Understand How Leptin Affects us As We Age

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As we age, the importance of improvements to our diet cannot be underestimated. In many ways it becomes more imperative to watch what we eat and take care of ourselves, especially if you’re managing a long term health condition or illness. What we eat, and put into our bodies directly affects how we function on a day to day basis, and making a few subtle changes to our eating regime can offer a whole host of benefits from increased energy to better sleep at night. Understand How Leptin Affects us As We Age

The Importance of Fats

Many of us may shy away from fats in our diet and it’s true that taking on board too much saturated fat can have a detrimental effect on our arteries and digestion, but we do all need a certain amount to keep ourselves healthy. It’s knowing the types of fats and how much to consume that is key. The importance of Omega 3 oils cannot be underestimated and these can be found in foods like oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel) and white fish like Alaskan Pollock. Olive oil contains high amounts of Omega 3 and eating this raw in salad dressings or using it in cooking in place of regular vegetable oil can help make a difference. Vegetarian sources include flax and chia seeds and these can be added to or sprinkled on breakfast meals like porridge, or added into healthy, colorful salads and their dressings to add crunch and bite. Understand How Leptin Affects us As We Age

Leptin – the often ignored “fat” hormone

Ever heard of Leptin? You’d be forgiven for not knowing anything about it, but it can play a key role in not only your appetite, but how you metabolize what you eat and whether you store fat or burn it off. Leptin is a hormone that is responsible for sending signals to our brain to tell us we either feel full, or still hungry when we’re getting close to a meal time, or during our meals.

Women tend to be more resistant to it, than men, but both genders can be affected by it, which can sometimes play a key role in weight gain/loss as we age. Low levels of leptin in your system will give you a feeling of constant hunger which you can’t always satiate and your body will tell you to eat at times when you might not want or need to, rather than at meal times when we all need to refuel to get the necessary nutrients into our bodies. One other major symptom of Leptin resistance is a constant feeling of hunger no matter how much you consume.

Good foods for correct fat balance in our diets

A diet to help with Leptin levels to control hunger means making one or two sensible changes to your eating regime, but really nothing extreme as perhaps may happen with other plans.

One major factor is making sure you eat three, sensible full meals a day – and the first one of the day, your breakfast should be the biggest – including high amounts of protein from sources like eggs, lean red meat or fish. (Grilled steak and eggs to start your day? Yes please!)

Good sources of fat, like previously mentioned Omega 3s, and even animal fats in small quantities are allowed, as are oil rich foods like avocadoes and legumes and nuts.

You can eat as many vegetables as you wish and carbs are also allowed – making it a sensible, well thought out eating regime, offering everything you could need.

Two points are encouraged – one is that you stop eating just before you feel full. The signals to our stomach do not actually let us know we’re full until ten to twenty minutes after we finish a meal, therefore ceasing eating just before you get that “full to bursting” feeling, will help you manage your hunger patterns better.

The second point is that snacking should be monitored. It is better not to snack at all, and to simply leave around 5 hours between each meal, so you can monitor your hunger levels. Your last meal of the day, should be a small one that leaves you satisfied, but not feeling like you need to snack on sugary treats.

A few small steps to tweak your eating regime can make a world of difference to how you feel and function as you age. Considering the effects of Leptin can really help!