For health, diet, and fitness information delivered to your inbox, hit the subscribe button.
Leptin is the hormone in our bodies responsible for inducing satiety. This satiety hormone plays a significant role in weight regulation, appetite suppression, and metabolic health.
The Leptin Response System
The moment you begin eating food, leptin is activated.
The signaling pathway of leptin begins with the fat cells releasing leptin into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, leptin will travel across the blood-brain barrier and enter the hypothalamus. As soon as leptin reaches the hypothalamus, the brain will transmit a satiety signal to the body. This is what causes us to become full and feel satisfied with our food.
Leptin Resistance
So, that is how leptin should function in our bodies.
However, a dysregulated leptin feedback loop leads to overeating, weight gain, and developing leptin resistance. Elevated body fat stores trigger the fat cells to release leptin into the bloodstream continuously. Consequently, the leptin faucet is turned on, and the bloodstream is unable to manage. As this continues, the hypothalamus becomes saturated with leptin and begins ignoring the signal, which leads to leptin resistance.
Once the body reaches this point, leptin is no longer functioning as intended. Becoming leptin resistant means that your body is unable to reach a level of satiety or fullness.
Four tips on how to get Leptin Resistance under control
Immediately cut out sugary foods, drinks, and all processed foods. High sugar foods and liquids hit your fat cells almost instantaneously and are a surefire way to cause leptin resistance.
Eliminate the use of seed oils. These oils contain high amounts of linoleic acid and signal your fat cells to grow, therefore, causing leptin to become elevated. When cooking, replace your seed oils with grass-fed butter, grass-fed ghee, beef tallow, or lard from pasture-raised pigs, not corn or soy-fed.
Eat foods that are high in protein and fat. Due to the nature of high fat, high protein foods, you are more likely to become full from your meals.
Begin a Time-Restricted eating pattern or an Intermittent Fasting (IF) protocol. These fasting windows can easily be done every day and are a great way to begin controlling your leptin levels. I recommend a minimum of 12 hours, but see if you can push it longer to unlock more fasting benefits.
If you have questions or tried this approach in the past and got stuck along the way, let me know. I’m here to help!
Take care of yourself and each other,
- Zach Winfield
If you learned something new or insightful, please share this with someone you think might also enjoy