Work in Progress
Article 5 – by Paul Curran
My first four pieces have looked at how to implement the rules of the Leptin Lifestyle. How have you been getting on? – Some better than others for sure. Let’s quickly recap on Byron Richard’s Five Rules for Leptin Control:
* Â Eat only 3 meals per day and do not snack. Snacking interferes with Leptin signalling
* Â Leave approximately 6 hours between meals and 12 hours overnight between supper and breakfast. The overnight fast allows the body to progress from burning glucose to burning fat for up to four hours before breakfast.
* Â Finish eating your evening meal at least three hours before bedtime. This allows Leptin to peak naturally during the hours of sleep and reduce slowly during the night.
* Â Eat modest size meals and eat slowly. This reduces insulin release and hence the amount of fat deposition.
* Â Have some protein with every meal including breakfast. This maintains the metabolism at a steady rate.
[caption id="attachment_44373" align="alignright" width="390"]
Paul Curran, health promoter, explains more of the Leptin diet.[/caption]
What has struck me personally is how well these rules fit together. It took me several months to replace unhealthy old patterns with sustainable and healthful new ones but now that I have I’m amazed at how resilient I’ve become to food cravings. They’ve basically disappeared. Today when I feel hungry, it’s because I am. I can listen to my body with confidence and I even feel a small measure of remorse when I realise I’ve eaten nothing for 8 hours. It’s as if I’ve mistreated a friend. As I’ve said before, my weight’s been stable +/- 1 pound over the last couple of years. I’m rewarded with all the energy I need and robust good health as God intended.
Since returning to Ireland and bringing attention to my health I’ve come to understand that, important as it is, it’s only entry level stuff to a higher way of being. I’m very clear that even the best of health will one day fail and that we all must surrender to inevitable decline. For me it’s not about adding years to my life as much as adding life to my years.
Part of having a healthy body is having a healthy brain. This gives us the best chance of developing a healthy mind with which we can open up to our spiritual development and to a deep appreciation for the beauty of life. In this respect we are all a work in progress.
The joy is in our journey rather than our destination. In this column I want to discuss nutrition in its broadest sense – for the body, mind and soul. While we are alive they are inseparable and interactive.
No one element can adequately describe who we are. Nor can we focus exclusively on improving one at the expense of another. We all know of folk who, weighed down with troubles, develop ailments that afflict or even kill them. There is a need then for genuine ‘re-creation’, for letting go of hurts, for finding forgiveness for others and ourselves.
Here I include a generous measure of self-acceptance, of understanding and relating to our ‘shadow’ selves so that we minimise repression and the surge of harmful hormones that it causes. As the summer approaches so we will explore how our natural environment nurtures our well-being and what we need to do to protect both it and ourselves.
PS: If the ‘No Snacking’ rule feels tough, try making up a bowl of mixed nuts and 85% cocoa chocolate. Banish initial cravings with healthy snacks until you no longer need them.
Action Centred Health
Tel: 07876 741679
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