Always Hungry? Never Satisfied? This May Be the Reason Why

You had your meal about an hour ago, and you’re not supposed to be thinking of food at all this early, and yet you feel like you haven’t eaten and want to eat again, so you grab a snack to satisfy that craving you feel. This can be frustrating when this happens more often than you would like that it actually is a cycle. Unfortunately, with this cycle comes the weight gain. 

You could be saying ‘the mind is strong, but the flesh is weak’—you just can’t help it no matter how hard you try to resist. Your diet is a failure because of this. The line ‘the flesh is weak’ may actually be true. The reason why is because of the hormone called Leptin. 

Not many people know that there is a master hormone in the body that controls the feeling of satiety. That’s what Leptin does. This hormone regulates appetite. When there is a decrease in sensitivity to Leptin your body does not have the ability to detect satiety regardless if your body has already achieved an energy balance.

If you’re trying to lose weight and have a very difficult time achieving this, it is most likely you have Leptin resistance, which the body feels as starvation. Leptin resistance is a complex problem that involves the endocrine system. Here are some factors that negatively impact Leptin:

• High stress levels
• Lack of sleep
• Fructose consumption
• High insulin levels

As mentioned, Leptin resistance is a complex problem, but it is not considered irreversible. Some experts have written on how to help reverse this problem. But here are a few to help Leptin responses:

• Optimizing your sleep
• Spacing meals 4 hours apart
• Consuming more Omega-3s foods like fish and chia seeds
• If you can, avoid simple starches, fructose, and refined foods