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One last response :)

There is a very interesting book out, called "Mastering Leptins" by Byron
Richards. It is a book for weight-loss, however, it is much more informative on
how our bodies respond to diseases such as celiac disease (tho CD is never
mentioned in the book--it speaks of stress and illness in general terms). It was
highly informative as to various hormonal problems I have been facing and why I
could go on a diet and actually gain weight instead of lose it.
If you are a person who has a large tummy (like me), and who has a terrible time
no matter what you do losing weight, this book is for you. It is a life-style
change book. I have not been on the program very long but have lost a few
pounds. More than that, tho, I have been able to get my sleeping and eating
patterns back on track after 15 years of only being able to sleep 4 or 5
hours/night and eating only 2 very light meals/day. I am actually eating more
than I was before and not gaining weight, but losing it very slowly.
When I bought the book, I was eating very little and still gaining weight. I
have not been able to implement the exercise plan in the book yet, due to
fatigue that I get when I have too much stress or gluten accidents. I was on the
exercise plan initially, but had problems with stress, so I cut it out for
awhile (I had the flu at the time).
The book is directly about stress, btw, and how stress is responsible for the
weight gain and how you get into an unhealthy self-sustaining loop of unbalanced
hormones in disarray and competing with one another at the wrong hours of the
day, thereby throwing off your circadian rhythm. Each hormone in our body has a
particular function and particular times to peak and ebb in order to perform
that function. Therefore, if this is out of whack due to excess cortisol, etc,
from on-going disease or other stress, it can wreak havoc with our entire bodily
hormone function. This, in a nutshell, is what the book is about. Beyond that,
it offers 5 rules of mastering leptins--the hormone that controlls the other
hormones and is most responsible for weight loss.
The rules (simplified) are:
Never eat after dinner; allow 3 hours between dinner and bedtime
Eat 3 meals/day, allowing 5 to 6 hours between each meal; never snack between
meals
Do not eat large meals (however, for me, I eat very large meals comparative to
what I was)
Eat a high protein breakfast
Reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat (I have added carbs--he tells you in
the book if you need to tweek your personal diet)
Beyond these rules is info on exercising properly in order to speed weight-loss.
This info alone was invaluable for me--he gives reasons why exercise is stress
provoking rather than refreshing and how to optimize an exercise workout.
It is a long book, and some of it is boring, but if you buy it, read the entire
book. I was tempted to just read the high-lights, but was very glad I kept with
it till the end. There is a great deal of very good info in the third part of
the book on how on-going disease disrupts our hormones.

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