The Leptin Diet- The New "IT" Diet

The concept behind the Leptin Diet is to have influence on how your body reacts to what you put in your mouth. The powerful hormone leptin is produced in fat cells and has control over absolutely all hormones in the body. The health and well being of this hormone is essential for the proper functioning of ones core. Leptin guides our responses to starvation, and therefore a weak leptin hormone would not tell the body when it has had enough to eat and would then lead us to overeat. The role this plays in regulating appetite and fat metabolism may be a key in managing weight.

Key signs of a leptin problem include: irrepressible sugar and food cravings, weight gain around the middle, late night and stress eating, inability to reach a goal weight, consistent fluctuation in weight due to dieting, and low thyroid symptoms. Left unhandled these problems cause obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Byron Richards addresses leptin imbalances in his book Mastering Leptin, whose basic guidelines are as follows:

1. Eat three meals per day. In stark contrast to those programs that advocate eating 5-6 times a day, the leptin diet calls for a gap of 5 hours between eating. During the first 3 hours after a meal, the hormone insulin will be storing the energy from food - and our bodies are not fat-burning mode.

2. Reduce the amount and glycemic index of carbohydrates consumed. This is not implying cutting out all carbohydrates, but reducing carbs that more starchy and harmful to your diet. In order to monitor whether too many carbs were eaten, on any given day, weigh yourself in the morning and at bedtime. If bedtime weight is more than 3 pounds over morning weight then too many carbs were consumed throughout that day.

3. Smaller portioned meals. Large meal portion size and binging leads to leptin and insulin resistance.

4. Enjoy a high-protein breakfast. This stabilizes a proper blood sugar level all through the day. When you eat a breakfast high in carbohydrates and little protein you will then suffer from energy crashes in the late afternoon. A high carbohydrate breakfast, combined with leptin resistance can result in overeating.

5. No late night snacks. Never eat after dinner or go to bed on a full stomach. You want to leave a span of twelve hours between dinner and breakfast to allow your body optimal fat burning.

The key to this diet is learning how to eat in harmony with your body and its triggers. You may have heard that you must listen to your body’s queues. The Leptin Diet shows you how to implement weight loss and a healthier lifestyle by control negative behaviors. In many respects leptin research is still in early development, however you may be interested to read more on leptin imbalances through the Rosedale diet , which uses similar concepts to Richard’s Mastering Leptin.

For more info on diets, please visit Dieting Library.