2: All Things Leptin (Leptin 101) | Dr. Ron Rosedale

It does appear that there were many misunderstandings and I apologize for this. This, in part, was due to the frequent interruptions of the phone connection, perhaps poor explanations on my part, but also to false preconceptions about what certain terms mean.

I did say that one should eat moderate protein that I defined as that protein that can be utilized as opposed to burned for fuel. This will vary per person depending mostly on lean mass, but also activity level, growth, and pregnancy. For most people this will be 50 to 60 g per day divided into several meals. When I am talking about protein, I’m talking about pure protein. A 3 ounce piece of meat or fish (a deck of cards sized) has approximately 20 g of protein, the rest mostly being water and a little fat. Two eggs has between 12 and 14 g of protein. Therefore, as an example, one can easily eat two eggs for breakfast, a piece of chicken for lunch, and some fish at dinnertime to easily meet one’s protein needs. What Atkins had originally told people to eat was low carbohydrate of any kind and anything else was mostly fine. His later books, not written by him but a ghost writer that knew me well, followed more my guidelines.

Carbohydrates can be divided into two general forms; fiber or not fiber. The major difference from a nutritional standpoint is that fiber cannot turn to sugar. Any carbohydrate that is not fiber will turn to sugar in some way shape or form and should be avoided as much as possible. Carbohydrates are a non-essential nutrient. There is no need to count carbohydrates then; the fewer non-fiber carbohydrates the better. The majority of vegetables consist mostly of cellulose (fiber) and water and would therefore be acceptable. There are certainly “sugary” exceptions including beets, corn, baby carrots, etc. Essentially, as far as carbohydrates go, pick your health.

Fat; this is the fuel that the vast majority of your cells should be burning the vast majority of the time. In other words, this is what your cells should be eating. I don’t believe that I have ever said (or at least meant) in my lifetime to not eat a high-fat diet. Quite the contrary. If you are hungry, I feel you should eat as long as it is the proper foods to keep insulin and leptin levels low. Fat and oils are the major macronutrients that fall into that category. However, I do not feel one should eat large meals. Eating smaller meals will give time for appetite controlling hormones to act.

Because it is your cells that eat, and they are eating all of the time, you can never know how many calories they are eating; you cannot count calories. What you put in your mouth is not necessarily what your cells will eat. What they eat will be determined by hormones secreted secondary to what you put in your mouth. In other words, you should eat to regulate hormones that will determine what your cells eat later.

I praise the health benefits of caloric restriction, but not its human application from a practical standpoint. Somewhat of a holy grail in aging research has been to find a way to mimic caloric restriction, without having to caloric restrict. I believe that is what my diet does as verified by laboratory tests that mimic those found in caloric restriction (and previously published). Most of the benefits of calorie restriction appeared to be secondary to restricting carbohydrates and protein, not fat. Furthermore, by strengthening leptin signaling, my diet will elicit far better appetite control and this will likely reduce the amount of food one puts in their mouth. By reducing hunger, this diet will help prevent one from overeating, and therefore unconsciously, and painlessly, restrict calories. Furthermore, as insulin and especially leptin signaling become corrected one becomes able to properly burn fat stores. Therefore, your cells, you, will be able to “eat” your (often excessive) fat stores even when you do not put any food in your mouth, such as when you are sleeping. This is very desirable and also helps to preserve lean body mass, including protein matrix of bone.

By way of summary, and a major point that I made (and hopefully did not get cut off) was that optimal health and lifespan will be determined by the proportion of fat versus glucose one burns. Burning fat or ketones is far healthier than burning glucose as fuel. Whether one burns glucose or fat is determined by very powerful metabolic hormones, namely leptin and insulin. These in turn are controlled by what you eat.

Hopefully these explanations help. If not, keep firing away with questions.