O.K. I don’t believe
there’s anyone out there that is particularly fond of belly fat or as it is
often referred to -- the “muffin top.” In
the past, I’ve discussed that the excess around the girth starts producing its
own hormones including estrogen. In that
article, I shared how this abdominal fat is a primary predictor of not only
cardiovascular disease, but also of diabetes and cancer. These are 3 of the 4 top killers in our
society. So obviously eliminating the
belly fat is a big deal, but for anyone who has tried, it can be a
challenge. One of the reasons losing
belly fat is so difficult is that it’s not there only as a result of poor diet
and lack of exercise. Chronic stress
will also contribute to the spare tire.
When you have any perceived stress, your body releases
certain "fight-flight" hormones including cortisol, norepinephrine
and epinephrine. This is a normal
healthy response to any threat or perceived stress. Typically, these hormones
will go up and down throughout the day with stress. The problem is that when
you are chronically stressed your cortisol levels goes up and stay up. These
elevated cortisol levels cause the body to resist weight loss because your body
thinks times are hard and you might starve.
So it hoards the fat you eat and takes fat from healthier areas and moves
it to your abdomen causing increased inflammation and insulin resistance in the
body. This belly fat then leads to more cortisol because it has higher
concentrations of an enzyme that converts inactive cortisone to active
cortisol. This increased cortisol
retains more abdominal fat and the cycle continues.
So what can be done?
To lose the weight in this area you must reverse the cortisol and
fight-flight reaction. Fortunately, as
long as you can find a form of exercise that you don’t resent and get more
stressed over; all exercises will at least temporarily inhibit the stress and
cortisol response. Secondly, stress is
most often a perception – we are not truly in a life-threatening
situation. Thus, you need to practice
shifting your mind and your thoughts from what is wrong in life (stress) to
what is right (gratitude). Meditation to
quiet your mind is also critical. This
change in the brain will change the hormones released. Finally, your fuel sources need to be
appropriate. Caffeine, nicotine, sugar,
flour and processed grains all act as stimulants that stimulate stress. Lean protein, healthy fats (omega 3’s) and
the minerals found in raw fruits and vegetables help to shut off the stress
response. In essence, if you eat, think,
and exercise appropriately, you can reverse this deadly epidemic to our health
and society.
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