What You Can Eat
Turner calls her food plan Glyci-Med,” since it’s a mix of foods low on the glycemic index and a traditional Mediterranean diet.
Foods you can eat include lean protein vegetables and most fruit chia seeds, flaxseeds, and most nuts olive oil and some other unsaturated oils and fats, like canola oil and whole grains like buckwheat, brown rice, and quinoa.
On this plan, you’ll avoid or minimize caffeine, alcohol, fried foods, processed meat, peanuts, saturated fat, full-fat dairy, artificial sweeteners, and simple high-GI carbs like white bread.
You’ll eat often — every 3-4 hours — making healthy food choices at least 80% of the time. But you do get one to two cheat meals a week.
How To Keep Estrogen At Optimal Levels
To balance estrogen levels naturally and prevent the weight gain that happens with an estrogen imbalance, youll want to do the following:
- Commit to a regular exercise routine. Many studies, including this 2012 one, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, explain how exercise lowers estrogen levels in obese women.
- Eat your fiber. Fibrous foods help decrease elevated estrogen levels.
- Eat veggies in the cruciferous family. These include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, and bok choy. Anything green and leafy is always a good idea, too!
- Reduce your exposure to endocrine disruptors. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with our natural hormones. Avoid plastic containers, cans, or water bottles made with BPA. Never microwave plastic.
- Choose organic foods when possible, and choose phthalate-free cosmetics and personal care products.
- Consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, which uses plant-based hormones identical to those produced naturally by the human body to keep hormones balanced.
Youre Losing Your Hair
If your increased abdominal weight gain is coinciding with an accelerated rate of hair loss, your hormones might be to blame. Specifically, thyroid hormones help to regulate your body weight as well as your hair growth so an underactive thyroid could be the culprit of hormonal belly if youre experiencing issues with both simultaneously.
Because the relationship between metabolism, thyroid hormones, and weight is complex, the exact mechanism by which thyroid hormones cause weight changes isnt entirely understood. The most simple explanation is that when your thyroid isnt producing enough hormones, your metabolic rate slows down, reducing the number of calories your body burns on a daily basis, and often contributing to weight gain, particularly around your midsection.
However, it isnt thyroid hormones alone that play a role in how much energy your body uses. Thyroid hormones work synergistically with a number of other hormones, proteins, receptors, and chemical messengers in the body making it a layered process with other downstream effects on inadequate thyroid levels such as fatigue, hair loss, constipation, and low libido.
Your gameplan:
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How To Balance Your Hormones
At Balanced Medical Solutions, our team specializes in getting to the root cause of your condition, and if hormone imbalance is hindering your ability to lose weight, we can help.
Our treatments include bioidentical hormone replacement therapy to level out your estrogen and relieve your menopause symptoms and your weight loss frustration.
We also offer treatments to optimize your pituitary gland, which is responsible for hormone production. In particular, this treatment increases your production of human growth hormone to increase your stamina, boost your metabolism, and sharpen your focus.
If youve hit a wall in your diet and exercise routine, it might just be your hormones. and find out if hormones are keeping you from losing weight.
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Are There Preventative Steps Or Measures To Avoid Hormonal Weight Gain
Seeking early evaluation with an endocrinologist so the appropriate interventions can be started sooner will help with minimizing and possibly reversing hormonal weight gain. Additionally, improving dietary choices, increasing physical activity, getting more sleep, managing stress levels effectively, quitting smoking, and limiting alcohol are all ways to decrease and avoid hormonal weight gain.
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Engage In Regular Exercise
Physical activity can strongly influence hormonal health. A major benefit of exercise is its ability to reduce insulin levels and increase insulin sensitivity.
Insulin is a hormone that has several functions. One is allowing cells to take up sugar and amino acids from the bloodstream, which are then used for energy and maintaining muscle.
However, a little insulin goes a long way. Too much can be downright dangerous.
High insulin levels have been linked to inflammation, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Whats more, they are connected to insulin resistance, a condition in which your cells dont respond properly to insulins signals .
Many types of physical activity have been found to increase insulin sensitivity and reduce insulin levels, including aerobic exercise, strength training and endurance exercise (
18 ).
For people who are unable to perform vigorous exercise, even regular walking may increase these hormone levels, potentially improving strength and quality of life .
Although a combination of resistance and aerobic training seems to provide the best results, engaging in any type of physical activity on a regular basis is beneficial.
Summary:
Performing strength training, aerobics, walking or other forms of physical activity can modify hormone levels in a way that reduces the risk of disease and protects muscle mass during the aging process.
Level Of Effort: Medium To High
First, you’ll quit caffeine, alcohol, sugar, dairy, gluten, and most oils for 2 weeks.
Also, Turner recommends using pH strips and ketone strips to test your bodys pH balance getting a series of blood, urine, or saliva tests to check hormone levels and taking supplements including multivitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and calcium–magnesium–vitamin D3.
Limitations: If youre used to eating prepared meals and snacks, The Hormone Diet might be a big adjustment, since it focuses on whole foods that you cook yourself. If you love coffee or soda, you may find it hard to give up these beverages in favor of green tea and other drinks on Turner’s list.
Cooking and shopping: The plan calls for eating organic foods as much as possible. The recipes and 1-week sample menu are fairly basic, so if youre not comfortable cooking the foods in the diet plan, your options may be limited.
Packaged foods or meals: Not required, though Turner recommends certain brands of supplements.
In-person meetings: No.
Exercise: Turner recommends getting roughly 30 minutes of exercise 6 days a week in a mix of strength training, cardio, interval training, and yoga.
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Health & Wellnessits Hard To Lose Weight A Doctor Shares 6 Essential Tips To Make It Easier
“I was just feeling hope for the first time,” French said. “Some of my menopause symptoms were already fading. I wasn’t having the night sweats, I wasn’t having the hot flashes in the daytime. I was feeling clearer and I was definitely feeling more energetic.”
To determine if you have a hormone imbalance, ask your primary care provider about administering a simple blood test that can reveal that information.
Gottfried gave Shriver a list of foods that are good for maintaining those hormone levels during a visit to the supermarket. To balance insulin levels, the hormone that helps you regulate whether you store or burn fat, Gottfried recommends stocking up on dark, leafy greens, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, onions, and foods like avocados that are rich in healthy fats.
Natural Ways To Balance Your Hormones
Hormones have profound effects on your mental, physical and emotional health.
These chemical messengers play a major role in controlling your appetite, weight and mood, among other things.
Normally, your endocrine glands produce the precise amount of each hormone needed for various processes in your body.
However, hormonal imbalances have become increasingly common with todays fast-paced modern lifestyle. In addition, certain hormones decline with age, and some people experience a more dramatic decrease than others.
Fortunately, a nutritious diet and other healthy lifestyle behaviors may help improve your hormonal health and allow you to feel and perform your best.
This article will show you 12 natural ways to balance your hormones.
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Midlife Fitness For Women
Your female clients have a lot of questions, and AFAAs Midlife Fitness for Women has the answers. In this online course, youll focus on the physiology of women during and past midlife, including the stages and symptoms associated with menopause and the potential long-term effects of estrogen deficiency . In addition, you will learn programming strategies for this population.
REFERENCES
Agnihothri, R.V., et al. 2014. Moderate weight loss is sufficient to affect thyroid hormone homeostasis and inhibit its peripheral conversion. Thyroid, 24 , 1926.
Arent, S. 2018. Assessing body composition, performance metrics & biomarkers. Dr. Bubbs Performance Podcast, Season 2, Episode 12. Accessed Jan. 4, 2019: drbubbs.com/season-2-podcast-episodes/2018/3/s2-episode-12-assessing-body-composition-performance-metrics-biomarkers-w-dr-shawn-arent-phd.
Belfort, R., et al. 2005. Dose-response effect of elevated plasma free fatty acid on insulin signaling. Diabetes, 54 , 164048.
Boden, G., et al. 1991. Effects of fat on insulin-stimulated carbohydrate metabolism in normal men. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 88 , 96066.
Chao, A.M., et al. 2017. Stress, cortisol, and other appetite-related hormones: Prospective prediction of 6-month changes in food cravings and weight. Obesity , 25 , 71320.
Ferrannini, E., et al. 1983. Effect of fatty acids on glucose production and utilization in man. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 72 , 173747.
Hormones And Your Weight
Hormones are chemical molecules that act as messengers, responsible for communicating between the different systems of the body. They are secreted into the bloodstream and transported towards the areas of the body where they perform their work.
Among the many functions of hormones are regulating physiological activities like digestion, metabolism, respiration, tissue function, sleep, stress, development, and reproduction. Hormones also impact your body weight and fat distribution.
A study published in the Journal of Women’s Health explains that women have a higher risk of obesity than men due to hormonal fluctuations throughout their lives. This hormone-weight link also affects men to a lesser degree. Fortunately, both women and men can minimize this risk with proper prevention and early intervention.
Many complain that when they lose weight, they tend to gain it all back quickly. Others observe that their weight creeps up as they age. Finally, some follow a perfect diet with a consistent exercise routine, but nothing seems to work.
These situations may be the direct result of hormonal imbalances. With age, both men and women undergo changes in their hormone levels. As long as they remain off-balance, weight loss may seem impossible. While women largely deal with progesterone and estrogen imbalances, men have testosterone to blame.
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How To Get Cortisol Under Control
Tips for maintaining healthy, balanced cortisol levels include the following:
- Consider what relaxes you. Is it meditation? A walk in the park? A bubble bath? Engaging in a creative project? Find what relieves stress for you, and integrate it into your daily routine.
- Exercise regularly, and give yoga a try if its not already part of your workout regimen. The synchronized breathwork that accompanies a nice, flowing vinyasa routine calms the nervous system and reduces cortisol all while giving your body and mind a thorough workout.
- Listen to your favorite music. A 2011 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that patients who listened to instrumental music during surgery had lower cortisol levels than a control group.
- Get enough sleep at night. Have you ever noticed how easily stressed and anxious you become on days when youre sleep deprived? This happens because during a night of deep, restorative sleep, your body is working to balance all hormones, including cortisol. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine explored how sleep deprivation impacted helicopter pilots on a 7-day emergency medical duty. Findings suggested it was sleep deprivation not the act of emergency medical care that elevated adrenaline and cortisol levels.
Do You Ever Find Yourself Saying This
- No matter how much I exercise or eat right, I cant lose this excess weight.
- As Ive been getting older, my metabolism has slowed and I keep gaining weight.
- Once I lose the weight, the fat comes right back to me.
If you can relate to the above, you may be suffering from a hormonal imbalance.
As a Nurse Practitioner, and a Doctor with experience in weight management and bioidentical hormone therapy, I can tell you firsthand that your weight affects your hormones and, on the flipside, your hormones affect your weight. So, which came first? The chicken or the egg? Its kind of hard to tell, but there are things you can do to help both at the same time and lead to a leaner body and put your hormones back into balance. Even if youre going through menopause, you can help relieve hot flashes, weight gain, and other symptoms of menopause by changing your diet.
First, its helpful to know what hormones are, what role they have in the body, and what the major players are.
So, what are hormones? And how to balance your hormones to lose weight? Hormones are chemical messengers that are made in the body and are responsible for almost every bodily function. We cant survive without them! Without hormones, we would never experience hunger and may possibly starve to death. Without hormones, we wouldnt be able to make babies and mankind would end. Crazy, isnt it?
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How To Balance Ghrelin Levels
If you have a sneaking suspicion your ghrelin levels are in need of some TLC, here are a couple of ways to balance them:
- Eat adequate amounts of protein. Protein helps you feel full and should be consumed with every meal. Studies show how eating protein promotes healthy ghrelin levels.
- Avoid sugar as much as possible. As you can see by now, consuming too much sugar disrupts hormonal balance, making weight loss seem an impossible feat. Be sure to read labels. If an item contains high-fructose corn syrup, dont buy it. A 2013 study published in Nutritional Diabetes shows how high-fructose corn syrup is one of the primary culprits of imbalance when it comes to hormones and weight gain.
How To Reset Your Hormones And Melt Fat
Did you know that there is direct relationship between hormones and weight loss? Your hormones control every aspect of weight loss including your metabolism, where you store your fat, your appetite and even your cravings.
This means that any kind of hormonal imbalance may sabotage your weight loss efforts! Sure, skipping potato chips and hitting the treadmill is a trusted way to lose weight, but if your hormones are out of balance you may struggle to lose weight. However if you understand how they work and how to reset them you will be able to lose weight faster.
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Have You Tried Everything And Are Still Struggling To Get Rid Of Belly Bulge It Turns Out Your Hormones May Be The Answer Find Out Why A Hormonal Imbalance Can Cause You To Hold Onto Fat In Unexpected Places And How To Get Rid Of Hormonal Belly Today
Unexplained weight gain can be frustrating, especially when you feel like youre doing all the right things. Sometimes, though, a sudden belly bulge or stubborn abdominal weight you cant seem to lose is a sign of something deeper going on with your hormones. Your hormones actually play a big part in regulating metabolism, hunger, fullness, and energy. And because your hormones are always talking to each other, they form a tangled web of communication to keep your body regulated.
A number of hormone-related conditions can cause abdominal weight gain including an underactive thyroid, polycystic ovary syndrome , or menopause. Outside of specific conditions, general hormone imbalances, which can be the result of obesity, environmental triggers and toxins, chronic stress, or medications, may also be at the root of your resistant hormonal belly fat. If you think youre dealing with a hormonal belly, here are a few signs to look for.
Lose Weight This Year With The Help Of Hormone Replacement Therapy
If youre determined to lose weight this year, you should know that diet and exercise arent always the answer. Sometimes you can diligently exercise and watch calories, yet still fail to drop those pesky pounds.
Your struggle to lose weight may be the result of a hormone imbalance thats sabotaging your efforts. Here at BioAge Health, weve helped many patients in Eagan and the Twin City area of Minnesota successfully lose weight by restoring their natural hormones.
As a board-certified bioidentical hormone specialist and weight loss specialist, Dr. Catherine Kodama works closely with each patient, providing support and exceptional help with hormone deficiencies that contribute to weight gain.
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Understand How Insulin Impacts Weight
Insulin is one of the most important hormones when it comes to weight loss and weight gain. Made by the pancreas, insulin is responsible for storing blood sugar, or utilizing it, depending upon your bodys needs of the moment. After you eat a large meal, a substantial amount of insulin releases itself into the bloodstream. It also enters the bloodstream as needed throughout the day, ensuring that blood sugar levels remain stable.
Another key function of this essential hormone is fat storage. Insulin decides how much fat to store, and how much to convert for energy expenditure. Chronically high levels of insulin can lead to a condition known as insulin resistance, which is linked to an uptick in blood sugar as well as continued elevated insulin levels.
Preventing this insulin imbalance is crucial, as it leads to weight gain, and eventually type 2 diabetes. When insulin levels remain high over an extended period of time, obesity and metabolic syndrome are often the unfortunate outcome.