Losing Fat By Correcting Leptin Resistance
Leptin resistance makes losing fat nearly impossible and must be corrected to achieve a healthy weight. Leptin resistance is a condition that affects the way the body processes hormones, particularly the hormone leptin. Leptin is responsible for regulating hunger and metabolism. When someone suffers from leptin resistance, it means their body does not properly respond to leptin signals. The result of this can range from difficulty in losing weight to increased appetite and cravings.1
Leptin resistance makes it incredibly difficult to keep off fat and lose weight, mainly because the hormones responsible for hunger are not properly regulated. This means that even if a person is eating healthy and exercising regularly, their body struggles to process calories efficiently in order to lose fat.2
A person with leptin resistance has more leptin than normal, but the hormone isn’t able to communicate with the cells.3 This leads to an overproduction of hunger signals, causing frequent cravings and overeating. When the brain isn’t receiving messages from leptin, it also doesn’t receive messages about how much energy is available in stored fat cells. As a result, the body craves more food even though there is plenty of energy stored away in fat cells.4
In addition to overeating, people with leptin resistance may experience difficulties losing weight. This is because the body thinks it’s in a state of starvation, so even when calories are cut back and exercise is increased, the body still craves more food. Leptin resistance can also lead to other metabolic issues such as insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels.5
Correcting Leptin Resistance Is The Key To Losing Fat
One way to combat leptin resistance is a diet that increases the body’s sensitivity to leptin. In the end, lasting results require a lifestyle change.
Leptin is produced by the fat cells of the body and this hormone signals the brain to burn this fat for energy.6 Specifically, leptin passes through the BBB and interacts with the hypothalamus. When this system is functional, it signals the body to selectively burn body fat for energy.3 On the contrary, when the hypothalamus isn’t functioning properly, obesity results.7
Leptin resistance is a situation where sufficient quantities of the leptin hormone are available, but they cannot communicate with the cells of the body. Specifically, leptin cellular receptors have been blunted and no matter how much leptin is available, this hormone is unable to communicate with cells. This is why body fat is not available for energy, as the leptin hormone cannot dock at leptin receptors located on the cellular membrane of cells.8
Why Are Leptin Cellular Receptors Blunted?
There are three reasons why leptin cellular receptors are blunted including the consumption of bad fats, the consumption of sugar and grains, and cellular toxins.
Hormone Dysregulation And Leptin Resistance
Hormone dysregulation is at the core of leptin resistance as well as insulin resistance, testosterone resistance, estrogen-related disorders, and thyroid hormone resistance. The key to all of these conditions is to remove what is making these hormones unable to operate properly so they are able to communicate with the cells again and relay their message.
Can I Just Exercise The Fat Away?
Exercise is key to any healthy lifestyle and should be included in any routine aimed at losing fat. Exercising improves leptin resistance,9 but isn’t the end-all solution, as there are other underlying factors responsible for weight gain.
In any case, exercising at a high intensity, known as high-intensity interval training, burns fat and improves health.10
High Fasting Glucose Levels Indicate The Inability To Burn Body Fat
Many people, especially diabetics, have high fasting glucose levels because they are unable to burn body fat for energy. The reason why glucose levels are high even after waking up in a fasted state is that muscle tissue has been broken down into glucose to feed the body.11 This results in the skinny-fat body type, as muscles are broken down for energy, while body fat is spared due to leptin resistance. The solution is to correct leptin resistance and enable the body to burn body fat for energy again.
Dietary Fat Doesn’t Result In Body Fat
We have been taught that eating fat results in body fat gain, but this is a complete fallacy. The reason why people are unable to lose fat is that they are unable to burn their own body fat for energy. All cells of the body either require glucose or fat for energy production.12 Individuals with leptin resistance are only able to utilize glucose for energy production and cannot burn their own body fat for energy production.
In other words, the inability to burn body fat makes losing fat impossible.
Eating Healthy Fat Reverses Leptin Resistance
The key to reversing leptin resistance is to consume healthy fat. However, what constitutes healthy fat is different from what you probably expect based on what we have been taught. Even mainstream science has finally concurred that saturated fats aren’t as harmful as they were initially made out to be.13 I take it a step further to say that saturated fat and cholesterol found in foods like grass-fed meat are in fact healthy fats. Additionally, monounsaturated fats, found in foods like olive oil, are also healthy fats.
What Are The Bad Fats That Are Causing Leptin Resistance?
As indicated before, saturated fat and cholesterol consumption are required for proper hormone function. Contrarily, bad fats like polyunsaturated fats, which are contained in seed oils, result in leptin resistance. On their own, polyunsaturated fatty acids aren’t harmful and are even necessary when consumed in limited quantities, but when they are contained in processed seed-based oils, they quickly denature.14 Denatured polyunsaturated fatty acids found in corn, canola, cottonseed, soy, safflower, and sunflower oil contribute to inflammation, as well as heart disease, and atherosclerosis.15 16 17 18
Read more about how harmful inflammation is and the wide range of diseases it causes.
Unfortunately, the general public believes that these seed-based oils, commonly called vegetable oils, are healthy for them. Seed-based oils became a popular alternative to lard and other animal-based saturated fats mainly due to corporate propaganda, as a way to sell their vegetable oil to the public. Unfortunately, consumption of these seed-based oils causes chronic inflammation.15
Low-grade chronic inflammation has been linked with insulin resistance, and obesity.19
How Are Sugar And Grains Causing Leptin Resistance?
The excess consumption of sugar is another factor that causes leptin resistance.20 Sugar consumption is also linked to metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and many other chronic conditions.21
Read more about how bad sugar is for our health.
The consumption of whole grains like wheat is problematic, as gluten leads to leptin resistance because gluten doesn’t allow leptin to bind with its receptor.22
What Role Do Toxins Play In Causing Leptin Resistance?
Cellular toxins like heavy metals, industrial chemicals, and synthetic chemicals that are contained in nearly all the products we use and consume are directly linked with leptin resistance, as they cause chronic inflammation which interferes with leptin cellular receptors.23 24
The key to overcoming leptin resistance is to remove these toxins from the body. The issue is that we are exposed to so many of these toxins on a daily basis. We must identify which products contain these chemicals and avoid them.
Additionally, toxins like heavy metals are difficult to remove from the body once they have become lodged within cells. However, there are heavy metal detox protocols that can remove these heavy metals from the body. Removing these heavy metals is required to ever achieve ideal health.
Read more about removing heavy metal toxins from the body.
Leptin Resistance And Excessive Zinc Intake
Excessive zinc intake can lead to leptin resistance. When a person consumes too much zinc, it can interfere with leptin signaling in the brain, resulting in reduced sensitivity to the hormone. This can cause an individual to be unable to properly process leptin signals, resulting in an increase in hunger and a decrease in satiety. In addition, zinc has also been linked to increases in abdominal fat, which is associated with obesity and other health problems. Therefore, it is important for individuals to be mindful of their zinc intake by avoiding excessive consumption of zinc supplements.25
Leptin Resistance And Epigenetics
Epigenetics play a vital role in the development of leptin resistance. Epigenetics is the term used to describe the changes in gene expression that are not caused by genetic mutations. Epigenetic modifications to DNA, such as DNA methylation, affect how genes are expressed and alter the body’s response to certain hormones.
Epigenetic changes have been observed in individuals with leptin resistance and may play an important role in the development of this condition. Studies have shown that epigenetic alterations in the leptin gene may influence how well the body responds to leptin. Furthermore, some research suggests that this same epigenetic mechanism is responsible for changes in appetite regulation and metabolic health in individuals with leptin resistance.26
Read more about how our lifestyle influences epigenetic expression.
Losing Fat For Good – The Cellular Healing Diet And Leptin Resistance
Since a healthy diet is the best way to correct leptin resistance, consider consuming my Cellular Healing Diet which is high in healthy fats, moderate in necessary proteins, and low in overall carbohydrates. Initially, cutting out sugar, grains, and seed-based vegetable oils will result in a world of difference, as these inflammation-promoting foods are eliminated from the diet.
The goal of the Cellular Healing Diet is to provide the cellular membranes with saturated fats and cholesterol so they have the building blocks necessary to repair the phospholipid bilayer that forms the cellular boundary. This allows the receptors on the cellular membrane to reestablish themselves and become sensitive to hormones again.
If you fix the cell, you will get well.
Read more about my Cellular Healing Diet.
Losing Fat By Reversing Leptin Resistance
Overall, leptin resistance can make losing fat extremely difficult. However, with the right guidance and lifestyle changes, you can reverse leptin resistance and start to burn body fat for energy again.
Read more about hormones and weight loss.
References
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