The leptin diet is recommended for a weight loss diet. Combining a leptin diet with exercise and lifestyle change helps to burn access fats and promote muscle mass. You will lose around 10 pounds of fat and get a skinny appearance.
What Is Leptin?
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Leptin is a hormone produced from fat cells, transmit signals to the brain to continue eating when you have fewer foods to burn and to stop eating when you are full. However, sometimes an anomaly results in underproduction or overproduction of leptin. It causes overheating and leads to weight gain. The leptin diet does not require to consume less or follow the crash diet. Instead, when and what you eat is important for weight loss.
The leptin diet was introduced in 1994 by Byron J.Richards, who is a businessman and clinical nutritionist (board-certified). Richard’s firm, Wellness Resources, produces herbal supplements introduced to support the leptin diet.
Rules Of The Leptin Diet
Avoid Eating After Dinner
Breakfast and dinner are two main meals that are essential for the leptin diet. You should keep a gap of 12 hours between your breakfast and dinner. It is because when you are resting or sleeping, your metabolism gets slow. However, you have avoided adding more fat in the process when the metabolism is running slow. The gap of 12 hours helps the body to have enough time to process the foods consumed in the dinner.
Eating foods after dinner raises fat storage in the body. It is the reason that this diet strictly does not allow food consumption after dinner, even if you feel hungry.
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Stick To 3-Meals
According to research, human bodies require 3-meals for proper functions. It is because 3-meals provide more nutrients to the body. The body build-up triglycerides, which clog the space of leptin to the brain. It is important to reduce triglycerides to help the functions of leptin.
If you have a snacking habit, the triglyceride levels get replaced. Try to stick with 3-meals to utilize the stored triglycerides. Therefore, the leptin easily reaches the brain and perform its functions.Â
Eat Slowly, And Less
As you begin to have a meal, remember that it takes around 20 minutes for leptin to reach the brain. Your brain may not know if your stomach is full till the leptin signal it. However, you need to consume a meal at a pace where leptin stays in the body. Additionally, slowly eating food helps to improve the signals to the brain from the stomach.
Get More Sleep
Enough sleep is important for all diet plans to achieve desired results of weight loss. If you eat and work out and do not take enough rest, then your body doesn’t get enough time to recover and produce good results. Not taking enough rest cause to increase ghrelin and skip leptin.
According to a recent study, people who did not take good sleep had 15% of reduced leptin levels than the people who took enough sleep, since the leptin levels help to increase while you are sleeping. If you feel more hungry after a poor night’s sleep, it is because your leptin levels are reduced and signal the brain to eat more.Â
Begin with Protein
Similar to other diets, the leptin diet for weight loss also influence breakfast importance. What you consume at breakfast is vital for your body. If you consume a meal containing high protein after 12- hours break, you can have 30% raised metabolism. However, if you plan to follow the leptin diet, you need to begin your day with a meal containing rich protein.
Cut the Carbs
Carbohydrates require to remove drastically during the leptin diet. Consuming carb-rich food helps to provide energy to the body and limit triglycerides from feeling. Thus, the stored fats will remain in fat storage only. If you do not perform the exercise, then the carbs from the meal accumulate as fat. It is the reason people are advised to skip carb from the diet.
The Leptin Diet Plan
Breakfast (8:00 a.m)
- whole Poached egg with one slice of multigrain bread
- Oatmeal containing berries and apple
- cucumber smoothie with Kale, mint
Lunch (12:30 p.m)
- Chicken/vegetable sandwich/tuna
- Stir-fried shrimps and Boiled bottle gourd
- Vegetable salad and greens
Dinner (7:00 p.m)
- Grilled chicken and veggies
- Baked fish, green beans with asparagus
- Cottage cheese and Capsicum wrap
- Maple syrup with Fruits and sour cream for dessert
This leptin diet plan follows the above rules to get effective results. Begin your day with breakfast containing rich protein. Consume small portions of lunch and skip using the fatty dress for salad or mayonnaise. If you have hunger, then drink water.
You can have black or green tea in the evening time with snacks. Consume enough vegetables for your dinner containing protein. Avoid desserts and choose fruits with a natural sweetener like honey.
Leptin diet: How to follow?
- Every diet effectively works when you follow it strictly. Here are the steps to follow the leptin diet.
- Eat foods, which provide 20-30 gm of protein in breakfast.
- Avoid eating anything after dinner and before 3-hours of bedtime.
- Eat three meals every day without snacks. Keep the gap of 5-6 hours between every meal.
- Lower carbohydrate consumption but do not completely stop carbs.
- Adopt portion control between every meal and do not eat till you are full.
Try to know about your calories requirement from the foods you consume. But do not do the calorie counting obsessively. The diet also keeps a powerful emphasis on consuming fresh and organic foods. Avoid foods, which are chemical additives. Fiber and proteins are essential for a proper diet. It is suggested that every meal should consist of 400-600 calories in the following common ratio:
- 40 % protein
- 30 % fat
- 30 % carbohydrates
The leptin diet allows consuming more vegetables, proteins, and fruits, including meat, fish, turkey, and chicken. Replace fruit with sugar-containing desserts. You can also consume nut butter in moderation, cottage cheese, and eggs.
Eat protein dense legumes and grains such as oatmeal, quinoa, and lentils are also good options. When you are following the leptin diet, you should avoid artificial sweeteners, diet soda, energy drinks, regular drinks.
You are also advised to remove soy products from the diet because of no snacking or smaller portions. Some people get hungry during this diet; therefore, they consume more fiber supplements and drink more water.
You have to have control over eating during the leptin diet and notice what you eat. Make a routine of a strict meal plan, which will not distract you.
Foods To Eat
Veggies –
Broccoli, Spinach, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, green beans, bean sprouts, tomato, kale, onion, garlic, ginger, celery, leek, zucchini, eggplant, radish, pumpkin, beetroot, chili, okra, squash, etc.
Fruits –
Apple, grapes, banana, lemon, grapefruit, berries, pineapple, orange, kiwi, honeydew melon, pomegranate, watermelon, papaya, peach, plum, and pear.
Healthy Fats
Almonds, Olive oil, rice bran oil, avocado, peanut, walnut, peanut butter, and margarine.Â
Proteins
Beans, sprouts, flaxseed, soy, lentils, mushroom, pumpkin seed, fish, lean cuts of turkey, chicken breast, and beef.
Dairy
Yogurt, sour cream, low-fat milk, eggs, ice cream (small quantity), ricotta cheese, cottage cheese.
Wheat & grain products
Consume whole wheat bread, wheat pasta, multigrain bread or cereal, wheat bread, multigrain biscuits, oats, barley, oats biscuits, and wheat noodles.
Herbs & Spices
Basil, Coriander leaves, dill, thyme, fennel, fenugreek, coriander powder, cumin, clove, rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried mango powder, cardamom, oregano, etc.
Beverages
Water, fresh coconut water, fresh vegetable and fruit juices, smoothies, and detox drinks. Avoid aerated, alcohol, and sweetened beverages.
Foods To Avoid
- Avoid Consuming High Carbohydrate Foods. Try Consuming Fewer Carbs, Especially After Working Out.
- Skip Unhealthy Fats And Consume Limited Fatty Foods.
- Avoid Consuming White Foods Such As White Flour, White Bread, Sugar, And High Salt.Â
Role Of Exercise
Exercise is essential for every diet to reduce weight. It helps to burn calories regularly and provide a better result. You can do brisk walking, walking, running, rope jumping, stairs running, squats, aerobics, and strength training, which are best for fast weight loss. Do not suddenly rush to exercise but make progress slow to build muscle mass.
Benefits of Leptin diet
There are similar principles of the leptin diet for weight management. It is suggested to skip eating late night after dinner. Avoiding things like high carbs, soda beverages to assist in weight loss. The leptin diet also focuses on portion control with enough nutrition.
The leptin diet requires to follow strict guidelines to get the desired results.
Leptin and Obesity
Leptin resistance is a main and important part of scientific investigation. According to some research, leptin resistance is the reason for obesity in difficulty eating less and reducing weight.
Therefore, how leptin resistance act? Researchers do not understand the specific cause, but they discovered that leptin levels are more in obese people. In other words, obese people don’t have proper functions of sending signals to the brain to stop eating and burn the calories, which causes them to store that fat.
But the leptin resistance is controversial as the scientists don’t know how the hormone interacts with each other. There are also other factors of hunger and appetite hormones, which are essential for how much and what you eat. The researcher also tells that other things affect your food consumption, such as food flavors, food smells, reward systems, habits, and cultural traditions.Â
Leptin Supplements
If you are trying for weight loss, you probably noticed the leptin supplement ads in magazines or online. These ads claim that they promote your levels of leptin or treat the leptin resistance. But these supplements do not contain hormones called leptin. Most of the diet supplements consist of trendy ingredients like fiber, green tea, which helps to feel full and burn extra calories.
Therefore, you might be thinking about whether to try these supplements or not? Since the researcher does not know leptin resistance, it is unlikely that how these online companies know that leptin supplements work. Therefore, it depends on your health and different levels of hormones. The best thing to do is to have a leptin level test before consuming any supplement.
Leptin And Insulin Sensitivity
Glucose homeostasis is closely controlled not only by insulin but also from leptin. Both hormones are essential for adiposity and food consumption control in humans. Leptin provides many effects on glucose-insulin homeostasis, few of which are free of adiposity and body weight. Those leptin effects are determined mainly in the peripherally and hypothalamus in the pancreas, liver, and muscles. Leptin provides beneficial effects on glucose-insulin metabolism by lowering glycemia, insulin resistance, and insulinemic. The result of the effect of leptin over glucose-insulin homeostasis will result in the growth of leptin-based therapies against diabetes and the other type of insulin resistance syndromes. The review compiles the communication between insulin and leptin and their impact on the metabolism of glucose.
Prevent Depression
Depression sometimes causes unnecessary weight gain. According to clinical studies, the link between leptin levels and depression produces variable results. Reduce leptin levels were shown in depressive people in contrast to earlier studies. However, some research also tells that some people with depression also have high leptin levels. There are some factors like gender, age, and medicine in depressive patients that may affect periphery leptin levels.
Leptin can also promote stimulation of neurons in the structure of the hippocampal limbic, which causes to delay the long-term antidepressant.
Leptin levels are linked with ghrelin, which appetite-regulating hormones. The low levels of leptin and high levels of ghrelin cause to create anxiety and stress, which triggers depression.
However, managing healthy leptin levels and ghrelin helps to benefit appetite and reduce depression.Â
Risks Of The Leptin Diet
Like other diets, the leptin diet requires restrictions on what foods you can eat. You may feel it difficult to follow and unsatisfied with limited food choices. It is safe to take doctor’s advice before starting any leptin diet. If you are extremely active, then it may not offer many calories. It is not advisable for young teens and children who have different caloric needs than adults.
Does Leptin Influence Different Body Parts?
Leptin seems to have numerous capacities that researchers are as yet investigating. “It didn’t fill in as a weight reduction agent. However, there’s presently beginning to be some different things that are truly fascinating about it,” Atkinson says. The hormone plays an essential role in heart and bone wellbeing, Lustig says. “We realize that leptin is significant in keeping the immune system active and that chronic inflammation happens despite deficient leptin signaling, and that is a part of cardiovascular illness.”
The leptin also directly impact on bone health to raise bone mineral density. It makes bone healthier by providing more calcium.
Scientists are still finding some link between leptin and certain types of cancers. For example, some research tells that leptin increases melanoma, which is skin cancer.
According to Atkinson, leptin may impact on female fertility. If your brain does not get the leptin signal, you will not be fertile.
Also, some people believe that leptin feedback over the hypothalamus to stimulate reproductive hormones.
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