Type 2 Diabetes – Will the Leptin Diet Help You Have Lower Blood Sugar and Weight Loss?
Leptin is a protein hormone made up of some 167 different amino acids. It’s primary purpose is to monitor fat levels and signal your brain when it is time for you to stop eating during a meal. When leptin levels are out of balance, this causes a significant disturbance within your body. The Leptin diet has been developed to help bring irregular leptin levels back into balance.
The secret of the Leptin diet is simple: utilize the same amount of energy from a smaller amount of food as you would from a larger amount.
Although the Leptin diet has been touted as a great way to manage Type 2 diabetes, it is universal enough so it can be utilized by anyone… even those who do not need to lose weight.
The Leptin diet consists of five simple rules:
1. Never eat after dinner. You should allow yourself around 12 hours from the time you finish dinner until you eat breakfast. Why is this important? Because leptin chooses this time to burn more fat than at any other time of the day. Since this is when leptin levels are at their highest point, you should refrain from interfering with this function by putting off eating until you are ready for breakfast.
2. Eat only three meals per day. Despite popular advice to snack in between meals, the Leptin diet has you forgo snacking. This advice is based on the fact triglycerides build up in your blood throughout the day, particularly after a meal or snack. When triglycerides levels become elevated, they interfere with your leptin levels. The more you can go without food between your main meals, the higher the number of triglycerides that will be cleared from your body.
3. When you eat, don’t eat large meals. By eating your meals slowly, you allow your body sufficient time for your brain to signal your body it has had enough food. From the time you start eating, this usually takes at least 15 minutes.
4. Make sure breakfast includes protein. Since revving up your metabolism first thing in the day is imperative, this can be done by including protein at breakfast. When you do, you increase your metabolism by at least 30 percent for around half of an entire day.
5. Reduce your carb intake. Even though people know carbs are notorious for spiking blood sugar and for causing us to gain weight, it often isn’t enough to persuade them to leave them alone, or at the very least, limit their intake.
While the Leptin diet might not be for everyone, it offers an additional method for helping control Type 2 diabetes.