At this point we have read about the major kinds of macronutrients, the 2 forms of metabolic process that your body can operate on, and exactly why these are necessary points to consider for survival. In terms of suggestions the scales are leaning quite heavily toward a fat based diet instead of one dependent on carbohydrates such as grains, flour as well as sugar.
To this point, we have been concentrating mainly on the effects of carbohydrates on blood insulin in your body. Now, we are going to check out a vital hormone that has just entered the limelight in nutritional science: leptin.
What's important about fat mice?
In 1950, researchers were in the process of raising lab mice for several qualities. Among the variations was a remarkably hungry mouse that would eat till it was physically not able to. All of these mice would eventually become obese, giving them the suitable nickname of 'obese mice'.
It had taken over 4 decades until the secret of why the obese mice would eat so much was figured out. At Rockefeller University in 1994, a scientist known as Jeffrey Friedman managed to isolate a protein which, when injected to the obese mice, would help them to eat normally and get back to normal weight. This protein was a mix of 167 amino acids known as leptin.
The way that the hormone functions is by managing the body's hunger. Whenever you experience hunger, you will continue to eat until you are 'satisfied', however the quantity of food which will allow you to be satisfied depends upon the hormone. The reason obese mice ate the way they did was because they were genetically not able to either produce the hormone or perhaps not able to have functioning leptin receptors. So they kept eating to fulfill their hunger. This appears like an awesome science story but the applications to survival foods are huge.
Leptin insensitivity
In nature, the hormone is the perfect feedback loop to sustaining a normal body weight. It is made by fat cells themselves, therefore theoretically, having more fat cells would make a person feel much less hungry. Fat levels will decrease to normal and nobody would be at a bad weight. But there are actually hundreds of millions of human examples to verify that it isn't the case these days.
The main reason this occurs is leptin insensitivity. From having persistently elevated levels of the hormone, receptors in the brain can't tell when leptin levels are low or high. In essence, this is exactly what happened with the obese rats - with no capability to tell when they are satisfied they would eat till they couldn't eat any more. This would be disastrous in a survival situation, either leading to unnecessarily high food intake or being extremely stressful mentally from continuous hunger.
Luckily, there is a remedy for this. Low carb diets have shown to restore leptin sensitivity in two methods. First, they reduce blood triglycerides which makes it a lot easier for the hormone to reach the brain. Second, they have the outcome of lowering bodyfat that plays a role in chronically increased levels. Additionally, many carbohydates like fructose and wheat have been shown to adversely affect receptors.
You decrease carbs, you lessen leptin insensitivity, you decrease hunger.
To this point, we have been concentrating mainly on the effects of carbohydrates on blood insulin in your body. Now, we are going to check out a vital hormone that has just entered the limelight in nutritional science: leptin.
What's important about fat mice?
In 1950, researchers were in the process of raising lab mice for several qualities. Among the variations was a remarkably hungry mouse that would eat till it was physically not able to. All of these mice would eventually become obese, giving them the suitable nickname of 'obese mice'.
It had taken over 4 decades until the secret of why the obese mice would eat so much was figured out. At Rockefeller University in 1994, a scientist known as Jeffrey Friedman managed to isolate a protein which, when injected to the obese mice, would help them to eat normally and get back to normal weight. This protein was a mix of 167 amino acids known as leptin.
The way that the hormone functions is by managing the body's hunger. Whenever you experience hunger, you will continue to eat until you are 'satisfied', however the quantity of food which will allow you to be satisfied depends upon the hormone. The reason obese mice ate the way they did was because they were genetically not able to either produce the hormone or perhaps not able to have functioning leptin receptors. So they kept eating to fulfill their hunger. This appears like an awesome science story but the applications to survival foods are huge.
Leptin insensitivity
In nature, the hormone is the perfect feedback loop to sustaining a normal body weight. It is made by fat cells themselves, therefore theoretically, having more fat cells would make a person feel much less hungry. Fat levels will decrease to normal and nobody would be at a bad weight. But there are actually hundreds of millions of human examples to verify that it isn't the case these days.
The main reason this occurs is leptin insensitivity. From having persistently elevated levels of the hormone, receptors in the brain can't tell when leptin levels are low or high. In essence, this is exactly what happened with the obese rats - with no capability to tell when they are satisfied they would eat till they couldn't eat any more. This would be disastrous in a survival situation, either leading to unnecessarily high food intake or being extremely stressful mentally from continuous hunger.
Luckily, there is a remedy for this. Low carb diets have shown to restore leptin sensitivity in two methods. First, they reduce blood triglycerides which makes it a lot easier for the hormone to reach the brain. Second, they have the outcome of lowering bodyfat that plays a role in chronically increased levels. Additionally, many carbohydates like fructose and wheat have been shown to adversely affect receptors.
You decrease carbs, you lessen leptin insensitivity, you decrease hunger.
About the Author:
Thank you for reading! Terrance Franklin writes about survival and nutrition on a number of sites on the web. For more information on survival foods, be sure to check out here. And for even deeper reading, follow the link at http://mysurvivalfoods.tumblr.com/
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