Lesser Known Hormones That Have a Big Impact On Your Health and Waistline

This week, we are going to talk about lesser known hormones that have a big impact on your health and waistline.

When people think of hormones, the most well-known come to mind, such as estrogen and progesterone. However, there are other hormones that are significant in the health of both men and women. Understanding the roles these hormones play and learning how to maximize and regulate them, can not only improve overall well-being, they can aid in weight management and can help you achieve your health and fitness goals.

Let’s begin with Insulin

Insulin is most known for its role in diabetes. It is a peptide hormone produced by the pancreas and plays a major role in regulating fat and carbohydrate metabolism. When you consume carbohydrates, the digestive tract breaks them down and converts them into glucose. Glucose enters your blood stream and the body releases insulin. This prompts your cells to uptake and clear glucose and energy is produced or stored, depending on what your body needs. This becomes a problem, when one consumes too many carbohydrates on a regular basis. When insulin is consistently over-released, insulin resistance can occur. In other words, cells are not as sensitive to insulin and the body continues to release more insulin in order to clear glucose after eating. Insulin is also the main fat storage and blocking hormone, therefore when insulin levels are elevated, it will signal the body to store fat and prevent stored fat from being broken down. This can lead to Type 2 diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome.

To regulate insulin levels and ensure it is released in small amounts throughout the day, avoid overeating, particularly sugar and refined carbohydrates. Be sure to consume enough lean protein and maintain a healthy body weight. Consume healthy fats such as Omega-3s to help lower fasting insulin levels and get regular exercise to help improve insulin sensitivity.

Glucagon

We cannot discuss insulin without glucagon. Glucagon, like insulin is secreted by the pancreas. It works along with insulin to control blood sugar levels. Insulin’s job is to prevent glucose levels from increasing too high, glucagon prevents it from dropping too low.

Insulin is released directly after eating, glucagon is produced about four to six hours after eating when glucose levels in the blood decrease. The release of glucagon tells your muscle cells and liver to convert glycogen, (a stored form of glucose) back into glucose to be used for energy.

While Insulin is the main fat storage and blocking hormone, glucagon is the fat burning hormone. To stimulate the production of glucagon and maximize your fat burning potential, reduce the total carbohydrates in your diet. Choose low glycemic carbohydrates and eat a diet with plenty of quality protein. Protein directly stimulates the production of glucagon by signalling your body to burn fat.

Leptin

Leptin is considered the “satiety hormone” that reduces appetite and makes you feel full. Its role is to regulate fat storage and how many calories you consume and burn. It is released from adipose (fat) cells after eating, increasing the metabolic rate and decreasing appetite. Leptin signals the hypothalamus (the part of the brain that regulates food intake and appetite) that there’s enough fat in storage and no more is needed. This is what controls appetite & prevents overeating.

The level of leptin in an individual’s body is proportional to the number of adipose tissue cells. If an individual is overweight, they have very high leptin levels. It would seem logical that those with high levels of leptin would eat less. However, when it comes to obesity, leptin doesn’t function properly; this is referred to as leptin resistance. Essentially, your brain thinks it’s starving and prompts you to eat. Leptin resistance is also believed to be caused by inflammation and elevated insulin levels. Because leptin is also responsible for the regulation and burning of energy, leptin resistance leads to fat gain. When leptin levels are too low, your brain thinks that fat stores are low and that you need food. This leads to eating more and burning less and is the reason why eating too little will not always result in fat loss.

To regulate leptin levels and improve leptin sensitivity, maintain a healthy body weight and consume adequate calories. Exercise regularly and get enough sleep. Fill your diet with anti-inflammatory foods such as fatty fish, avocado, berries, vegetables such as broccoli and kale, cherries, green tea, dark chocolate and turmeric. Limit inflammatory foods like refined carbohydrates, sugar, processed meats, trans fats and vegetable oils such as corn, safflower, soy and sunflower.

Ghrelin

Like insulin and glucagon, we cannot discuss leptin without ghrelin, another weight regulating hormone that is produced in the gut. While leptin is the “satiety” hormone, ghrelin is known as the “hunger” hormone and increases your desire to eat. Normally, one feels hungry when their stomach is empty. This is caused by ghrelin being released into the bloodstream and telling the hypothalamus, that it’s time to eat.

Ghrelin levels rise before a meal and decrease after a meal. However, if an individual is “dieting” and consuming too few calories, ghrelin increases. At the same time, leptin levels decrease. This causes the metabolic rate to decrease and leads to fat storage. The purpose of these two hormones working together is to ensure you maintain a healthy body fat level. However, with chronic dieting and undereating, these two hormones will make it not only difficult to lose fat, but also difficult to keep it off. Be sure to eat protein with every meal to promote satiety; this will reduce ghrelin levels. Maintain a consistent healthy body weight and get adequate sleep. Additionally, higher levels of muscle mass are associated with lower ghrelin levels.

Cholecystokinin (CCK)

CCK is another appetite regulating hormone. It is released from the gut and signals to the hypothalamus that you are full following eating fat and protein. CCK helps with digestion and reduces appetite. It improves digestion by slowing down the emptying of food from the stomach.

CCK stimulates the production of bile in the liver and prompts its release from the gall bladder into the small intestine. It also increases the release of pancreatic enzymes. This helps break down fats, carbohydrates and proteins.

Unlike leptin that is released after eating and controls appetite between meals, CCK is released during a meal and helps regulate appetite by delaying the emptying of the stomach, creating a feeling of fullness to prevent over-eating.

Include protein and healthy fats (not saturated fat), at each meal to trigger the release of CCK. Fibre rich foods also increase CCK levels.