How Weight Loss Depends on Your Cortisol Levels
Losing Weight Without Understanding How Cortisol Levels Work, Is Like Rowing Upstream Without A Paddle!
Cortisol is the primary steroid hormone that helps you manage stress. It diverts stored energy to the brain and other important body systems. While this is useful when being chased by a tiger, it’s NOT so healthy when stress causes high cortisol levels for prolonged periods impacting your weight loss efforts!
By: Jon Bender
While cortisol diverts glucose to the brain and other life-sustaining processes to handle increased stress, unfortunately it negatively impacts your metabolism by blocking insulin responses. Thus, when you eat a meal high in sugar/carbohydrates, high cortisol levels will follow and that could affect your ability to control and lose weight.
Higher cortisol from taking in too many sugars/carbohydrates causes the body to become hyper-glycemic, mimicking the effects of being insulin-resistant, which is a key factor in today’s obesity epidemic. And, when your body doesn’t respond to insulin, it enables higher blood-sugar levels, even when only a moderate amount of sugars/carbohydrates is introduced into your system.
So, the ability of cortisol to basically turn a healthy system into a hyper-glycemic state, is counter productive, especially for those seeking to lose weight.
High Cortisol Levels Tend To Cause The Body To Store Fat Almost Immediately Upon Consuming Sugar and Carbohydrates
Many people wonder why when they eat less they still gain weight. The answer is almost always high cortisol! Cortisol oftentimes creates problems instead of solving them. It’s the main culprit behind blocked protein synthesis, high blood-sugar levels and food being converted immediately into stored energy (fat).
Although there were evolutionary benefits to cortisol, for example, enabling humans to run faster than normal away from predators and other threats, cortisol can sometimes wreak havoc today.
Most people these days do not have to run from wild animals, and if they do it is not often. However, high cortisol in general can result from daily stressors such as excessive sugar, caffeine, carbohydrates, work, unhealthy relationships, etc.
Weight Loss Works Only If Your Cortisol Levels Are In Balance
So how do you keep your levels in balance? A healthy system has low levels of sugar in the blood. It’s made up of between 8 and 18 percent body-fat, depending on whether you’re male or female. Women store fat differently than men, often around the hips and thighs; Men tend to gain around the belly.
While exercise and diet are important features in achieving that balance, and in losing weight, there are other ways to lower cortisol levels. Consider the following TIPS:
12 Effective Tips for Lowering Your Cortisol Levels…
- Healthy Exercise
- Eat Nutritious Food & Watch Your Portions
- Stop Eating at least 3-hours before going to sleep
- Consider “Time Restricted Eating” or “Intermittent Fasting” (6-8 hours/day)
- Increase water consumption and STOP drinking soda!
- Get the right amount of sleep
- Recognize Stressful/Negative Thinking (STOP “StinkingThinking!”)
- Deep Breathing – Try Dr. Weil’s simple stress relieving exercises*
- Laughter (The BEST Medicine!)
- Maintain Healthy Relationships
- Adopt a Pet
- Grow Your Faith (Prayer & Meditation)
Getting Effective Weight Loss Results Is Possible, But The First Step Is Lowering Cortisol Levels!
There is no way to get rid of excess stored fat until your cortisol levels are in check. Finding ways to reduce stress and limit sugar and carbohydrate intake will help to reduce cortisol levels.
The 12 TIPS above can help… But remember, the first goal to weight reduction and a “healthier you”, must be the reduction of high cortisol levels!
Once you start to see results, check with your health care provider on your next scheduled visit and ask him or her to test your cortisol.
“Trying to lose weight without managing your cortisol levels is like trying to row upstream without a paddle!”
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REFERENCES:
Natural Ways to Lower Cortisol Levels
6 Steps to Get Your Cortisol Levels Under Control & Turn Down the Stress