Optimal Pillar 4

How Does The Leptin Rx Work?

Many people have contacted me about "why" the leptin Rx works and "how" does it work. Many people in the blogosphere have made some claims that much of what is in the leptin Rx is a rehash of the work found in some diet books. Well, today's post is being done to show you the science underneath my recommendations were formulated and made. None of the underlying science I will mention to you about neuroplasticity will be found in any diet book mentioned in any blog post that I know of. Most of you know I am a neurosurgeon, and as such, I was dramatically influenced by two world famous neurosurgeons named Wilder Penfield and David Kline. Dr. Penfield was the first neurosurgeon to use electrodes on the brain to map it prior to surgeries to avoid neurologic damage during tumor removal. Dr. Kline was and still is the pre eminent world expert in peripheral nerve surgery. I happened to train with Dr. Kline in New Orleans, and got turned on to his work, Dr. Penfield's work and the work of Dr. Merzenich in the early 1990's before leptin was even discovered. Dr. Michael Merzenich work on sectioning the median nerve in the hand and seeing how the brain remapped its sensory territory in the cortex via micro-electrodes was brought to my attention by Dr. Kline while I was a resident.

THE “TEETH” IN DISEASE?

READERS SUMMARY: 1. HOW SCIENCE PRESENTS A CURVEBALL YOU DID NOT SEE COMING? 2. HOW YOUR MOUTH MIGHT BE THE KEY TO DIABETES, OBESITY AND INFLAMMATION? 3. IS THERE A HYPOTHALAMIC PAROTID AXIS? 4. IS THE PAROTID GLAND THE MOUTH'S PANCREAS? Most of you may not know that before I was a neurosurgeon I [...]

By Jack Kruse|October 22nd, 2011|Cancer, Diabetes, Hormones & Methylation, Inflammation, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Longevity Principles, Mitochondria, Optimal Pillar 4, Pancreatic Cancer, Series: Miscellaneous, The Digestion Connection, The Leptin Prescription, The Optimal Paleo Diet|144 Comments

WHAT SHOULD HCG/PALEO USERS CONSIDER AS ADJUNCTS?

READERS SUMMARY: ARE THE SUPPLEMENTS FOR THE LEPTIN RESET DIFFERENT FOR HCG USERS? WHAT ARE THOSE SUPPLEMENTS? WHAT DO THOSE SUPPLEMENTS DO? WHAT SHOULD HCG USERS CONSIDER OVER A STANDARD PALEO/PRIMAL TEMPLATE? I decided to add this post for the many readers I have that use HCG. To say that I have been inundated with [...]

TO B OR NOT TOO B……..OR IS IT PROTEIN?

READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHY IS PALEO PROTEIN CRITICAL TO CARTILAGE AND TENDON REPAIR? 2. HOW DOES PROTEIN HELP REPAIR CARTILAGE IN INJURY AND DEGENERATION? 3. WHY ARE B VITAMINS CRITICAL TO THE PALEO TEMPLATE? 4. WHY A PALEO TEMPLATE IS BEST FOR A PREGNANT MOM OR A YOUNG CHILD? Today, we are going to go [...]

By Jack Kruse|October 5th, 2011|Autism, Cancer, Depression, Diabetes, Epi Paleo, Epigenetics, HIIT - Heavy Weights, MS - Multiple Sclerosis, Nutrients and Supplements, Optimal Pillar 4, Optimal Pillar 5, Series: Miscellaneous, The Optimal Paleo Diet|45 Comments

HOW TO FIND YOUR INNER MASTERPIECE?

READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHAT IS PPAR-gamma AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? 2. HOW DOES IT TIE ARTHEROSCLEROSIS, VITAMIN K2, AND OUR LIPID PANEL TOGETHER? 3. HOW IS A LEAKY GUT, THE LIVER, OBESITY,CHOLESTEROL, BLOOD PRESSURE TIED TOGETHER? 4. HOW IS EXERCISE COUPLED TO THIS COMPLEX WEB? 5. HOW DOES PQQ FIT INTO ALL THIS? 6. [...]

By Jack Kruse|October 1st, 2011|Cancer, Cold Thermogenesis, Diabetes, Epi Paleo, Heart Disease, HIIT - Heavy Weights, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Live your Optimal Weight, Mitochondria, Nutrients and Supplements, Optimal Pillar 2, Optimal Pillar 4, Optimal Pillar 5, Series: Miscellaneous, The Leptin Prescription, The Optimal Paleo Diet|Comments Off

MSG, your GUT, and your BRAIN, Post-Trauma

READERS SUMMARY: 1. How does MSG and aspartame affect you and your brain and your fat loss? 2. What do artificial sweeteners do to a human? 3. How does neuronal injury from diet, trauma, and energy depletion all tie together? 4. What about young humans? 5. What about young humans with injured brains? In part [...]

By Jack Kruse|September 17th, 2011|Circadian Cycle, Diabetes, Endometriosis and PCOS, Epi Paleo, Hormones & Methylation, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Live your Optimal Weight, Menopause / Andropause, Nutrients and Supplements, Optimal Pillar 4, Optimal Pillar 5, Series: Leaky Gut, The Leptin Prescription, The Optimal Paleo Diet, Thyroid|68 Comments

The Leptin Rx: FAQs

What should I do before I start The Leptin Reset? Before you start, take a picture of yourself from all angles. Don't be bashful or you'll be sorry in 18-24 months. Next, weigh yourself naked. Let your significant other or a family member take this picture. Go to the store and buy a piece of clothing that does not fit you now, but will when you have met your goal. Remember, calories are important when you're LR (leptin resistant) and mean nothing once you are LS (leptin sensitive). Macronutirents count when you're LR and mean nothing when you're LS. How do I determine if I am leptin resistant? Remember, you can be LR (leptin resistant) if you're fat or skinny. If you're overweight by more than 30lbs, it is a lock you have some degree of LR. If you're underweight by 20 lbs, you are likely LR, too. If you had an eating disorder, you're likely suffering from a serious leptin issue. The easiest test is to look in the mirror. The mirror does not lie and it is really cheap. For those people who still can't be sure after peeking in the mirror, you can order some blood tests. My favorite is the HS CRP (highly sensitive C-Reactive protein) and the reverse T3 tests (but there are others). They are accurate in over 90{a7b724a0454d92c70890dedf5ec22a026af4df067c7b55aa6009b4d34d5da3c6} of cases.

Central Leptin Dominance: Part 3 – King of The Hill

So now that we examined Dr. Lustig's insulin theory of metabolic control we need to take a look at the reward tracts that are located in the human brain. These tracts have been well studied and their neurochemistry is well understood. What appears not to be as well known is how the hypocretin neurons and the leptin receptor control and modulate their activity. The key point here is that the dopaminegic tracts eloquently spoken of Dr. Guyenet's reward series are the "efferent only" path that is part of the effector arm of the leptin receptor and the hypocretin neurons. This means, in English, they are playing second fiddle to the leptin receptors and are not the dominant cause of obesity. They clearly play a major role in the neuro-circutry but they do not control obesity. They carry out the action but the orders were given by someone else. One of the reasons I had a major problem with the reward series, is because of my "day job" as a neurosurgeon. I have had the opportunity to operate on many brain tumors in the reward tracts and never have I ever seen either preoperatively or postoperatively one patient develop severe morbid obesity. If these tracts were truly dominant causes this would lead neurosurgeon and neurologists to see many patients with this problem. Well, we do not. That was a big issue for me with the theory. The second issue I had with it was that when we neurosurgeon's have patients with brain tumors involving the hypothalamus we see tremendous effects on feeding, obesity and on anorexia. This is well documented and I have personally seen this in many cases. Dr. Lustig pointed this out in his AHS 2011 talk when he showed some clinical cases of craniopharyngioma's and of hypothalamic trauma's that resulted in morbid obesity.

By Jack Kruse|August 30th, 2011|Anorexia and Bulimia, Diabetes, Epi Paleo, Live your Optimal Weight, Optimal Pillar 4, Osteoporosis, Series: Leptin, The Leptin Prescription, The Optimal Paleo Diet|44 Comments

Central Leptin Dominance For Health: Part 1

Today, we are going to cut deeper into the leptin story. We need to look at the leptin receptor because its biology will explain why studying macronutients at a dietary level just becomes a confusing mess with seemingly multiple paradoxes. I recently commented on this in Paul Jaminet's blog on August 24th 2011. The comment was very detailed but not written well so I am going to lay out the reasoning in the next few blogs. As most of you know leptin is the lynchpin in my Quilt and sits at position two. Many people might not realize how important it is for health, in sickness, and for optimal endocrine function. It is the dominant factor in obesity and this series is out to show you why this is the case based upon the data coming out of some labs who specialize in this neurobiology. This series is going to be laser like biochemistry on a 30 foot level. When we talk about this type of lab science it is very easy to lose perspective of the larger story I am trying to unveil to you. I have previously called leptin the master hormone of the brain. Remember that the brain has two ways to control things, one is direct neural wiring and the second is the control over the hormonal secretions body wide. Given these two factors, I think I may have under called it, honestly. This hormone signals the entire body's nutritional status, metabolic status, and endocrine status to the brain at all times. The brain in turn uses leptin to regulate total glycemic control, energy balance, and all neuroendocrine function in all systems in humans. This means that energy regulation is centrally controlled by our neuroendocrine system. The brain uses this hormone as an afferent and efferent signaling hormone to know precisely what is going on in our 20 trillion cells body wide. The brain does not have direct wiring to all 20 million cells because of space limitations of our cranium and our mother's vaginas. So it uses hormones and cytokines to extend its power and reach to send signals to those 20 trillion cells.

By Jack Kruse|August 27th, 2011|Diabetes, Epi Paleo, Hormones & Methylation, Live your Optimal Weight, Optimal Pillar 4, Series: Leptin, The Importance of Sleep, The Leptin Prescription, The Optimal Paleo Diet|13 Comments

Vitamin D: The Sunshine of Your Life?

I was in a lounge watching the news last week and began to over hear a group of dermatologists talk about the new FDA rules set down for sunblocks that will go into effect in January of 2012. There was unanimous agreement among them all that sunlight was the source of everything that was bad in their world. One of the doctors said to another that, "no human should be out in the sun and they should just take vitamin D3 from the drug store instead of getting it from the sun." It was at that point I knew this was going to make a blog post about this. Apparently no one realizes that photosynthesis supports most of the food chain on this planet? And we are the mammal who has an energy hog in our head that needs energy. Since our skin is derived from neuro-ectoderm and we too use photosynthesis to make Vitamin D for our protection from poor electron dense foods in summer maybe we better re think this position. It is beyond me why the sun is so vilified. We could not have evolved past single cells organisms without it. We all learned that simple fact in school. But now with advanced degrees and plaques on our wall, are we going to blame all skin diseases all on the sun now? I definitely don't buy this conventional wisdom. So I decided to begin to add pieces to the immunity levee in the QUILT because of this conversation. And before we start let me be clear. It is better to get Vitamin D3 from the natural sources before a supplement in my opinion. But there is a catch to this pearl of wisdom. First, review this link on natural Vitamin D production.