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Lowering the level of insulin, ghrelin and cortisol and increasing the level of the YY peptide - according to endocrinologist Robert Lustig, the key to fighting obesity. Check the role of hormones in the process of gaining weight and how to practically regulate the level of hormones controlling the mechanism of hunger and satiety, responsible for weight gain.

There are two ways to view the relationship between the environment and obesity. The first is that genes and behavior work together to make a person gain weight. But both genes and behavior do not change, so this approach means that we are in a losing position. The second theory is that behavior is the result of hormones and that hormones are responsible for the environmental environment. Obesity is a hormonal problem, and the effects of hormones can be changed, so all hope is in hormones.

Our task in reducing the obesity pandemic is to reverse the dysfunctional hormones by:

1. Lowering insulin levels - to reduce body fat and improve leptin sensitivity.

2. Lowering ghrelin levels - to reduce the feeling of hunger.

3. Increasing the level of the YY peptide - to accelerate the feeling of fullness.

4. Lowering the level of cortisol - to reduce the level of stress and hunger and reduce energy deposition in the visceral adipose tissue.

Lowering insulin levels - eat fiber, limit sugar, exercise

Lowering insulin levels is in the vast majority of cases a measure of success in the fight against obesity. Less of this hormone means less energy stored in fat cells, greater sensitivity to the action of leptin (hormones secreted by fat cells) and less appetite. It is also more energy for the muscles, i.e. improving metabolic status and quality of life. How to lower your insulin levels? You need to reduce insulin secretion or improve insulin sensitivity - or both. The best way to reduce the amount of insulin secreted is to limit the exposure of the pancreas to the factor that causes more insulin to be secreted - glucose. This means less consumption of refined carbohydrates. The improvement in insulin sensitivity comes down toto improve the sensitivity of the liver or muscles to its action or, again, both.

Each of these goals can be accomplished in a different manner. Improving the liver's sensitivity to insulin means reducing the production of liver fat, which requires reducing the total flow of fat and carbohydrate to the liver (this is how most effective diets work). The best way to do this isreduce your sugar consumption , as fat and carbohydrate always go hand in hand when you consume it. The first step in this direction is getting rid of all sweetened drinks at home. Carbonated drinks, juices, flavored water - everything off. Stick to water and milk. (…)

Another way to lower your insulin levels iseating plenty of fiberto reduce the sudden flooding of your liver with energy and the resulting insulin response. Aim for brown products: whole grains, nuts, beans, lentils, and other legumes. And eat real food: whole vegetables and fruits, instead of their processed or squeezed counterparts or derivatives. If the food is white - bread, rice, pasta, potatoes - then there is no fiber left in it (or like potatoes, it never was there).

Finally, improving your muscular insulin sensitivity is extremely simple - there is only one way, and that is exercise. When fat is deposited in your muscles, the only way to get rid of it is to burn it. What's more, exercise will also help you burn liver fat.

Lowering ghrelin levels: eat protein for breakfast, don't eat at night, sleep more

Lowering the level of ghrelin, the hormone responsible for the feeling of hunger, will reduce the total amount of food consumed at all meals. The best way to do this is withbreakfast . If you ignore them, you do not increase the thermal effect of the food, ghrelin levels will rise throughout the morning, and you will eat more for lunch, dinner and evening. Breakfast is part of the solution, but what's on your plate also matters. It has been proven that a decent portion of protein is better at lowering ghrelin levels than a meal rich in fat or carbohydrates - so you will burn more without even getting up from your chair. Moreover, proteins have a greater thermal effect, meaning that in order to metabolize them, the body needs to use twice as much energy as it does with carbohydrates. Additionally, protein does not elicit even some of the strong insulin response that carbohydrates do. Nor does it lead to a sudden drop in glucose levels - the reason whyyou feel hungry faster. (…)

Some people with very strong insulin resistance, caused by excessive sugar consumption, feel enormous hunger - so much that a normal meal cannot satisfy it. This can be seen perfectly in the example of night snacking. When they wake up in the morning, they are usually not hungry and therefore skip breakfast (which should be a warning signal - they will compensate for this later in the day, to the detriment of their he alth). Such people not only always eat before bed - some even wake up at night to have a bite to eat. Eating in the evening is problematic for everyone, because the body will not have a chance to burn off the energy that is provided at the end of the day. Thus, this energy is deposited either in the subcutaneous fatty tissue or in the liver, which will further worsen the patient's insulin resistance. Some patients suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, all like one husband - from metabolic syndrome. They are extremely tired and do not have the strength to exercise, which is a consequence of both excess insulin and insufficient sleep.

To improve leptin sensitivity, which is associated with a reduction in insulin resistance, they must break the vicious cycle of nighttime snacking and the energy stored in this way. The only hope is tore-regulate me altimes . That is, reasonable portions for breakfast and lunch, no snacks, and dinner, consistently no later than four hours before going to bed. Any late night food rendezvous can only make matters worse. These patients also need to get a decent amount of he althy, uninterrupted sleep, which can be very difficult due to respiratory problems during sleep (obstructive sleep apnea, a form of sleep apnea). For patients who snore (and all snore in this group), it may be necessary to see a doctor for a BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) device, which helps to keep the airway open while sleeping. In some cases, you will need a tonsillectomy (removal of the tonsils) or adenoidectomy (removal or cutting of an overgrown adenoid) to allow better airflow while you sleep.

To raise your PYY level: eat the right portion size, wait 20 minutes before asking for more, eat fiber

The baby slides in a whole plate of food and tells mom, "I'm still hungry." Mom doesn't want to starve the baby, and she certainly doesn't want any scenes, so she quickly puts on the second batch. Hey, parents, I'm talking to you - howare you often doing this? Daily? At every meal? And you adults, why do you go for your second hamburger right after you've finished chewing on the first? There is a world of difference between being full and not being hungry. Bringing food into your stomach will lower your ghrelin levels, but it won't stop you from eating any more. The satiety signal - the button that turns off the urge to continue the meal - is the YY (3-36) peptide. There is more than 6 meters of the intestine between the stomach and the PYY cells. It will take a while for the food to take this path. Give him a chance. The Japanese have a habit of saying, "Eat until you feel 80 percent full." It would be very difficult to achieve in America. Hence, it's key to wait 20 minutes before deciding on a second serving. Also, make sure your basic portion is of a reasonable size - even if you don't get a second portion, you'll be doing yourself a real disservice if you load your plate to the brim. The best way to feel full faster is to speed up the passage of food through the gut, and this is the role of fiber. And the best source of it is real, unprocessed food.

Lowering cortisol levels: exercise

Okay, this point won't be easy. Cortisol is your ally in emergencies and short-term situations. In the long run, however, he will be your enemy. Keeping your cortisol levels low, i.e. stress levels low, is practically impossible. There are more stressors than ever before and there are no natural ways to deal with them. Our ancestors could, in the face of a lion chasing them, take their feet under the belt, but nowadays, when the boss yells at us, it will not be the best strategy. Dealing with the problem of eating stress is one of the toughest challenges we will have to overcome. First, because it's not about stress as such, but about our response to it. This reaction may be genetic or prenatal - there is little chance that we will be able to make a difference here. Second, because excess cortisol leads to visceral fat deposition, insulin resistance, and further overeating, it's a straightforward route to metabolic syndrome. Finally, cortisol alters the way the amygdala works, triggering a positive response, a vicious cycle - more cortisol means more activity in the amygdala, so more cortisol next time, and so on. Since we are not able to get rid of stressful situations overnight, we will also not cope with eating up stress. If you have a weak defense mechanism and all inyour life is chaos, you will have a hard time ignoring your problems and they tend to multiply.

There is one simple, , cheap and effective way to reduce cortisol levels: exercise . Although the hormone levels rise during exercise (to encourage the burning of glucose and fatty acids), exercise reduces its levels for the rest of the day. It allows you to burn fat in the muscles, thereby improving their insulin sensitivity. The same goes for fat in the liver and hepatic insulin sensitivity. In our clinic, we apply the principle: you have to work out in front of the screen or monitor. Each hour spent in this way must be preceded by an hour of sports activities. This is an extremely difficult task for many families, because many parents treat the TV as a nanny, and modern children most often play sports using the joystick.

Many parents begin to plan what school they will send their offspring to before they even leave the womb. Children feel this tension, which affects their mood, activities, and school performance. Children today are under enormous pressure. How are they supposed to find time for everything? Here's perhaps the most important piece of advice I can give in this book for parents: If your child quits sugary drinks and starts exercising, time will create itself. If he takes an hour of active exercise, the homework that would normally take him 5 hours, he will do it in 4 hours because he will be more focused and work more efficiently. In this way, he will create more time for himself. Numerous studies confirm that increasing the amount of exercise improves both the behavior and school performance of a child. Dear parents, creating time is at the heart of life in the 21st century. It is impossible to stretch the day, but you can increase the child's performance. (…)

This will be useful to you

In the book"Sweet trap. How to win with sugar, processed foods, obesity and diseases"(Galaktyka publishing house, Łódź 2015) Dr. Robert Lustig analyzes the causes of the obesity pandemic, which in it is taking over the world at an alarming pace. Lustig refutes the thesis that obesity is the responsibility of the obese themselves - it is rather a matter of a mismatch between our environment and the biochemistry of our body. Poradnikzdrowie.pl is the media patron of this book. We recommend!

Robert Lustig- internationally recognized specialist in pediatric endocrinology from the University of California, San Francisco. He has spent the last 16 years treating childhood obesity and researching the effects of sugar on the central nervous system, metabolism and disease development.

"Dr. Robert Lustig is a doctormedicine and a scientist with a sense of social mission fighting the effects of the obesity pandemic. In his opinion, this phenomenon is not a private problem of people who eat too much and move too little. The author addresses the book to all those suffering from obesity and to doctors who do not know how to help them. In fact, everyone should read it - the "American diet" is becoming the "industrial global diet." Obesity is one of the most difficult issues in medicine as it combines physics, biochemistry, endocrinology, neurology, psychology, sociology and environmental he alth. However, Lustig managed to present the problem from a scientific perspective, but in an interesting and accessible form ".

prof. Iwona Wawer, Medical University of Warsaw IW

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