Your body is complex and is always trying to keep itself balanced and functioning correctly. Utilizing a variety of chemical interactions involving your brain, hormones, nervous system, endocrine system, and fat cells, it regulates internal systems including appetite, weight, and when to start and stop eating. If these interactions are off or imbalanced, it can lead to cravings and fluctuating weight.
While all the steps in each interaction are significant, hormones act as the messenger, carrying instructions for every system and keeping things regulated. The following hormones play the most significant role in your appetite and weight.
The Six Hormones That Impact Your Weight
While all the steps in each interaction are significant, hormones act as the messenger, carrying instructions for every system and keeping things regulated. The following hormones play the most significant role in your appetite and weight.
- Cortisol – Cortisol is your body’s primary stress hormone. It is released into the bloodstream by the adrenal glands when stress is felt and increases hunger levels causing cravings for fatty, sugary, or salty foods. If cortisol levels are chronically high, it can eventually lead to elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, increased fat around the belly, a loss of muscle mass, insulin resistance, and high blood pressure.
- Signs of an Imbalance – If you experience an addiction to food, trouble staying asleep, headache or fatigue in the afternoon, moodiness, dizziness when you stand, difficulty losing weight, or frequent salt or sugar cravings, your cortisol levels may be imbalanced.
- How to Reduce Cortisol – Reduce your caffeine intake, opt for ways to reduce stress such as yoga or meditation, and eat balanced meals with protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
- Insulin – Insulin is produced by the pancreas and assists your cells with sugar intake that is used for energy or stored. When eating a meal that contains carbohydrates or sugar, the glucose causes insulin to be released into the bloodstream.
- Signs of an Imbalance – Sugar cravings, feeling light-headed if meals are missed, brain fog, increased thirst, irritable feelings when hungry, and difficulty losing weight.
- Improving Insulin Sensitivity – Reduce or give up sugars and refined carbs, exercise regularly, add a magnesium supplement, and be sure to eat plenty of healthy fats.
- Leptin – Leptin is produced by fat cells and helps to regulate your feelings of being full. It directs your brain to turn stored fat into energy. If you have more leptin in your blood, you will be less hungry. However, studies show that individuals who are overweight tend to have high levels of leptin. This is often due to a resistance where the brain doesn’t recognize the leptin, meaning the feeling of being full doesn’t get through. This causes the body to think it’s in starvation mode, causing you to eat more and store more fat.
- Signs of an Imbalance – Snacking throughout the day and not feeling satisfied, constant cravings and hunger, being overweight, and difficulty losing weight.
- Improving Leptin Sensitivity – Sleep well, fast overnight for at least 12 hours, exercise, avoid inflammatory foods like dairy and gluten, and try to only eat three meals a day.
- Ghrelin – Ghrelin is released when your stomach is empty, letting your brain know it is time to eat. As your stomach empties ghrelin increases and decreases as you fill it. For some individuals who are overweight, the ghrelin levels only decrease slightly, leading to overeating.
- Resetting Your Ghrelin Levels – Prioritize your sleep, eliminate sugars, particularly fructose, and eat balanced meals.
- Adiponectin – Adiponectin is released from fat cells and helps to regulate your glucose levels and fatty acid breakdown. It is important for fat burning, and the more adiponectin your body has, the more fat it burns. Those who have low adiponectin levels are three times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome and are at a nine times higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Raising Your Adiponectin – Eat magnesium-rich foods, fast for at least 12 hours each night, and exercising regularly.
- Thyroid – Thyroid controls the function of all the cells in your body. This includes mood, energy, digestion, and metabolism. If your thyroid is under-active, you will often have a low basal metabolic rate, or BMR, which can potentially cause weight gain or difficulty losing extra weight.
- Signs of Low Thyroid Function – If you experience headaches in the morning, depression, anxiety, fatigue, coldness in your extremities, hair loss or thinning, dry skin, and constipation, your thyroid may be functioning below proper levels.
Understanding the role that your hormones play in your general health and well-being can lead to a better understanding of how to be healthy and feel good. The holistic nutrition course offered by the Edison Institute of Nutrition will help you get in tune with your body and provide you with the knowledge you need to improve your health as well as that of others. Our classes are now online!
We are internationally recognized and offer our online courses globally. To learn more, call the Edison Institute of Nutrition today at . You may also contact us online to speak with one of our educational advisors.
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