A few days ago, someone was asking me about the Leptin Diet and what do I think about it!
So let’s talk about that here! 😀
First of all, Leptin is a hormone that assists in regulating both appetite and metabolism. It was discovered in 1994.
I have talked in one of my previous posts about 2 hormones Leptin and Grehlin and their effect on our appetite.
http://www.eatlikemira.com/2010/01/12/less-sleep-more-weight/
Leptin diet is actually a diet plan that produces Leptin, a body fat hormone our bodies produces. Leptin communicates directly to your brain, telling the brain how much fat is in storage. Leptin controls appetite, energy, and metabolic rate. When present in high levels, it signals to our brain that we’re full and then we stop eating. When low, we feel hungry and crave food. People with Leptin disorders eat uncontrollably.
The whole concept of this diet is get the hormone Leptin into balance for permanent weight loss and increased energy!
The Leptin diet focuses on when to eat rather on what to eat! It offers 5 basic rules to follow!
Rule 1: Never eat after dinner
Rule 2: Eat 3 meals a day
Rule 3: Do not eat large meals
Rule 4: Eat a breakfast containing protein
Rule 5 Reduce the amount of carbs eaten
Rule 1 says that Leptin levels are highest in the evening hours, so it is the best time that allows it to make our thyroid hormones, sex hormones and growth hormones to function properly. Burning fat is also at the maximum rate at this time! This will only happen if you allow it by not eating after dinner. It is best to keep 11 to 12 hours between dinner and breakfast for this to happen
Rule 2 says that snacking turns out to be one of the worst things you can do! It doesn’t matter how many calories you snack on, so even if you snack on low calorie snacks when you cause Leptin to malfunction. So the best thing to do is to eat every 5 hours
Rule 3: If you are overweight, always try to finish a meal when you are not full! Plus eating slowly is important. This will release Leptin which gives signals to the brain, and slowly slowly you will feel that your full at your next coming meals
Rule 4: Your metabolism can increase by 30% when eating a high-protein breakfast compared to a high-carbohydrate breakfast such as juice, cereal, croissants, waffles, pancakes, or bagels that don’t enhance metabolic rate more than 4%
Rule 5: This rule says that if we eat excess carbohydrates, our body will convert it into stored fat. So no more than half of our plate should be from carbs, the rest should be from protein, grains and vegetables. When eating carbs, we need to focus on fiber like whole grains and fruits
Physical workout is actually a key part for following the Leptin diet
As Leptin was only discovered in 1994, the research to support it is still in its youth. Personally I don’t support it except for rule 3 which focuses on avoid large meals plus rule 4 which is I find true to increase body metabolism and burn more body fat
Last but not least, eating healthy and varied meals, following an active lifestyle is the best approach for healthy living and healthy weight! 🙂
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