Source: NaturalNews

It is no secret that our society struggles with weight loss resistance. Researchers at John Hopkins University estimate that by the year 2015 over 75% of Americans will be overweight with a staggering 41% being obese. Many people claim the country’s propensity to overeat and indulge on junk food on a lack of will power; however, science is now showing it may be related to our hormones. New research is showing that healthy sleep cycles have been shown to balance the hormones responsible for food cravings and overeating.

Ghrelin is a hormone that is produced by the stomach during times of famine. This hormone, isolated and named in 1999, stimulates hunger and digestive function. When we fast for several hours, our body begins to increase ghrelin production which interacts with the neurons in the metabolic control center of our hypothalamus, and we begin to feel hungry.

Leptin is a hormone secreted by our fat cells that interacts with the hypothalamus and creates feelings of satiety that shut down our hunger center. When we fast, ghrelin levels rise. When we eat, insulin and leptin levels rise and ghrelin levels drop. Higher levels of ghrelin have been associated with cravings for sugar-rich, calorie-dense junk food.

Many people go on calorie restricted diets in order to lose weight. However, calorie restriction leads to dramatic increases in ghrelin secretion. This results in uncontrollable hunger and eventual over-eating. This is the hormone responsible for the classic starvation-binge cycle that ruins so many weight loss pursuits. This is also why deprivation based weight loss programs have a very poor long-term success rate.

Sleep may be the Most Important Lifestyle Factor for Weight Loss. Researchers at Stanford University found that people who sleep 5 hours or less per night had a 15% greater amount of ghrelin and 15% less leptin than those who slept 8 hours a night. Another study showed that sleep deprived individuals had a significantly greater craving for carbohydrate rich junk food.

Leptin and ghrelin work as a check and balance system to control feelings of fullness & hunger. Poor sleep cycles drive leptin down and increase ghrelin. This drives the individual to have less satisfaction after eating and instead to crave more food leading to weight gain. Overtime the individual will become leptin resistant, which virtually shuts down the body’s ability to effectively burn fat. The sleep hormone melatonin has been shown to help heal leptin receptors and restore normal leptin sensitivity, which is critical for healthy weight loss and fat burning mechanisms in the body. Sleep deprived individuals do not secrete enough melatonin to restore normal leptin function.

Sleeping has also been shown to enhance human growth hormone (HGH) secretion, which is our body’s natural anti-aging hormone. HGH secretion switches our metabolism to burn fat, build muscle, & boost immunity. Elevated insulin levels are antagonistic to HGH. Therefore, eating food (particularly carbohydrate rich food) before we sleep at night is detrimental to our efforts to effectively burn fat.

Keys to a Good Night Sleep:

1) Do not eat within 3 hours of sleep
2) Eat low carbohydrate meals throughout the day and particularly at night.
3) Keep your bedroom cool (around 70F/21C)
4) Light inhibits melatonin secretion so keep your bedroom as dark as possible.
5) If you must eat before bed – have good fat/protein such as a shake with coconut milk, almond butter, cinnamon, & stevia.
6) Regular movement throughout the day helps burn off metabolic waste in muscles and cells allowing the body to relax more effectively.
7) Avoid caffeine and stimulants after 3pm

(NaturalNews) Women who rely on exercise to lose weight are destined to fail, so says a study that appears in the Journal of American Medical Association. Researchers found that exercise alone was useful in maintaining the weight for women, but it had no effect on heavier women.

The study analysed almost 35,000 women over a period of 15 years. The scientists found that for women whose BMI was less than 25 kg/m2, there was a clear dose-response correlation between activity levels and weight gain. It took one hour’s moderate-intensity exercise each day to avoid the gaining of weight. Exercise did not, however, reduce weight and did not even maintain weight among women with a BMI from 25 to 29.9 kg/m2 or in those with a BMI of 30.0 kg/m2 or more. This was true regardless of how much exercise the participants did, with both exercise and nutritional interventions required to successfully reduce weight.

“Among women consuming a usual diet, physical activity was associated with less weight gain only among women whose BMI was lower than 25,” said the study authors. “Women successful in maintaining normal weight and gaining fewer than 2.3 kg over 13 years averaged approximately 60 minutes a day of moderate-intensity activity throughout the study. These data suggest that the 2008 federal recommendation for 150 minutes per week, while clearly sufficient to lower the risks of chronic diseases, is insufficient for weight gain prevention absent caloric restriction.”

The findings, while far from providing an answer to Western society’s battle of the bulge, act as confirmation of what many observers have known for a long time: more sweat on the treadmill does not necessarily equate a smaller waistline. Conclusions that exercise has little effect on weight loss are also premature, as the study did not make any distinction between aerobic exercise, which can inhibit weight loss through increased cortisol release, and resistance training, a preferred option for many personal trainers in improving body composition.

More than anything, the study backs the importance of a nutritional program in any efforts relating to bodyweight management. Women who wish to lose weight should work smart by addressing their nutritional needs before adding exercise related to their goal. Working smart, it appears, is highly preferable to working hard.

References:
http://www.nutri-online1.co.uk/Defa…
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle…

Gettman, L. R., & Pollock, M. L. (1981). Circuit weight training: A critical review of its physiological benefits. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 9(1), 44-60.

Scientists at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom have discovered a substance that reduces fat uptake in the body by more than 75 percent. This potential obesity fighter isn’t a drug but a natural substance found in seaweed.

The research team, headed by Dr. Iain Brownlee and Professor Jeff Pearson, tested more than 60 different fibers in the laboratory to see how effective they were in absorbing fat. The results? The scientists found that alginate, a natural fiber in sea kelp, blocks the body from absorbing fat far more effectively than anti-obesity treatments currently sold over the counter.

More Info: http://www.naturalnews.com/028525_seaweed_weight_loss.html