Health Alert 255
Dear Subscriber:
Have you successfully changed your diet only to continue to be plagued with cravings for things you know aren’t good for you? New evidence suggests that your willpower isn’t the issue. It’s how your body (or your hypothalamus) sees hunger.
Before you give into temptation, read today’s Health Alert. Not only will you learn how eliminate cravings, but I’ll show you how to lose weight by changing your body’s ability to burn fat. And in the process, you’ll protect yourself from a heart attack, stroke, blindness, and depression.1
Many previous Health Alerts (HA 50, HA 86, HA 136, HA 189, HA 221, and HA 224) detail how fish can protect you against some of the biggest killers – heart attack and stroke – while fending off blindness and depression. But one benefit of wild fish has only recently come to light: eating wild fish helps you lose weight.
How? It has to do with a hormone called leptin. Leptin tells your hypothalamus when you’re hungry. When leptin levels drop, hunger strikes. But new evidence shows that not all leptin is the same.
You see, fat cells secrete leptin. As a rule, the more fat cells you have the more leptin you have. Your body works to keep the level of leptin constant and when the level is higher or lower than normal, your hunger reacts accordingly. As leptin drops, hunger hits. As fat is replaced, leptin levels return to normal and hunger goes away.
But in overweight and obese people, this trigger doesn’t seem to work properly. Overweight people have a form of leptin "resistance."
That’s where studies on people in coastal regions can give us some insight and hope. In one study, two communities that have almost identical diets and lifestyles were evaluated. The only difference was that one group relied heavily on fish for their protein while the other was completely vegetarian.
The group that relies heavily on fish has the same amount of body fat as their neighbors farther inland. But they have much lower levels of leptin. How is this possible? How is it that they are so much more sensitive to leptin? All evidence points to the wild fish they consume. For some reason, the body sees the leptin produced by these fat cells to be more "potent" than leptin produced by non-fish eating people.2
What does this mean for you?
It means that just by adding fish to your diet you can "trick" your body and suppress your hunger even while losing weight. Because the leptin produced by your fat cells is more concentrated and more "potent." In other words, by eating more fish you can change how leptin interacts with the hypothalamus and get rid of those hunger pangs even while you’re losing weight.
Weight loss – even of just a few pounds – can dramatically reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and many other life-threatening diseases. Not to mention how much better people feel when they are within their appropriate weight range.
And now it’s simpler with this all natural appetite suppressant. And the best way to begin seeing the benefits is to find new ways to include fresh, wild fish into your diet every other day – or at least 3 times a week.
You can also supplement your diet with vitamin and omega-3 rich fish oil supplements. But don’t underestimate the benefits of fresh fish. New evidence comes up every day showing just how beneficial fish can be.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears MD
Sources:
1. Sears, Al. Health Alert #86: Not Your Mom’s Cod Liver Oil. www.alsearsmd.com/ha86.php
2. Can this food help you lose fat… and keep it off for good? Christian Finn’s Research Update. Issue 171, 24 Oct. 2004.