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Check out this article and educate yourself on how digestive problems could be preventing your fat loss goals. |
LEPTIN AND GHRELIN PART 2
Scientific research has now indicated that damage to your digestive tract is high on the list of possible reasons that you may not be losing body fat. This applies to almost everyone who holds high levels of body fat but is not able to lose fat easily by following a fat loss diet.
Cravings for sugar, carbohydrates and high calorie foods is a great indication that you could be suffering from digestive issues and related toxicity that is interfering with your metabolism.
This information can be quite hard to understand so I will try and make it as simple as possible for you.
As I mentioned in Part 1, Ghrelin is the hunger hormone secreted primarily in the stomach when empty, it travels to the brain and tells us we are hungry. People who carry high levels of body fat have malfunctioning ghrelin due to the cycle of eating high calorie foods and sugar therefore producing more ghrelin that in turn makes you crave those foods again.
Ghrelin also plays a part in the reduction of inflammation especially in your digestive tract that is full of receptors for ghrelin. It also protects your body from higher levels of the bacterial toxin known as lipopolysaccharide or LPS. Almost all people with high levels of body fat have high levels of LPS in their blood, this is because a bacterial imbalance damages and inflames the lining of our digestive tract and causes us to have food cravings. Ghrelin helps to rid your body of the toxic bacteria LPS meanwhile LPS tries to rid your body of ghrelin to ensure the survival of higher levels of bacteria, therefore our body will produce higher levels of insulin to help combat toxic levels of LPS which may result in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. To make matters worse elevated LPS blocks Leptin from entering our brain creating Leptin resistance (refer to Part 1).
The right amount of Ghrelin is needed for the following:
Normal appetite signal
Combats inflammation in our body
Activation of some Growth Hormone
Regulates sleep and ensures correct timed release of other hormones during sleep.
Regulates mood
Reduces inflammation in the cardiovascular system
After reading this article you now realise it is of high importance to maintain a healthy level of body fat at all times, resulting in correct levels of leptin and ghrelin release and eradication of high levels of toxic LPS. You must be consistent in your diet and reduce fluctuations in body fat. If you are carrying too much body fat it is imperative you seek professional assistance to create a strategy to bring food cravings under control and reduce any digestive symptoms you may have. A qualified nutritionist can guide you through this step by step. Some things that you will be advised to do are, increase fibre levels, include the right amount of DHA and take a great pro and pre biotic to increase the good bacteria in your stomach, add certain herbs and spices and exclude artificial sweeteners from your diet.