Nutrition and Hormones: The Leptin Lowdown at Her Active Life

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Nutrition and Hormones: The Leptin Lowdown

Posted January 22, 2008 at 04:00 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Her Health, Her Nutrition, Diet Myths, Healthy Eating

Woman Eating Whenever you reduce your calorie intake, you are going to be dealing with changes in the hormones that your body produces. Testosterone may start to go down (due to reduced calorie intake) and depending on what you eat, insulin and cortisol concentrations may vary.

One very important substance that is affected by changes in your eating is leptin, which regulates your current body fat levels and calorie intake. Basically, leptin is a protective hormone, in the sense that when you dip down to low body fat levels or aren’t eating enough, it sets off alarms.

If leptin kicks in, you will start feeling ravenous and will also start noticing feelings of fatigue, coldness and trouble concentrating. Basically, leptin is going to try and make your life miserable until you feed your body more calories.

How can you solve the problem?

Obviously, eat more. If leptin is rearing it’s head, it means you aren’t taking care of your body - so feed yourself enough to sustain energy levels and activity. However, you can take measures to ease the effect of leptin on your hunger cues.

One important consideration is carbohydrate intake. Leptin will respond most favorably to carbohydrates, so this is key for any “low carb” diners out there. If you have been going on a very low carb diet for a long time, you may need to increase your carbohydrate intake to boost your leptin levels back to normal.

While carbohydrate intake is by far the most important factor that will affect leptin, total calorie intake will too - so be sure to get enough.

If you have been trying to cut calories excessively for a long time, chances are you’ll need a few days at a higher level of calories and carbohydrates to see noticeable changes in your appetite and energy levels.