Obesity is a health condition that continues to grow. In Canada 26.8% of the adult population was considered obese in 2018. An additional 36.3% were considered overweight. Together those numbers mean that over half of all adults (63.1%) are overweight in Canada (1).
Numbers are even higher in countries like the US (2).
Obesity continues to rise and is associated with many health risks including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression, sexual dysfunction, respiratory problems, memory and cognition, and more (3).
Along with the health risks, obesity brings a huge social stigma along with it. This stigma is largely driven by our belief that people with obesity have no self-control or willpower.
Why Do We Think It’s a Lack of Willpower?
We have long held the belief that being overweight follows a calories-in, calories-out model. Our understanding of weight gain and loss was centred on the idea that if you consumed fewer calories than you were expending, you could lose weight. If you couldn’t lose weight, it meant you either weren’t restricting calories enough, or weren’t exercising enough. Based on this assumption it follows that you don’t have enough willpower to reduce your food intake or to exercise more. You just haven’t tried hard enough. You just haven’t reduced your food intake enough. You just haven’t exercised enough. You are too lazy to exercise.
Suggestions you may have heard or read about based on this model might include:
Reduce your portion sizes
Exercise more
Eat less fat
Eat more protein
Add strength training to increase your muscle mass. Muscles burn calories.
Is it any wonder we view overweight people as having little self-control or willpower when this is the pervasive belief?
Is it any wonder that a great deal of shame comes with being overweight when this is the view society has about you, or that you have about yourself?
A New Perspective
What would happen if we viewed obesity as a sign that something has gone wrong in the body, rather than a lack of willpower?
What if we asked the question, “what is happening biochemically that might be contributing to someone’s weight gain?”
Luckily this question is being asked by many researchers, and we have gained a much better understanding of some of the driving forces behind obesity.
In this blog article I want to focus on the concept of hormone dysregulation, and some of the factors influencing it.
Hormone Dysregulation
Hormone dysregulation can occur when your body is no longer able to recognize or read hormonal signals properly.
Insulin resistance is one of the better known examples of this type of dysregulation. Insulin is the hormone that signals cells to take in glucose. When you eat carbohydrates, your pancreas releases insulin which tells cells to take up the glucose that is in your bloodstream from the carbs you ate.
When cells become resistant to insulin then it takes more insulin to signal glucose transport into cells and to keep blood sugar levels low. High blood sugar is dangerous, so your pancreas makes even more insulin to try to get glucose out of your blood and into cells.
Insulin resistance can lead to both high blood sugar levels and high insulin levels, and is associated with obesity (4).
The cycle of high blood sugar and high insulin can create cravings for sugary or high carbohydrate foods such as bread, muffins, pasta, or crackers. If you find yourself going for a sugary or high carb snack between meals, then this could be you.
Leptin resistance is another type of hormone resistance associated with obesity (5).
Leptin is the hormone that signals satiety. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as the “satiety hormone”. Leptin is made in fat cells and signals the brain that you are full and should stop eating.
Fat cells make leptin in relation to their size, so small fat cells make a little bit of leptin and large cells containing more fat make more leptin. When everything is working as it should, when you have high leptin, you won’t want to eat as much.
But just like insulin resistance, if your brain can’t read the leptin’s signal, then it’s not getting the message that you don’t need to eat more, and it will continue to communicate that you are hungry and need to eat more.
Signs that you have leptin resistance include constant cravings for snacks between meals – usually junk food, — and a calorie restricted diet backfires and causes more weight gain.
Both insulin and leptin resistance are characterized by abdominal weight gain – extra weight around your tummy.
Ghrelin is another hormone involved in appetite signalling. Ghrelin signals hunger, and as with other types of hormones, dysregulation of this hormone occurs with obesity (6).
Obese people with ghrelin issues can still be left with a feeling of hunger despite having just eaten a meal.
What’s Driving Hormone Dysregulation?
One of the factors involved in obesity is inflammation (7). Research supports the idea that inflammation is at the root of insulin resistance (8) and ghrelin resistance (9).
Not only is inflammation a driver of hormone dysregulation, but once dysregulation of one hormone occurs, it can impact other hormones. One example of this situation would be high leptin levels contributing to insulin resistance (10).
Leaky Gut At The Root of Inflammation
If we understand that inflammation perpetuates hormone dysregulation, then it is important to ask where the inflammation is coming from.
Research supports intestinal permeability (leaky gut) as a contributing factor to hormone dysregulation.
One of the biometric markers of leaky gut is lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels in the blood that can be measured with a test. LPS is a metabolite, sometimes called an endotoxin, that is normally occurring but that is problematic for human health when it enters the bloodstream. Normally lipopolysaccharides are only found in low levels in the blood, but when found in high levels is an indication that the gut barrier is leaking.
Once LPS crosses the gut barrier it binds to toll-like receptors on immune cells and triggers an inflammatory response (11). A correlation has been found between LPS and obesity related insulin resistance (12) , and between LPS and leptin resistance (13).
One research study found that ghrelin, the hormone that signals hunger, rises in humans when LPS is administered (14).
Understanding that LPS is both a marker of leaky gut and of inflammation, and that research studies show a correlation between LPS and various forms of hormone dysregulation, helps to explain what is happening biochemically in the body with obesity.
Obesity is not caused by lack of willpower or laziness. There are strong biochemical factors that alter the body’s metabolism and storage of fat.
Understanding that normal mechanisms in the body have gone awry is an important first step in realizing that you can take back control of your own body weight without counting calories or trying to exercise the weight off. There are many other factors besides hormone dysregulation that can be contributing to obesity, so it is important to work with a practitioner to help identify exactly what is going on biochemically in your body.
3 Tips to Fix Leaky Gut & Regulate Hormones
1. Replace unhealthy carbs with healthy carbs: instead of grains and sugars, get your carbs from root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, beets, and radishes. Another good source of carbs is fruit. Aim for a maximum of 1-2 pieces of fruit a day. Think roots & fruits to remind you of healthy carbs. A little bit of honey or maple syrup are okay too.
2. Replace inflammatory fats with healthy fats: instead of canola, corn, grapeseed or sunflower oil, use olive and avocado oil, or coconut oil. Replace margarine with real butter.
3. Eat meat and meat stock: meat and homemade stocks provide the building blocks to repair the gut lining. These foods are high in glycine and proline which are anti-inflammatory amino acids.
Try filling half your plate with leafy greens or cruciferous vegetables, add a healthy carb (root or fruit), drizzle your veggies with a healthy fat, and add your favorite meat or fish.
Add your favorite healthy carbs, fat and meat to your shopping list.
What healthy carbs will you have for your next breakfast? Choose a root or fruit!
Happy, Healthy Eating!
Tracey