Are your hormones making you hungry?

Hormones comprise our bodies’ messenger service. They coordinate the different functions in your body and control everything from your metabolism to your sexual function, circadian rhythms, and mood.

These chemical messengers also play a big role when it comes to food—specifically, when and how much we eat.

We’re talking about leptin and ghrelin, two hormones you may or may not have heard of before but that have a direct impact on your body and health nonetheless.

What are Leptin and Ghrelin?

Leptin and ghrelin are two of the major hormones that control your appetite and sense of hunger and fullness.

Ghrelin is primarily made in your stomach. Ghrelin signals your appetite, hunger, and fat storage. Unsurprisingly, your stomach releases ghrelin when it’s empty (or close to it), which means your ghrelin levels are at their highest before meals and at their lowest after you’ve finished eating.

Leptin is made by your adipose (fat) cells in response to stored fat levels. It helps regulate your body weight over the long term by sending signals to your brain when you’ve eaten enough to let you know that you’re full. If your body has high levels of leptin, your brain recognizes that you have plenty of stored fat and sends the signal that you are no longer hungry.

However, if you have low leptin levels, your brain believes you need to store more fat and signals that you need to eat.

Basically, you can think of leptin and ghrelin as two sides of the same coin. One side, ghrelin, triggers feelings of hunger to let you know it’s time to eat, while the other side, leptin, tells your body when you’ve had enough and need to stop.

How to Keep Your Leptin and Ghrelin Levels Balanced and Healthy

There are a number of strategies we can employ that can help keep leptin and ghrelin levels healthy and balanced.

Eat real food.

Our bodies were not designed to consume large amounts of sugary, processed, nutrient-stripped food. Focus instead on eating real, whole foods as close to what you would find in nature as possible.

Make protein a priority.

Protein is a super-important macronutrient, and it is effective at suppressing ghrelin as well. You probably know this from experience—you generally feel fuller longer when you eat a meal with protein than when you eat a meal without it. So focus on adding high-quality protein to every meal. 

Engage in self care.

Chronic stress is a recipe for disaster for our overall health and wellness, and that includes our hormone levels. Be sure to incorporate plenty of time in your schedule for activities that help you manage your stress in a healthy way.

Science may not yet have learned everything there is to know about leptin and ghrelin, but what we do know is enough to help encourage us to lean into healthy lifestyle practices. It’s my hope that something in this blog post gently nudges you in that direction too!