Brain-Stomach Connection

As we age, our bellies grow—true or false? Keep reading on and is there something you can do to minimize visceral fat from building on your belly.

So far I have talked about what all one can do about their diet and exercise to help lead a healthier life but you know what plays a big role in your weight control—leptin! Leptin is a hormone that signals to your brain whether you are hungry or need more food. For example, when you don’t eat a meal or a snack, your body fat goes down, and therefore leptin signals the brain to eat more and burn less, or if your body fat is going up, leptin signals the brain to tell you to eat less and burn more. Nice, right? You have an in-built detector to tell you to start and stop! So why are people fat or have extra belly weight?

This leptin detector might be off for a few people and that is known as leptin resistance so your body gets confused by the mixed messaging. This is likely due to the poor diet choices that have led to weight gain. If you watch any weight-loss reality TV show, you see the success story of those individuals but did you know most people gain that weight back because the leptin signals to the brain are giving mixed messages. Sad right? That doughnut or processed food or even lack of sleep could have contributed to this weight gain. How can you fix this?

As mentioned in many previous posts, eat right, exercise, and sleep are things that you can control. Avoiding processed foods (foods from a box or can, no matter how cheap it may be) and fast food is two solutions to get your body’s hormones working properly. Eat protein and eat fiber as both will keep you full longer and therefore result in less temptation to eat junk food or midnight snacks. Small changes can make significant health impacts! Always check with your doctor or nutritionist as to what is best for you.