It is proven by few studies that hormones do have an influence on your appetite and fat store. Here are 9 beneficial ways for fixing the hormones which are in control of your weight.
- Insulin – Throughout the day, insulin is secreted in small amounts and in larger amounts after meals. It is hormone which is produced by beta cells in pancreas. It allows your cells to receive blood sugar for energy no matter what amount is needed for certain time. Also it represents the main fat storage hormone which tells fat cells to store fat and prevents stored fat to break down.
Insulin resistant is very common case in which blood sugar and insulin levels are significantly increased.
Elevated insulin or hyperinsulinemia causes many problems with health among them, obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Overeating – or overeating sugar, refined carbohydrates or fast food causes insulin resistance and increases its levels.
Advices for normalizing and for improving insulin levels:
- Minimize or avoid sugar because large amounts of fructose and sucrose are responsible for insulin resistance and raise insulin’s levels.
- Reduce carbohydrates – start diet which is low in carbs and which can help you to immediately low your insulin levels.
- Fill up on proteins – they raise insulin but in short terms. But, it will lead to long-term reduction in insulin resistance.
- Increase healthy fats intake – high insulin levels can be reduced by consuming omega 3 fats which can be found in fish.
- Exercise – In one study was found that overweight women who walked or jogged after 14 weeks had improvement in their insulin sensitivity. So, exercise regularly.
- Magnesium – Magnesium can improve insulin sensitivity and often people which are magnesium deficient are insulin resistant people. Take magnesium supplements.
- Green tea – it can lower your blood sugar and insulin levels so consume it often.
- Leptin –It is produced by fat cells and it is considered as a satiety hormone which reduces appetite and often makes you feel full. Its main role is communication with hypothalamus – portion of brain which regulates appetite and food intake. In other words, Leptin gives the brain information that there is enough fat in storage and there is no need for overeating.
High levels of Leptin are present in people who are obese. Also, according to one study obese people have 4 times higher level of Leptin.
Usually if Leptin reduces appetite as we say, obese people on the other hand which have high levels of it should start eating less and lose weight but, in case of obesity Leptin does not work as it should. This is referred to resistance of Leptin.
When its existence is impaired, the message which should get to brain for stop the eating does not get through and you have no idea that you have enough energy stored. So, your brain thinks that it is starving and you want to eat.
Also, Leptin’s levels can be reduced when you lose weight and this is one of the main reasons why is hard to maintain weight loss in long-term. Again brain thinks that you are starving and tells you to eat more. Both potential causes of Leptin resistance are chronically elevated insulin levels and inflammation in the hypothalamus.
Here are few advices for improvement of your Leptin sensitivity:
- Avoid inflammatory foods which cause inflammation, sugar drinks and trans fats.
- Eat more anti- inflammatory foods as fatty fish.
- Leptin sensitivity can be improved by exercising so, exercise more.
- Insufficient sleep usually leads to problems with Leptin levels and increased appetite so make sure that you get enough sleep.
- According to one study, women who took alpha- lipoic acid and fish oil and who were on a weight loss diet lost more weight and had smaller decrease of Leptin.
- Ghrelin – or also known as hunger hormone is released when your stomach is empty and sends one simple message to the hypothalamus – it tells you to eat. Before eating normally its levels are highest and lowest about an hour after your meal.
But in people who are obese, ghrelin levels are often lower than people of normal weight.
According to studies, in obese people, after meal, ghrelin is only decreased slightly and due to this hypothalamus does not receive signal to stop eating and usually this leads to overeating.
Here are few advices for this problem:
- As first of course, avoid sugar and high- fructose corn syrups and sweetened drinks which impair ghrelin response after meals.
- Ghrelin levels can be reduced by consumption of proteins in every meal so consume plenty of proteins in each meal.
- Cortisol – also known as stress hormone due to its release when your body is feeling stress, Cortisol is hormone which is produced by the adrenal glands.
Chronically elevated levels of cortisol can lead to overeating and gain of weight and like other hormones it’s vital to survival.
Women who have excess weight respond to stress with larger increase in cortisol. But, in some cases diet can also raise cortisol. According to one study, women who consumed low in calories diet had higher cortisol levels and were more stressed than women who practiced normal diet.
In case you want to reduce your cortisol levels you must:
- Follow a balanced diet and do not cut calories to extreme low levels.
- You can start practicing meditation and reduce cortisol production.
- According to few researches, listening to music helps a lot and during medical procedures cortisol is not raising.
- Estrogen – important female hormone which is produced by the ovaries and regulates the female reproductive system. It depends of age, overall state of health and action of other hormones but both high and low levels of estrogen lead to weight gain.
Estrogen starts to promote fat storage at puberty to maintain fertility during the reproductive years and additionally it may stimulate fat gain in the first half of pregnancy.
Due to environmental influences as some researchers believe, obese women have higher estrogen levels than women who are normal weighted.
Estrogen levels drop during menopause because it is less produced in the ovaries and due to it the site for fat storage is shifted from hips and tights to abdomen. This increases the disease risk and promotes insulin resistance.
Estrogen can be managed if:
- You eat plenty of fiber. Estrogen levels can be reduced by fiber.
- If you eat cruciferous vegetables which have beneficial effects on estrogen.
- If you consume flax seeds which appear to be beneficial in most women.
- Physical activity normalizes estrogen levels to premenopausal and postmenopausal women.
- Neuropeptide Y (NPY) –it is hormone which is produced in the brain and nervous system, stimulates appetite, especially carbohydrates and it is highest shape during periods of fasting or food deprivation. Usually during times of stress its levels are increased and can lead to overeating.
Advices:
– You should eat more proteins than usual because by eating little amount of proteins you will increase its levels which lead to hunger and cause weight gain.
- Very long fasts such those over 24 hours, can increase NPY levels according to animal studies. So, do not fast for too long.
- If you start consuming plenty of soluble prebiotic fiber it will feed the good bacteria in the gut and will reduce NPY levels.
- Glucagon– Like Peptide- 1 (GLP-1) – this hormone is produced when nutrients enter in the intestines in your gut. It keeps the blood sugar levels stable and makes you feel full.
According to researchers the decrease in appetite that is happening after weight loss surgery is due to increased production of this hormone. Also in one study men to who GLP- 1 solution were given with breakfast said that were feeling more satisfied and ate 12% fewer calories during lunch.
How to increase GLP- 1:
- Consume a lot of proteins and food rich in protein like fish or yogurt which increase the GLP-1 levels and improve insulin sensitivity.
- Because chronic inflammation is connected to reduce GLP- 1 production you should consume anti- inflammatory foods.
- Consume green leafy vegetables because according to one study women which consumed vegetables like spinach and kale increased their GLP-1 level and lost more weight.
- Receive probiotic supplement because according to one animal study, this supplement increased GLP-1 levels which led to reduction of food intake.
- Cholecystokinin (CCK) – another hormone which is produced in the gut by cells. Higher amounts of it reduce food intake in lean and obese people.
How to increase CCK:
- Consume more proteins at every meal.
- Eat healthy fat because the bad fat triggers the release of CCK.
- Consume meals which are high in fiber because low in fiber meals lower the CCK levels according to one study.
- Peptide YY (PYY) – another gut hormone which controls appetite and which is released by cells in the intestines and colon.
It plays important role in reducing the food intake and is decreasing the risk of obesity.
How to increase PYY:
- Consume low in carbohydrates diet on unprocessed foods if you want to keep your blood sugar levels stable. You should know that increased blood sugar impairs PYY’s effects.
- Eat large amounts of proteins no matter from where they come, animal or plant.
- Eat plenty of fiber.
You should know that hormones usually work together and increase or decrease the appetite along with fat storage. In case your system is not working properly you will start to struggle with weight issues on ongoing basis but do not panic, diet and sometimes drastic changes in lifestyle have good effects on these hormones.