Leptin and the food we eat.

We talked about the importance of water in the last post. And making certain to drink plenty. It is critical to maintaining overall good health, as well as instrumental in successful weight loss. A general rule of thumb for how much to drink daily is to divide your body weight by 2, and drink that number in ounces. For instance, someone weighing 200 pounds should drink about 100 fluid ounces of pure (filtered) water daily, more if active.

So if weight loss is a goal, and you’re serious about losing some, then water is a must. Besides, it has no calories, and our bodies thrive on it. (It’s everywhere in us!) Let us now talk about the food we eat, and how it affects the leptin signals.

Remember leptin is the hormone in our bloodstream that our brains detect to turn on and off the fat storing response. Less leptin tells the brain to store fat from the food we eat, for future energy use. We’re in starvation mode. When the cells are “full”, more leptin is released, and our brains shut down the fat storing response. Instead, the stored fat is now used for energy. That’s how our bodies work, and leptin is a major player. All this happens without us ever having to think about it.

Enter the 20th century, and our diets and lifestyles have messed up the way leptin works in our bodies. We’ve gorged and snacked ourselves to weight gain and disease. There’s a balance, and a timetable for the leptin to work properly. How and when we eat can alter the messages sent to our brains. Something called leptin resistance happens, and the fat storing mechanism never gets turned off. Although there’s plenty of leptin “messengers” trying to signal the brain, and message isn’t getting through. And our subconscious mind thinks we’re still in starvation mode. (You can’t “wish” it differently; willpower has nothing over our subconscious.)

There are eating habits that help improve the leptin message, and hence will aid in weight loss, naturally and without stimulants. I’m fascinated with a book on the subject called “Mastering Leptin” by Byron J. Richards, with Mary Guignon Richards. What follows are their recommendations, based on 20 years experience helping thousands of people regain their health. We won’t go into the science of why this is; the Richards do that very well in their book. But the body never lies, and these steps are proven to help. They may seem difficult at first, but you need to remind yourself who else is going to take care of your health? You’ll like the book’s subtitle- “The Key to Energetic Vitality, Youthful Hormonal Balance, Optimum Body Weight, and Disease Prevention!” It’s really good stuff )

Leptin and weight loss continued

As reported in our previous post, leptin is the master hormone that signals to the brain how much fat is in storage. The body stores fat for fuel, and as the fat cells fill up, they send more and more leptin into the bloodstream. The brain then adjusts our metabolism accordingly. Higher leptin levels, faster metabolism, burn more fat. 

As we age, something called leptin resistance begins to occur. (Sadly, it happens a lot to Americans, and at younger and younger ages.) Our brain begins to misread leptin levels. The hypothalamus gland in the brain senses lower leptin levels than there actually are and switches into starvation mode. Lower leptin levels, slower metabolic rate, gain more fat. A patented new product called Slender Fx(tm) is helping the body to better recognize leptin levels. More on this later .

Successful weight loss requires us helping our bodies return to their natural good health. SureRemedy.com offers the following ideas to help us all get a little healthier. Beware of overdoing any new lifestyle and/or exercise change. And please consult your health professional if even light exercise might be stressful to your body.

Be gradual about any lifestyle changes; be intentionally slow. Our poor health didn’t happen overnight. And positive change will happen, but not overnight either. Concentrate on perhaps just one idea below, and slowly work it into your day. Don’t be surprised how these simple changes in our days make a big difference in how we feel, and look!

Be aware that you may be like some people who see results in their first week of making a tiny effort, or like most that don’t see results for weeks…but that every tiny effort you make, will add up to big results. Remember to think positive in what you do, that you have the power to make it a great day, and enjoy the journey!

Here’s some ideas-

Drink more water! Probably the simplest step toward good health (and smart weight loss) is to drink more water. Not only are 65% of Americans considered overweight, but the majority of Americans are also clinically dehydrated. (Click here to learn why water is so important to our good health.)

A general rule of thumb to use for daily amounts of water to drink is to take your body weight, and divide it by 2. The answer is a general idea of number of fluid ounces of water you should be consuming. (i.e.- someone weighing 210 pounds would use 105 fluid ounces of water as a daily target- example: 210 divide by 2 equals 105.)

We do get some water from the food we eat, especially from fresh fruits and vegetables. But don’t make the mistake of including coffee, tea, or sodas in your daily water intake. The caffeine acts as a diuretic, and actually increases your body’s need for more fresh water. And we recommend drinking pure (filtered) water. Most tap water in America is being filtered through old municipal equipment. With fluoride and chlorine added for “safety”, America’s tap water supply is increasingly dangerous to drink. Any effort you make to drink filtered water… your body will thank you!

We’ll continue our weight loss tips in the next posting, so for now remember to drink more filtered water every day! (And not from coffee, tea, soft drinks, or fruit drinks.)  Start your day with a cup or more of pure water before you ingest anything else after waking up. This will give your body the fluids it lost during sleep, and help to hydrate your cells. And although it may seem bothersome to relieve yourself more often during the day, with time the bladder gets stronger, and trips to the bathroom become less frequent. But the beautiful part is you’re helping your body flush out toxins that are a byproduct of losing weight. (And your skin will become softer as a result ;o). ‘Til next time-

Good health to you and yours!