Is Your Fuel Gauge Faulty?

This month I want to start to look at Hormones and their effect on overall health and performance.

Hormones are chemical messengers that carry messages through the bloodstream from and to organs and cells in the body. They make sure that all parts of the body can communicate in a coordinated way, from the speed of your metabolism to the digestion of food or where to store nutrients. Everything is controlled by hormones.

Hormones can only be manufactured from what you ingest in the body, whether it is good or bad. Your body can only work with what you put in, so if that food is junk, guess how you will perform and feel?

You have to get this right and more and more people expect the performance of a Ferrari after putting diesel in the engine, it just ain’t gonna happen. The right fuel going in allows your body to perform as it should. Nutrient dense meals along with supplementation allows the body to function optimally, which is exactly what you need to not only perform at your best, but feel great too. Far too many people accept how bad they look and feel, putting it down to old age, when in fact giving the body the right tools to do it’s job makes a MASSIVE difference!

Let’s begin with what is considered to be the main hormone the body uses and that is Leptin.

Leptin is a master control hormone and is one of the most important hormones in the body.

Why?

Because it acts like a fuel gauge for the body.

Leptin is a hormone in fat cells that communicates with the brain to determine energy expenditure and it is also directly involved in our survival. Dramatic though that may sound, it has direct control on how our energy is used and how much energy we have available and how it is used.

When functioning adequately, leptin lets us know when we have enough fuel so we can stop eating before nutrient spill over occurs.  When you eat too much, your cells, muscles, and liver are nourished and then whatever is left over is stored as body fat. Leptin tells insulin (an anabolic storage hormone) when we have enough energy.

Leptin Sensitivity

Leptin sensitivity means that only a small amount of leptin is needed to work efficiently with the brain receptors. When leptin sensitivity is high your metabolic rate is set high and you have an abundance of energy for fat loss, building muscle, sports performance and producing sex hormones such as testosterone and DHEA in men and progesterone and estrogen in women.

Leptin Resistance

The problem most people have when they have put on too much weight through poor diet choices is that you start having what you call leptin resistance. When leptin resistance occurs, the receptors in the brain do not get the signals from leptin adequately, in essence the brain thinks that there is not adequate energy in the body, so it slows everything down to help protect the vital organs, leptin tells the thyroid to slow down and go into conservation mode. A sluggish thyroid is often a sign of leptin resistance.

People who are overweight have very high levels of leptin from high calorie diets but the brain does not get the signal adequately, so thinking that there is actually a shortage of stored energy it keeps the metabolic rate set very low. Therefore, you are eating a lot, you feel that you are hungry all the time as your brain is signalling to you to eat more as it is not getting the leptin signals to shut it off. Couple that with the low metabolic rate, makes you a professional fat storing machine.

The other problem with this is that high levels of leptin produces a lot of inflammation which increases the stress hormone cortisol. High levels of leptin also increase somatostatin which lowers growth hormone levels. Growth hormone is a potent fat burning hormone and is also important for longevity, workout recovery, restoration, and healthy skin.

Going on a low calorie diet is also problematic. Leptin tells the brain that not much fuel is coming in and metabolic rate is slowed down. Subsequently so is energy for fat burning, sex hormone production. You are no longer in a thriving state.

Action Plan to get rid of Leptin Resistance

1. Get more sleep. Lack of sleep, leads to lack of leptin as well as the disruption of insulin metabolism.
2. Cut out all junk food such as foods with high levels of fructose. Fructose increases levels of triglycerides (fats) and elevated triglyceride levels prevent the transport of leptin across the blood brain barrier. A common source of high fructose is high fructose corn syrup used in fizzy drinks.
3. Billed as an alternative to sugar, agave syrup is often recommended due to its low glycemic index. The problem is agave syrup can be up to 90% fructose and this will drive triglycerides up and cause leptin and insulin resistance.
4. Focus on the highest quality organic food you can afford. If you eat meat it must be organic and from healthy animals. Factory farm meats can be loaded with toxins and stress hormones due to poor diet and poor living conditions. There is never any consideration regarding the welfare of the animals and the direct correlation to how stressed they are and the poor meat that results from this. It is ridiculous to think that you can be healthy eating meat from unhealthy animals.
5. Make sure you are drinking at least 2-3 litres of bottles clean water per day. This will aid the release of toxins stored in your fat cells. Your body will not release these toxins if there is no outlet for them.
6. Get a balance of protein fat and low glycemic carbohydrates at each meal. Essential fatty acids are important to energize the cells, balance inflammation, and brain health. Glucose is necessary to fuel the brain and protein is necessary for rebuilding.
7. Make sure breakfast is a high protein meal as protein increases your metabolism much more so than carbs or fat. It is a myth that you need carbs from cereals and toast for breakfast, most of it is processed garbage and as a result sets you for a day on sweet cravings and hunger. Try getting some organic or free range eggs with some greens such as spinach. Or try some wild caught fish such as salmon. Who said it had to be processed food in a bowl of milk? Try out a smoothie or a power shake. For example you could create a shake with 40-50 grams of protein, low glycaemic fruits such as acai, blueberries, essential fats from chia seeds, flaxseeds, hempseeds, and add some coconut milk or coconut oil, which is loaded with MCFA (medium chain fatty acids burned very well for energy).
8. Take longer stretches in between meals for fat loss (no less than four, and six is better). An alternative is to eat more frequently on days you train or cheat days and less frequently a few times per week.
9. For building muscle, focus on protein and fat during the day and eat more carbs after training and with dinner. Have a protein-fat meal every three hours during the day and post workout.
10. Look carefully at sources of emotional and physical stress in your life. The best nutrition and training plan in the universe will do little if you are still wired up and unable to balance your life due to stress. Sometimes intense exercise is the worst thing you can do as it compounds the total stress put on your body. Try a yoga class and reduce the amount of hard exercise you are doing for a few weeks.

11. Take your time chewing food as the slower you eat the more satisfied you will be with less. Digestion starts in the mouth and alerts the brain as to what foods are coming so it can prepare the stomach accordingly. Eating fast requires you to eat more as you are getting less energy from fast eating as digestion will be poor.
12. Gastro Intestinal tract health is important. If you have been eating sub optimally (especially consuming a lot of wheat and gluten, consider adding Glutamine (5 grams per day on empty stomach), probiotics (15-50 billion species before bedtime) and digestive enzymes (1-2 caps with meals) to help repair and heal the gut wall. If you are unsure whether gluten is an issue, then look into food sensitivity testing.

13. Look at including intense exercise into your regime such as sprinting or high intensity interval training, which increases growth hormone and leptin sensitivity.
14. Supplements that help include:

• Magnesium 400-800mg per day depending on bodyweight. I use magnesium oil as the transdermal delivery is more efficient. Also increases DHEA levels, which is critical for stress management.
• Take Fish oil. Omega 3 Fatty acids help reduce inflammation and boost your fat burning potential.
• R lipoic acid: Increases glucose metabolism and glutathione levels. 100-200mg with meals three times per day.
• Acetyl carnitine: helps leptin make it to the brain. 1 gram two times per day on an empty stomach. Morning and pre-workout.
• Digestive enzymes: Helps you absorb more nutrition from the food you are eating. 1-2 caps with meals.
• B vitamins: critical for energy production, protein synthesis, and stress management. Stress depletes B-vitamin levels. 1 tablet with three meals per day.
• CoQ10: 100-200mg per day. Important for heart health, cellular energy.
• Look at taking a greens drink, such as lean greens (www.lean-greens.co.uk), which as well as containing a potent blend of vitamins and minerals also includes green tea extract to increase fat burning

If you implements the steps above you will see progress. Combined with an appropriate exercise program you will see results accelerate faster than you might think it possible! Forget phasing these in if you want quick and lasting results. If you have stubborn body fat it is because your internal machinery and hormones are in a mess.
Mastering leptin is key to reducing your overall size and increasing your sports performance. As your body becomes more efficient at controlling its fuel, you will reap the benefits, by becoming fitter and leaner, which can only help how you perform when you train and compete.

To your strength and Health

Dean Coulson