DON'T BLAME THE AROMA!

Did you know that hormones control our hunger? Yup! Leptin, is a hormone that is created by your fat cells that acts like an appetite suppressant. Ghrelin on the other hand is a hormone made in the stomach, small intestine, pancreases and the brain and it stimulates appetite, encourages food intake and promotes fat storage.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Most of us know how hard it is to lose weight, especially women of the peri/menopausal years. Our reproductive hormones give us an advantage (estrogen in women actually curbs appetite working similarly to leptin and testosterone does the same in men)....however as we age and those sex hormones begin to decline, the amount of leptin hormone begins to inversely rise. In fact, in the obese population, leptin resistance is a real issue leaving them with little of an appetite control meter. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Ghrelin rises before a meal and falls after you've eaten. When you begin a diet that encourages some caloric deficit, ghrelin actually increases as it is your bodies natural response to fearing starvation so know that your experience of hunger when starting a diet is a direct hormonal response! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Some tips to keep your ghrelin levels down:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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• SLEEP! Inadequate sleep can increase the hormone and cause you to be more hungry.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Increase your muscle mass! LIFT WEIGHTS! Higher fat free mass keeps ghrelin levels down.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Eat a diet high in protein. Protein increases satiety and decreases hunger.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Unstable weight loss/gains causes an erratic fluctuation in ghrelin response. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Caloric cycling: 2 weeks on 29–45% more calories decreased ghrelin levels by 18% then return to a lower calorie consumption for the next 2 weeks.