Leptin and Big Waistline Connection Finally Explained

To better understand the connection between leptin and big waistline or belly fat here are some basics.

What is Leptin?

Leptin is normally secreted in response to a meal or in response to increasing fat storage. Leptin controls appetite by reducing hunger and by increasing fat burning. Awesome!

So if this is true then why is everybody telling you that you need to go to the gym and forget about the double chocolate fudge? Don’t you have your leptin to take care of it and burn all the fat?

Truth is that in order for leptin to work correctly, the body tissue has to be sensitive toward leptin. If the tissue becomes insensitive or resistant to leptin (as indicated by high level of fasting serum leptin) the message to suppress the appetite does not reach the brain. As a result you still feel hungry and your body continues to store more fat instead of burning it.

To make things even more complicated leptin is connected to stress. The more stress, the higher energy demand, the higher leptin release. The more stress, the higher the leptin, the more….etc. It never ends. At some point the tissue becomes insensitive to the constantly increasing leptin and stops responding to it. And we know the result, right?

You become overweight or obese. Your leptin level is high, but you are constantly hungry, you think about food all the time, you dream food and you don’t care how you look because the only think you care about is food.

So until the wakeup call from your doctor, your blood pressure is going through the roof, you have metabolic syndrome, your heart is failing, and you have type II diabetes.

Now what?

Liposuction? Open heart surgery? Or going back to the source of the problem that started it all - your overall STRESS level and how you deal with it. Because it all comes down to chronic stress, leading to fat accumulation around the waist. The fat tissue becomes resistant to insulin and leptin hence the connection between leptin and big waistline.

Of course, you can avoid this grim scenario. Start by checking your sources of stress. measuring your waistline and taking the free Stress Level Test to assess your heart risk and take it one step at a time from there.

Copyright Dr. Nelly Stoyanova

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Author's bio: Dr. Nelly Stoyanova is a physician, medical researcher and health behavior expert. She studies the effects of stress on heart disease, type 2 diabetes and sleep. Her website: Belly Fat, Stress and Baby Boomers (http://www.stress-fat-heart-solutions-for-boomers.com) evaluates sources of stress for people over 50 and provides great tips to balance your day-to-day stress and stay healthy. Turn your life around and benefit from her expertise. For individual guidance sessions or to schedule a public speaking event use the Contact page or email at drnstoyanova@gmail.com

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