How to Raise Leptin Levels

HOW TO RAISE LEPTIN LEVELS

Leptin is a hormone that helps manage appetite levels. If you are feeling lethargic or if you want to lose a little bit of weight, you may require more leptin in your system. Leptin works by informing your brain about how much you have in your fat reserves. These emergency reserves are available to your body when immediate or regular nutrition is not available. With weight gain, your leptin communication becomes confused, and you develop a resistance to leptin. This can cause continued weight gain that becomes very difficult to lose.

Step 1

Increase your daily dietary fiber consumption by eating high-fiber foods such as whole grains, legumes, oatmeal and celery. Fiber gives you a feeling of fullness, causing your intestinal tract to send a signal to your brain to release more leptin.

Step 2

Increase your daily whole vegetable and fruit consumption. As fruits and vegetables are high in fiber and water, while low in calories, eating more will tell your brain that you are full, without a high calorie intake. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends 2 cups of fresh fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables each day for a 2,000 calorie per day diet. Choose whole fruits and vegetables rather than juice, as they will ensure you consume their full fiber content, and help you avoid added sugar or salt, which are commonly added to vegetable and fruit juices.

Step 3

Sleep the recommended 8 hours a day if possible. If not, sleep more in general as your body makes less leptin if you don’t get enough rest. If you’ve ever felt hungrier the day after a poor night’s sleep, this is because your leptin levels have dropped and are telling your brain you need to eat.

Step 4

Stop eating after supper, or your final meal of the day. Snacking after supper is sometimes triggered by leptin production in the evening, making you think you are hungrier than you actually are. Not eating after supper, even if you feel munchy, can help increase your leptin levels.

Step 5

Increase your omega-3 fatty acid consumption through supplements or eating more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon and sardines. Omega-3 fatty acids help increase leptin levels by combating inflammation causing molecules, which are the main reason leptin resistance develops, especially among people who are overweight. A 1-cup serving of sardines contains almost 8 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, or, polyunsaturated fat. The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends limiting your omega-3 fatty acid consumption to no more than 3 grams per day if you are taking supplements.

Amber Heard, Johnny Depp Are Engaged, Kim Kardashian Shares Adorable New Photos of North: Top 5 Stories

Johnny depp really did put a ring on it! The actor and Amber Heard are engaged, and Kim Kardashian shared some adorable new photos of 7-month-old baby North West when she stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week -- and other top stories from Jan. 17.

1. It's True! Amber Heard Is Engaged to Johnny Depp!

Johnny Depp really did put a ring on it! After Amber Heard was spotted trying to hide some suspiciously flashy bling on her left ring finger earlier this week, fans wondered whether the actress had secretly gotten engaged to her Rum Diary costar. 

2. Kim Kardashian Shares Adorable New Photos of North, Says She Wants "A Million" Kids

Could North be any cuter? Kim Kardashian shared some adorable new photos of her 7-month-old baby girl when she stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week for an episode airing Friday, Jan. 17. 

3. Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan Film Fifty Shades of Grey New Car Scene

Lucky girl! Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan were photographed hard at work on the set of Fifty Shades of Grey in Vancouver, Canada. The costars shot a memorable scene from E.L. James' erotic novel where Christian Grey (Dornan) surprised Anastasia Steele (Johnson) with a brand new car.

4. Pregnant Gwen Stefani Reveals Baby Gender: Find Out What She's Having!

Looks like Gwen Stefani's lot in life is to be surrounded by strapping young men. The pregnant No Doubt rocker, who's expecting her third child with husband Gavin Rossdale, is having yet another baby boy, she revealed via Instagram on Friday, Jan. 17. 

5. First Pic: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Hubby Resurface With Bundled-Up Baby!

Baby Love Hewitt is out and about! Six weeks after giving birth to her first child, Jennifer Love Hewitt looked happier than ever with her family -- bundled-up daughter Autumn James Hallisay and husband Brian Hallisay -- during a Wednesday, Jan. 15 outing in Santa Monica, Calif.

Saling Serang, Atletico Vs Barcelona Tetap Tanpa Gol

MADRID, KOMPAS.com - Pertandingan babak pertama antara Atletico Madrid melawan Barcelona dalam lanjutan Liga BBVA di Stadion Vicente Calderon, Madrid, Sabtu (11/1/2014), masih tanpa gol.

Laga yang mempertemukan dua klub teratas Liga BBVA sejauh musim ini, berlangsung cukup ketat. Kedua klub saling jual-beli serangan sepanjang pertandingan.

Tuan rumah membuka kesempatan lebih dahulu pada menit ke-5. Aksi individu Arda Turan yang berhasil melewati beberapa pemain Barcelona, nyaris berujung gol. Namun, umpan silang Arda masih bisa dihalau bek Barcelona, Gerard Pique.

Semenit kemudian, pencetak gol terbanyak sementara Liga BBVA, Diego Costa, mengancam gawang Barcelona. Kali ini, peluang Costa melalui sepakan voli dengan mudah diamankan kiper Victor Valdes.

Saints try tough act with Seahawks, pay playoff-life price in Seattle

More Saints-Seahawks: Seahawks top Saints | Sorting the Pile: Lynch carries Seattle
SEATTLE -- The Saints picked a fight in the wrong alley. They showed up Saturday at CenturyLink Field with no self-awareness, fooling themselves into thinking they were the tougher team in the stadium, and they weren't. Not this stadium, home of the Seattle Seahawks, who are nasty anywhere but damn near unbeatable at home, where they made themselves comfortable amid ear-splitting noise and sheets of rain and gusts of wind en route to a 23-15 victory that propelled Seattle into one more home game -- the NFC Championship Game, next Sunday.
"We love it when teams try to get physical with us," Seahawks receiver Golden Tate said. "They tried to get outside of themselves and be tougher than us -- and you're not going to be tougher than us."
Maybe not anywhere, but definitely not at CenturyLink Field, which was built with cruel intentions. Between the roof covering 70 percent of the facility but none of the field -- meaning crowd noise has few escape routes while rain has only the field to pelt -- and the seats crammed close to the field and every surface covered in hard surfaces to make sure the noise ricochets instead of being absorbed, the Seahawks play in the loudest stadium in the world. They have a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records to prove it. Since 2002, nobody in the NFL has more home victories than the Seahawks.
And this is who, and this is where, the Saints tried to a deliver a message of toughness. The Saints, for god's sake. A finesse team that throws for 5,000 yards on offense and forces few turnovers on defense. The Saints walked into CenturyLink Field and tried to punk the Seahawks.
And after it was over, after the Seahawks scored the first 16 points and led 23-8 after 59 1/2 minutes, Tate had something to say about the Saints' tactics.
"Don't do that," Tate said. "Seriously -- don't do that."
The Saints did it, starting the foolishness nearly two hours before kickoff when tight end Jimmy Graham, who plays a beautiful game, tried to get ugly. He wandered onto the Seahawks' side of the field, attracted their attention and then wouldn't leave.
"I thought it was disrespectful," Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin said. "I asked him to move. He didn't. I asked him to go back to his side of the field. He's saying stuff like, 'I'm Jimmy.'
"I'm like, 'You're what?' "
Graham grabbed the knit cap off Irvin's head then and came back for more shortly before kickoff, taunting the Seahawks on their side of the field in their stadium. It's the sort of thing that might work in October against someone like the Rams -- no offense, St. Louis -- but it was never, ever going to work in January in Seattle, where Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has unlocked the key to making his team care like college kids while playing with the ferocity of professionals.
But it didn't end with Graham's pregame friskiness. On the Seahawks' first possession, the Saints defense tried to send more messages. On Seattle's second play from scrimmage safety Rafael Bush lowered his shoulder and drove it into Seahawks receiver Percy Harvin's head, sending Harvin to the locker room for concussion tests. Three plays later another Saints safety, Roman Harper, leveled Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin and loomed over him, menacingly.
"I just wanted to set the tone," Bush said. "We just wanted to be the more physical team, and for the most part I think we did that."
Maybe. Just not the part on the scoreboard.
At the end of that tone-setting first drive, Seattle kicked a field goal for a 3-0 lead -- which is how this game went. The Saints tried to be tough. The Seahawks shrugged and kept scoring.
"We go against the toughest defense in the league every day in practice," Tate said. "You're not going to be tougher on [game day] than we see during the week in practice."
To the Saints' credit -- or shame -- they succeeded in knocking Harvin out of the game. Slobber-knocking football is one thing, but administering a concussion is a life-altering turn of events, and on two occasions the Saints hit Harvin hard enough to send him to the locker room for concussion testing. The first time was Bush's illegal hit to Harvin's head. Harvin, an oft-injured playmaker who played only one game in the regular season, returned and made several big plays before being knocked back into the locker room, and out of the game, by a forearm shiver to the back of the neck by Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins late in the first half.

Robin Wright, Ben Foster are engaged

The "House of Cards" actress is engaged to actor boyfriend Ben Foster, a rep for Wright confirmed to People Magazine.

Wright, 47, flashed her engagement ring Friday at the opening of Diane von Furstenberg's "Journey of a Dress" exhibition in Los Angeles with Foster, 33, by her side.

In 2012 rumors began to swirl that things were heating up between the two after they costarred in the 2011 film, "Rampart."

This will be the third marriage for Wright who was previously married to actor Sean Penn for 13 years.
The former spouses share two children together Dylan, 22, and Hopper, 20.
RELATED: SEAN PENN, CHARLIZE THERON SPARK ROMANCE RUMORS
Penn, 53, has recently been romantically linked to actress Charlize Theron after they were spotted vacationing together at his beachfront home in Hawaii over New Year's.