Leptin : One of the 3 stress hormones
In a recent article I wrote about Leptin, Ghrelin, and cortisol the 3 hormones that cause weight gain.
The one in control of the hunger brakes.
Lets recap, the more fat you have the more leptin you have. The fat cells in our body produces it in proportion to the amount of fat we have.
Once this hormone hits your hypothalamus and tells it when it’s time for you to stop eating.
From there it then increases your metabolic rate in order to achieve energy balance known as homeostasis.
The consequences of crash diets
Caloric deprivation equals a plateau
The a short term and purposeful cutting of calories is not a bad thing, but in the long term, leptin levels lowered and slows down the metabolism, to hold on to fat when too much is lost rapidly.
Resistance
When we overeat or ignore the stop eating signal sent to the brains cause leptin resistance.
This means that the body loses its ability to tell if its full or not. Its also predictive to an issue with insulin resistance as well.
Insulin resistance will eventually lead to Type TWO diabetes and obesity.
Eating high amounts of fructose, exposure to toxins or stressors can lead to Resistance and exacerbate weight gain.
The role of the Thyroid
Your thyroid secretes hormones that act throughout the body, influencing metabolism, growth and development. The amount of leptin available to your brain has a major influence on how many thyroid hormones are released into the body.
Leptin Controls how your body expends its energy, based on our available food supply.
When your body can’t use it efficiently, it goes into a fake starvation mode known as leptin resistance.
Leptin Resistance messes with your thyroid function.
Leptin tells the TRH (thyroid releasing hormone) in your hypothalamus to set the thyroid hormones on low energy, otherwise the body may perish from starvation.
In turn, the hypothalamus impacts how much TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) your pituitary gland will produce.
Subsequently, your brain unwittingly depresses your metabolism so that you can survive a faulty famine, making weight loss nearly impossible and even promoting weight gain.
Plus, you’ll be tired all the time because when your thyroid is low, you make less energy in your cells. You feel like a flashlight with only half a battery left.
Researchers also believe that small elevations in TSH may indicate a leptin and insulin problem connected to weight gain, rather than a thyroid problem.
Another study shows that type of weight gain can inflame the thyroid and invite the production of thyroid antibodies, which aggravate the gland.
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