You swear you're eating enough but just never seem to get full or satisfied. This can be extremely frustrating, especially if you're trying to lose weight. You've tried eating smaller more frequent meals, foods higher in calories, and even tried fasting to see if that would re-set your feeling of hunger. But nothing seems to help!
What's going on?
One of two things could be going: your brain's resistance to a chemical that gets secreted when you've eaten enough or poor absorption of nutrients through the gut and/or into your cells.
Let's first talk about Leptin, the hormone that controls hunger.
When your body is in starvation mode or hasn't had enough calories to function, leptin get's secreted from fat cells to tell the brain that you need to eat, therefore, you get hungry. When you've eaten enough and the body has enough energy stores to function, leptin will go down. But what if you have leptin resistance? Or what if you are overweight and need to lose some fat but are struggling because you're always hungry? Your fat cells secrete leptin and can do this even if the body has had enough fuel. This higher amount of leptin will eventually cause the brain to resist this signal and not respond as well.
What a viscous cycle, eh?!
Not only can you have leptin resistance, but you could also be struggling with insulin resistance. Insulin acts like a key that unlocks the door on every cell in your body to allow glucose to enter. When we eat a lot of processed sugar and carbohydrates, we naturally get insulin spikes but over time, the cells stop responding to insulin; a lot like the brain not responding to leptin. If your body doesn't respond to insulin, then glucose can't enter the cells properly, thus you feel hungry even though you've eaten. You would most likely feel fatigue, too.
So how do you tackle leptin resistance and insulin resistance?
1. Green Coffee Bean Extract for improving insulin resistance and decrease the production of more fat. Decaffeinated green coffee bean extract has shown to turn off genes that increase the production of fat cells and actually help to improve insulin resistance. With the loss of fat, your leptin goes down, thus resting the leptin receptor site in the brain and with improved insulin responses, you have an improved glucose response. There's less glucose in the blood because it's finally entering into the cells properly. Then you will have more energy to get out and move which in turn decreases body fat. It's a win:win. Below is a favorite product of Dr. Lexi's.
PMCID:PMC4003760. PMID 24817902. Evid based Complement Alternat Med. 2014: published online 2014 Apr. 10. doi: 10.1155/2014/718379. Decaffeinated Green Coffee Bean Extract Attenuates Diet-Induced Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Mice. Su Jin Song, Sena Choi, and Taesun Park
2. Identification and Removal of Food Sensitivities
This is an interesting one because the benefits aren't as straight forward. When our immune system attacks the food we eat, it creates an inflammatory response that gets signaled up the brain. This signal then triggers a series of reactions to immediately calm down inflammation by way of the sympathetic nervous system. When our gut is inflamed so it our brain and when the brain is inflamed, this can contribute to other problems down stream, like poor response to leptin. I had a patient who had elevated leptin report that within a few days of removing inflammatory foods, they started to feel full and more satisfied after meals. This food removal calmed an inflammatory response which created a more healthy response to leptin.
3. Chromium Picolinate for insulin resistance.
Chromium has been shown to strengthen the insulin receptor sites on cell walls and is part of a chemical in the body called, Glucose Tolerance Factor. This is a naturally occuring compound that is in control of the healthy metabolism of glucose itself. It contains chromium, nicotinic acid, and amino acids. Taking chromium picolinate in conjunction with having a more whole foods diet and less process sugar, can really help the body respond better to insulin and glucose. Dr. Lexi's favorite product is this:
If you suspect you might have Leptin Resistance or Insulin resistance, please contact Summit Vitality for more information. 704-765-0887 or admin@summitvitality.com
Dr. Lexi