A Word About the “L”

There is an extraordinarily important hormone in your brain called leptin and you are gonna want to get in tune to your fellow L’s. They are the buddies in your head that let your belly know when it’s full. We’re talkin’ appetite control people.

Back in 1994 scientists believed that if they created a pill that released more leptin in your head it could fool you into feeling full and you would lose weight. Seemed like a logically simple solution. Sadly it was not, they got it wrong.

In the last decade they’ve learned that overweight people were not short on leptin, instead they were overloaded with it. In fact they were so leptin loaded they weren’t hearing the L’s screaming in their heads at all! Their brains shut down the messaging and it actually had the reverse results. To make matters more fattening, leptin also serves to rev up your metabolism. So when you don’t hear it, it is so not working. That’s a double “my bad” on the weight control issue.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/2009/01/07/44758.aspx

How to get back in tune with your L’s is what researchers are working on now. Scientists have uncovered that resistance may be caused by stress to cells in the brain’s hypothalamus. That is the part of your brain that controls body temp, hunger and thirst.  Dr. Umut Ozcan, MD at Harvard Medical School has identified two medications that prompt the brain to hear leptin’s roar and he is searching for more. Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut magic pill yet.

In the meantime there are a few things you can do by simply changing your diet. What they’ve found is that high-fat binges can alter the brains responsiveness to leptin. What you eat one day has a direct effect on how much you want to eat for days afterwards.

To keep your brain open to leptin, it’s key to control the kinds of fats you consume. Palmatic acid, a saturated fat found in cheese and beef, is the bad kind. These fats get into your brain, affect the hypothalamus, and change your hormone’s ability to manage satiation cues thus affecting body weight. In other words if you OD on a weekend binge of fast food, come Monday your brain is completely dead to the leptin signals playing in your brain. It’s a nasty head game encouraging weight gain.

Oleic acid rich foods are a better choice. This heart healthy fat is found in olive oil, olives, avocados, almonds, peanuts, sesame oil, pecans, pistachio nuts, cashews hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts. One to two tablespoons of olive oil per day is recommended for adults. Or better yet munch on a handful of nuts and other whole foods, the time release activation from digestion appears to be more beneficial than swallowing down the entire daily amount in a single dose.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=84

Some Oleic acid eating tips:

High heat, light, and oxygen destroy Essential Fatty Acids (EFA), so when consuming foods for their EFA content, try to avoid cooked or heated forms. For example, raw nuts are a better source than roasted nuts. Don’t use flaxseed oil for cooking, and never re-use any type of oil.

Replace hydrogenated fats (like margarine), cholesterol-based fats (butter/dairy products), and poly-saturated fats (common cooking oils) with healthy EFA-based fats when possible. For example, instead of margarine or butter on your warm (not hot) vegetables, use flaxseed and/or extra virgin olive oils with salt. (This tastes similar to margarine, as margarine is just hydrogenated oil with salt.)

Sprinkling flaxseed meal on vegetables adds a slightly nutty taste. Whole flaxseeds are usually passed through the intestine, absorbing water only and not yielding much oil. Also, it’s best not to use huge amounts of flaxseed in its meal (ground seed) form, as it contains phytoestrogens. The oil is much lower in phytoestrogens.

In many recipes calling for vegetable shortening, replacing the shortening with half as much virgin olive oil, and a very small pinch of extra salt, often yields similar results. Adding flaxseed and/or virgin olive oil to salads instead of supermarket salad oil is another healthy change. Replace oily snack foods, like potato chips and corn chips, with nuts and seeds. Extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil are best to use for cooking oil, as they withstand high heat well.