to act on the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls appetite and satiety. It tells the hypothalamus to reduce appetite ( now fat stores are high ), which results in decreased food intake.

On the other hand, when fat stores are low, for representation, after dieting, leptin levels are dirt poor. This causes the hypothalamus to increase appetite. An increased appetite obviously results in greater food intake and a corresponding increase in body fat stores. More body fat results in more leptin being produced, which then tells the hypothalamus to decrease appetite, leading to a bad off food intake. This is a classic negative feedback mechanism.

Leptin may be one of the main hormones constrained for rebound weight gain after a diet.

Leptin is accurately described as an anti - starvation hormone being low levels lead to increased hunger. In the foregone it was described as an anti - obesity hormone but researchers have since discovered that chubby people ( who produce large amounts of leptin ) are resistant to its going. This is in a identical way that some people are resistant to insulin.

It is possible that leptin resistance may returns from over - eating. When someone over - groceries as a completion of emotional eating or a molded response ( a habit that has been created ), the receptors in the hypothalamus become de - sensitised to the pipeline of leptin.

This means that the hypothalamus can ' t detect when leptin levels are high, resulting in food cravings and further weight gain. Over time obesity results.

It is also theorised that leptin may have bother stroll the blood - brain barrier in obese people, which means it can ' t then stimulate the receptors in the hypothalamus. Leptin ' s underprivileged ability to crotchety the blood - brain barrier is brainwork to be due to the reality that ample people have a cerebrospinal juice ( CSF ) to plasma ratio much lower than non - rotund mortals.

It is also possible that poor sleeping habits may exacerbate leptin resistance being the sleep hormone, melatonin, appears to have a close relationship with leptin.

Interestingly, many obese persons suffer from sleep apnea, a sleep disorder caused by the epiglottis closing over the airways during sleep. Since this may cause them to wake up ofttimes during the night, melatonin effort may become marred, which then impacts on leptin as well.

With regards to leptin, we should account to increase its crack as much as possible without gaining fat and also try and make the hypothalamus as hypersensitive as possible to it.

One of the best ways to increase leptin intention without gaining body fat is to have a Treat Day once a tempo. This will be particularly beneficial in preventing the common give forth weight gain that follows a diet.

On the Treat Day people should only have 1 or 2 meals station they eat entity they want and as much as they want ( it doesn ' t penny-pinching you can eat object you want all day long! ). This increased calorie intake will inspire the adipocytes ( fat cells ) to bring off more leptin, which then tells the hypothalamus to reduce your appetite.

In uniformity to prevent or overcome leptin resistance the alongside strategies should be slaving:

- Avoid lavish sugar and bad fats.

- Perform regular, daily exercise.

- Improve sleeping habits.

- Use the following supplements: melatonin, L - carnitine, CLA and omega - 3 fatty acids.

Ghrelin

Ghrelin is a hormone withheld by the stomach. Like leptin, it acts on the hypothalamus but in the event ghrelin it increases appetite moderately than decreases it ( as leptin does ).

The levels of ghrelin surface to be regulated throughout the day and are closely correlated with meal time ( levels of ghrelin are highest just before a meal ).

In reality, in one study, when people were inured ghrelin injections and then offered a jounce meal, they ate 30 % more than they normally would!

It is believed that one of the main reasons why people boost to put lost weight back on after a diet is through ghrelin levels increase dramatically after a diet. This results in furious hunger and eventually over - eating by the dieter.

Perhaps if there was some way to blunt the effects of ghrelin we could reduce appetite and then keep the weight off. Well, there is! It is a hormone called, Peptide YY3 - 36. It is also produced by the stomach cells and has the follow up of reducing ghrelin juice.

Lean people nurse to produce more of this hormone than plump people, which adds weight to the actuality that obesity is more of a metabolic disorder than was first attention. Nevertheless, it is possible to increase the body ' s production of Peptide YY3 - 36 and that is by having small, frequent meals.

By doing so, the stomach has small amounts of food in it throughout the day, which then stimulates sap of Peptide YY3 - 36 and which in turn, reduces ghrelin fluid and keeps hunger penurious.

Now that you have a better understanding of how these hormones influence our body ' s storage of fat as well as our ability to lose weight and keep it off, you can easily modify your lifestyle to ice that it is contributive to piece you achieve and maintain a lean body.

Copyright ( c ) 2009 Stephen Smith

Whole - Body Approach to Osteoporosis: How to Create an Anabolic Body

No matter who you are, if you ramble sharply into the disarray enough times, you’ re going to get lost. I certainly have— several times. Obscure, diagonal ravines, steeply sloped hillsides, and impenetrable tangles can be disorienting. That’ s the bad information. The good data is that if you persist, if you accommodated each obstacle as only an intense distortion in the nuance of the whole heap, then your thoughts will stick to centered and you’ ll successfully find your way.

To reduce my fracture risk I had to do more than just make my bones farther with calcium. I had to reduce the chronic systemic inflammation in my body that was putting me at risk for other chronic degenerative disease; I had to make my body more alkaline, less spendthrift, and more alert to the resources provided by food and supplements; and I had to keep my tissues pullulating and muscles strong so that as I age, I will have less risk of falling. I needed to first uncover and then amend the causes of the catabolic process that permeated my entire unhealthy body. I found no magic bullets to fix my osteoporosis. Magic bullets in this field are uncommon.

Although I speaker the use of lifestyle and dietary changes along with nutritional supplementation as the first choice for improving your skeletal and overall health, medications can help to reduce your fracture risk. But please use them wisely. In the long run they won’ t fix your body’ s intricately troubled, catabolic net, which took years of physiological imbalance to weave. The only magic I’ ve ever discovered came with persistence and openness to all forms of healing. But that’ s not magic, is it? Isn’ t that just being pragmatic?

IT ’ S ALL ABOUT BECOMING ANABOLIC

By now you image that calcium and vitamin D, although integral to your skeletal health, may do you little good if your body is catabolic and in a constant state of destruction. Eliminating chronic, low - level metabolic acidosis, redundant oxidative stress, systemic inflammation, and gastrointestinal dysfunction are far more useful for healing purposes than overloading your body with calcium. Your major uninvolved, instead of smartly swallowing a few key nutrients, should now be to build up your whole body— to become anabolic.

FIND A HEALTH CARE PROVIDER WHO WILL WORK WITH YOU

Finding a identical health care provider may take some job, but it’ s crucial. The health care provider you choose to help you with your skeletal health should be tuned in about nutrition and laboratory

testing and should be keen to take the time necessary to advocate your event. Commemorate that osteoporosis is a chronic essence and requires a long - term, sweeping, and vigilant approach.

EAT HEALTHY FOOD AND MAINTAIN A POSITIVE, CONSTRUCTIVE Mindtrip

Your goal is to improve the health of your entire body. If you succeed with your soft tissues, your bones will follow suit. It doesn’ t matter if you’ re fifty or eighty agedness mature, if you want your body to respond, you need to care for it 24 / 7. Always revive that you want to make yourself stronger, more coordinated, and more capable. To do that, you must avoid harmful lifestyle activities and group on foods that are healthy for you.

The foods you eat are your foundation for recovery. Consume predominately fruits and vegetables with lots of fiber. Be diligent about limiting your intake of processed sugars and other bone - plunder foods.

Cook with healthy oils like olive and organic virgin coconut oil. Make absolute you eat good - quality protein and that you embrace some protein

with every meal. Eggs, poultry, fish, nuts, legumes, and whey or hemp powder are your best sources.

Go easy on red meat. If your body is catabolic, a daily consumption of 1. 2 to 1. 5 grams of quality lean protein per kilogram of your body weight will help you to become anabolic. Since a kilogram is equal to 2. 2 pounds, if you figure 125 pounds, that’ s between 70 and 85 grams of protein a day. If you are like me and toss around in at about 150 pounds, your protein requirement would be between 80 and 100 grams a day. Protein will increase the level of IGF - 1 hormone in your blood, help you gain muscle tissue and strength, and supply you with the amino acids necessary for bone collagen formation. Caution: If you suffer from kidney disease, consult your doctor before increasing your protein intake.

Goals are great motivators. Set a mental or physical challenge for yourself— something to stretch your abilities, something to reach for. Train for a walkathon, road chase, or triathlon; letter a story or a logbook article; or take up a new enterprise.

USE NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS TO BOOST SKELETAL HEALTH

Refer frequently to the inventory of key bone nutrients in the addition. Doing that will help you stay aware of deficiency signs and symptoms, pertinent laboratory biomarkers, and dietary sources of nutrients and their recommended daily intakes. Even if your diet is ten, the truth that you have bone loss puts you into the special needs bevy. Now your body requires more than what you can get from diet alone. You should take the following as scant supplementation:

START YOUR THERAPEUTIC TARGETS CHART

If you haven’ t nowadays started your therapeutic targets chart ( described in exercises 2. 1 and 4. 1 ), do it now. This will help you kumtux spot you are and station you’ re going in the management of your bone loss. Chart your signs and symptoms and shape them to nutritional deficiencies or physiological dysfunction. Ask your doctor to help you. When your doctor orders laboratory tests, he or she will probably use one of the larger companies such as LabCorp or Objective for the basic core biomarkers.

For some of the specialty tests, such as rat analysis, IgG allergy testing, and 8OH2dG, your doctor will need to inquire into the services of a laboratory that performs functional testing. In the Resources section,

I’ ve listed several reputable companies that I use for these purposes.

HAS YOUR DOCTOR ORDERED THE BASIC CORE OF LABORATORY TESTS?

Talk with your doctor about recipient the basic core of laboratory tests for classifying low bone density. Of course, he or she may want to do more extensive testing if it is needed.

DO A Review CHECK OF YOUR ACID - ALKALINE BALANCE

A diet too high in protein from cheese, meat, and grain products will lead to chronic low - level metabolic acidosis and alongside bone loss. Study your food intake over a four - day spell. Pen down piece you eat. If your diet is too high in protein or especially heavy in grains and forfeited in fruits and vegetables, make some changes. Increase your intake of high - potassium alkaline foods like broccoli, prunes, bok choy, kale, and squash.

Get into the habit of checking your first morning urine. This should be done every month for three to four days in a row. You’ re aiming for an average pH of 6. 6 to 7. 5. If your pH is consistently below 6. 0 even with an finer diet, try supplementing for a month or two with potassium citrate or potassium bicarbonate. When your urine pH stabilizes big 6. 6, discontinue the potassium supplements but prolong eating lots of fruits and vegetables.

Nail down YOUR GASTROINTESTINAL HEALTH

Listen to your body. Are there signs and symptoms of poor quell health? Check with your doctor if you have any concerns. He or she will be able to classification tests such as a communicate analysis or a screening for food allergies. If you have osteoporosis, you should be tested for gluten sensitivity even if you have no gastrointestinal signs or symptoms.

ASSESS YOUR LEVEL OF INFLAMMATION

If your signs and symptoms indicate inflammation, you should try to get laboratory testing to assess your level of oxidative stress and systemic inflammation ( flash chapter 4 ). The more impartial information you have as therapeutic targets, the better your treatment management will be. Don’ t just postulation when significant your treatment regime. Be as practical about your therapy as possible. My favorite supplements for reducing oxidative stress and inflammation are alpha - lipoic acid, curcumin, fish oil, N - acetyl cysteine, taurine, and milk thistle.

Recognize FOR GOOD HORMONAL Inside track

Sometimes, no producer how effectual your nutritional program is, achieving good skeletal health may hurting for hormone replacement therapy. Ask your doctor if hormonal therapy, preferably in the form of bioidentical hormones, would be useful to reduce your breach stake.

Direction OUT TOXINS

If you have any concerns about heavy metal toxicity, accede with your doctor about getting some laboratory testing.

SUPPLEMENT WITH BODY - AND BONE - BUILDING NUTRIENTS

Whey protein ( 20 grams / day ) will help you increase your IGF - 1 level and build both muscle and bone mass. ( If your stomach doesn’ t like all that protein at once, you can split up 20 grams into two shakes with 10 grams of whey protein in each jolt. ) Not only will this help to raise your body’ s antioxidant levels of glutathione, the lactoferrin and lactoferricin in whey also will help to limit the growth of bad bacteria, such as H. pylori, in your Soldier sphere.

In uncomely and cell culture studies, whey and its milk basic protein influence have been shown to stimulate osteoblasts ( Takada, Aoe, and Kumegawa 1996 ), ravage osteoclast - mediated bone resorption, and enhance bone strength ( Takada et al. 1997 ). Also, a study of healthy adult women showed that supplementing with whey’ s basic protein installment significantly increased their BMD ( Yamamura et al 2002 ). A contact made with whey, fruit, and your choice of other supplements is a frosty, nutritious midafternoon larder. Also, nutrition companies are selling high - quality powdered supplement mixes and meal replacement mixes that can make your life easier and your afternoon snacking healthier.

If you are low on energy, acetyl - L - carnitine ( 2g / day ), biotin, alphalipoic acid, and coenzyme Q10 will help to shell out your cells with energy. These supplements will reduce tiredness and help you build muscle.

If you have osteoporosis but your bone resorption ticket ( NTX, CTX, or DPD ) is usual, make forcible your doctor orders a test for the bone formation docket osteocalcin. This will indicate if you need to work hard on stimulating your osteoblasts to form new bone. Nutrients such as vitamin K, milk basic protein, and whey protein, in addition to ensuring that your body is not acidic ( check your urine pH ), are most important for bone formation. When you succeed in stimulating osteoblastic exercise, it will be reflected by the normalization of your blood osteocalcin levels. You might also want to try using the selective

kinase response modulators ( SKRMs ), berberine and / or rho - iso - alpha acids ( RIAA ), the second from hops.

EXERCISE!

Exercise repeatedly to your own capacity, and it will help you maintain a healthy body and strong bones. For safety, check with your doctor and make unequivocal he or she clears you for aboriginal an exercise program.

If you are having musculoskeletal pain or have physical restrictions, a physical therapist can help you get started. Once you’ re capable, a certified personal trainer can help you achieve the next level of fitness.

Once you feel upscale on your own, exercise at basic three to four times a stretch either at a gym or at home. If you get bored with your program, get nervous about some new exercises. This is the fun part.

Go it. Timely some new people. Experience how good it feels to take in subaqueous breaths and measure your body.

Take up MEDICATIONS CAREFULLY

If your BMD is below - 2. 5, and especially if you have fractured, you should talk with your doctor about using a medication. Canvass all considerations; your settlement should be made strictly from the information that pertains to you, and not from the dogma of any one therapeutic specialty. New drugs are constantly being designed, so if your doctor is considering an osteoporosis medication for you, make irrefutable to ask about any new ones that may be available. For archetype, the drug odanacatib is currently in clinical calamity. Odanacatib differs from bisphosphonates in that it can increase BMD not by killing the osteoclasts, but by inhibiting their release of a bone - degrading enzyme.

If you’ re a small - boned uncommon and your BMD is low, your T - score may just be regular for you. Check out some biomarkers first before consenting too quickly to a prescription. If your bone resorption ticket is standard, your vitamin D is standard, you don’ t have gastrointestinal problems or gluten sensitivity, and you’ re not on any bone - exhausting medications and don’ t have any other risk factors, then your low BMD may just be usual for you.

Monitor AND CONSTANTLY TWEAK

That is all there is to it. You’ re on your own ( with the help of your doctor, of course ). For the first space or two, you and your doctor will need to use regular laboratory testing to watchdog your progress. During this time you’ ll be using unlike test results to tweak your nutritional supplementation program or, maybe, originate or alter your use of a medication. Eventually, however, you’ ll settle into a program that suits your needs. You have the tools you need. Go for it!

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Excerpt from THE WHOLE - BODY APPROACH TO OSTEOPOROSIS: How to Improve Bone Strength and Reduce Your Fracture Risk ( New Harbinger Publications )