One would think that eating too much would result in an abundance of nutritional support for cells. But being overweight and undernourished at the same time is a reality that is just beginning to be understood.

Overweight people often suffer from gross malnutrition

because the nutritional values of the basic foods available to us have been steadily dropping. Excessive caloric intake from too many processed white foods, with the fiber removed along with many vitamins and minerals, is the fast track to leptin resistance. Since it is hard to overeat so-called natural foods, excess calories usually come from junk foods. Dieters are not just starving themselves of calories, they are starving themselves of vital nutrients on top of already existing mineral deficiencies.

Leptin is a hormone that triggers a sense of feeling full. A leptin deficiency can cause overeating, leading to obesity and obesity-related deficiencies. Most people do not have a leptin deficiency – they have a leptin resistance, which is a serious health issue. Essentially they are overfeeding their body but the perception from the brain is that they are starving because they are actually missing vital nutrients such as magnesium. New research finds that these hungry brain cells then release “feed me” signals, which drive up hunger, slow down metabolism and therefore cause diets to fail.

When leptin is working properly, it prevents nutrient spillover by telling insulin to shut off. Every time excess food is eaten (more than what the body needs for energy) leptin and insulin levels surge. Leptin resistance leads to insulin resistance which further establishes leptin resistance. Syndrome X, also known as metabolic syndrome, is a combination of insulin resistance, leptin resistance and glucose intolerance.