What Else You Should Know
Cost: Eating organic will probably add to your grocery bill. Beyond your food shopping and supplements, the hormone tests Turner recommends may not be covered by your insurance.
Support: None, though Turner runs a Toronto clinic that offers health assessments, nutrition and exercise coaching, and other health and wellness services.
Can Hormones Prevent Weight Loss
Hormones are chemical messengers that give decisive signals for regulating hunger, satiety, thirst, body temperature, or even weight .
With the help of the hypothalamus, a control center in your brain, the hormone balance is significantly involved in keeping bodily functions in a healthy equilibrium.
This principle of homeostasis also applies to essential metabolic processes. Hence, its hard to lose weight once your hormones are out of balance.
Hormones decide whether you store energy or mobilize it, whether you are hungry or satiated, and how fat or muscle mass is distributed around the body.
Its not due to mere lack of willpower that more than 75% of adults in the U.S. are already overweight or obese .
If your hormonal balance is set incorrectly, you will not lose weight no matter how much you restrain yourself from eating or exercising several times a week.
Therefore, pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig concludes that the obesity epidemic is due to a hormonal imbalance, not a caloric one.
The hormonal system has the primary role in developing obesity, even though the cultural changes of the last half-century initiated it .
And this Western lifestyle has long ceased to be a purely American issue but rather a global one.
Everything You Need To Know About The Hormone Diet
Unsplash / Design by Dion Mills
In This Article
Trigger warning: Diet culture and disordered eating.
It would be best to view weight loss trends with a skeptical eye, especially those that require a huge overhaul to your current eating patterns and are restrictive. Diets that require you to eliminate food groups or eat meager calories are often more harmful than good. As well, your weight isn’t always an indicator of your health or hormonal functioning, as several other factors make up a healthy lifestyle.
The Hormone Diet claims to reset your hormones through diet modifications, helping you become healthier and lose weight in the process. But does it work, and is it safe? Here, we ask dietitians and to share their opinions of the Hormones Diet, whether or not it works, and what the pros and cons are.
Meet the Expert
- Mary Wirtz, MS, RDN, CSSD, is a nutritional consultant at Mom Loves Best.
- Jana Mowrer, MPH, RDN, CDCES, is a registered dietitian, nutritionist, certified diabetes care & education specialist, founder, and owner of HealthWins Coaching and Consulting.
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Want To Learn More About Your Weight And Hormones
To make an appointment with Drs. McDonald or Wilson at OB/GYN Specialists, call 940-202-0566 today. You can also send us a message here on our website.
Our Denton, Texas, office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5pm to offer our patients the chance to ask questions, get informed, and start living the lives they most desire.
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Lower Your Sugar Intake
Minimizing added sugar intake may be instrumental in optimizing hormone function and avoiding obesity, diabetes, and other diseases.
The simple sugar fructose is present in many types of sugar, comprising up to 43% of honey, 50% of refined table sugar, 55% of high fructose corn syrup, and 90% of agave .
In addition, sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in the Western diet, and fructose is commonly used commercially in soft drinks, fruit juice, and sport and energy drinks .
Fructose intake has increased exponentially in the United States since around 1980, and studies consistently show that eating added sugar promotes insulin resistance regardless of total calorie intake or weight gain .
Long-term fructose intake has been linked to disruptions of the gut microbiome, which may lead to other hormonal imbalances .
Whats more, fructose may fail to stimulate the production of the fullness hormone leptin, leading to decreased calorie burning and increased weight gain .
Therefore, reducing your intake of sugary drinks and other sources of added sugar may improve hormone health.
Summary
Diets high in sugar have been shown to promote insulin resistance, disrupt your gut microbiome, and reduce leptin production. Thus, lowering your sugar intake may aid hormonal health.
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Hormonal Imbalances You Cant Control
Again, even if youre doing everything right and utilizing these tips to try to keep your hormones in balance, you may still require some help from your doctor.
Checking your hormone levels in order to find out which of these are higher or lower and which may require more balance can help. This way, you will know what is creating your weight gain or loss and how you can better manage the issue at home and with your doctors help.
When Does Hormonal Balance Become Imbalanced
The hormonal balance is the normal level of hormones in the body. It is the balance between two different hormones and their functions. The balance of hormones is very important because they regulate our moods, emotions, sleep patterns, metabolism, energy levels, appetite, weight, etc.
If there is any imbalance in the hormonal system, then this can lead to many health problems, such as depression, anxiety, daily stress, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and others. Therefore, it is very important to maintain the balance of hormones in the body and keep them healthy.
Hormones are chemical messengers produced by glands which travel through the bloodstream and reach the target cells. They control almost every function of the human body.
There are two main types of hormones: steroidal hormones and peptide hormones. Steroidal hormones include estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, and DHEA. Peptide hormones include growth hormone, insulin, thyroid, melatonin, prolactin, and oxytocin.
There are three stages of life when we are concerned about maintaining the hormonal balance. This includes puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. During these stages, there are changes in the levels of hormones. For example, during puberty, the levels of estrogen increase while those of progesterone decrease. During pregnancy, the levels of progesterone and estrogens rise significantly. In menopause, the levels of estrogen and progesterone fall drastically.
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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.
Ready For Healthy Weight Loss
If you are ready to begin your journey toward improved health, talk to us today about hormone therapy for weight loss. Our team of functional doctors will provide guidance on how to balance hormones for weight loss through natural health protocols and proven dietary directives designed to rev up metabolism and aid in weight loss. If needed, hormone replacement therapy will be used.
Practice good health by eating a healthy diet, getting the recommended daily amount of sleep, following a detoxification program, and exercising daily to help in your journey toward weight loss. In addition to this, talk with your doctor to learn about the connection between bioidentical hormones and weight loss. Hormonal imbalances can negatively impact weight. Just one hormonal imbalance can cause your metabolism to drop significantly. By learning about the hormones that can help you lose weight, you will no longer be frustrated when the scales keep rising as you keep eating less and exercising more.
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You’re Consuming Too Much Sugar
I think of leptin as the hormone that says, “Darling, put down the fork.” Under normal circumstances, it’s released from your fat cells and travels in the blood to your brain, where it signals that you’re full. But leptin’s noble cause has been impeded by our consumption of a type of sugar called fructose, which is found in fruit and processed foods alike.
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When you eat small amounts of fructose, you’re OK. But if you eat more than the recommended five daily servings of fruit plus processed foods with added sugaryour liver can’t deal with the fructose fast enough to use it as fuel. Instead, your body starts converting it into fats, sending them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides and depositing them in the liver and elsewhere in your belly.
As more fructose is converted to fat, your levels of leptin increase . And when you have too much of any hormone circulating in your system, your body becomes resistant to its message. With leptin, that means your brain starts to miss the signal that you’re full. You continue to eat, and you keep gaining weight.
If you eat more than the recommended five daily servings of fruit, plus processed foods with added sugar, your liver can’t deal with the fructose fast enough to use it as fuel.
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 bodyâs 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 youâre 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 youâre 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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Protein Makes You Lose Weight Even Without Conscious Calorie Restriction
Protein works on both sides of the calories in vs calories out equation. It reduces calories in and boosts calories out.
For this reason, it is not surprising to see that high-protein diets lead to weight loss, even without intentionally restricting calories, portions, fat or carbs (
In this study, the participants lost an average of 11 pounds over a period of 12 weeks. Keep in mind that they only added protein to their diet, they did not intentionally restrict anything.
Although the results arent always this dramatic, the majority of studies do show that high-protein diets lead to significant weight loss .
A higher protein intake is also associated with less belly fat, the harmful fat that builds up around the organs and causes disease .
All that being said, losing weight is not the most important factor. It is keeping it off in the long-term that really counts.
Many people can go on a diet and lose weight, but most end up gaining the weight back .
Interestingly, a higher protein intake can also help prevent weight regain. In one study, a modest increase in protein intake reduced weight regain after weight loss by 50% .
So not only can protein help you lose weight, it can also help you keep it off in the long-term .
Bottom Line:
Eating a high-protein diet can cause weight loss, even without calorie counting, portion control or carb restriction. A modest increase in protein intake can also help prevent weight regain.
Hormones And Weight Gain: How To Fix The Hormones That Control Your Weight
Did you know that your weight is directly related to your hormones? This is a fact many of us forget as we travel along the often slow and frustrating road to weight loss. To maintain a weight thats healthy for our unique bodily makeup, a delicate balance of hormones is required. If certain hormones are off-kilter, weight gain often results.
In order to lose weight and keep it off we must understand the intricate inner workings of our many hormones. Once we understand the relationship between hormones and weight gain, we can take the proper steps to balance these hormones and lose weight in a sustainable, healthy way.
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Lifestyle: What Lifestyle Changes Can Help Balancing Hormones For Weight Loss
How to balance your hormones for weight loss?
There are many factors that affect our bodys hormone balance. Some of these factors include stress, diet, sleep patterns, physical activity, medications, age, gender, genetics, etc. When one of these factors changes, the balance of hormones in the body is affected. This imbalance causes us to feel tired, depressed, stressed, anxious, angry, sad, etc. The most common symptoms of this imbalance are fatigue, depression, anxiety, anger, sadness, etc.
Hormonal imbalances are often caused by poor lifestyle habits such as eating too much sugar, processed food, unhealthy fats, alcohol, caffeine, smoking, lack of exercise, etc. In addition, hormonal imbalances are often because of emotional issues like relationship problems, financial problems, work-related problems, etc.
When we eat foods that contain high amounts of carbohydrates , sugars or a poor diet of unhealthy fats , they cause insulin spikes which then leads to fat storage in the body. Insulin spikes are caused when blood glucose levels rise after consuming carbs. This is because our bodies use carbs as fuel and store excess calories as fat. If we do not burn those extra calories, they become stored as fat.
If you dont burn off the extra calories from carbs, they become stored as belly fat. Belly fat is stored around the organs and intestines. It is especially dangerous because it can lead to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc.
Balancing Hormones For Weight Loss: The Top Six To Know
Have you ever wondered how some people seem to diet throughout their lives while others keep a healthy weight without trying? Although they may have similar eating habits, their bodies could differ in metabolism, lifestyle, and possibly hormones.
Every person has their own personalized biochemistry. From genetic traits to distinct physiologies, we all have different makeups that make us unique.
While lifestyle choices make a major impact on health and weight, so do hormones. This article will provide an overview of the primary hormones involved in weight fluctuations and teach you how to balance them naturally.
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Eat Enough Protein At Every Meal
Consuming adequate amounts of protein is extremely important.
Not only does protein provide essential amino acids that your body cant make on its own, but your body also needs it to produce protein-derived hormones also known as peptide hormones .
Your endocrine glands make these hormones from amino acids. Peptide hormones play a crucial role in regulating many physiological processes, such as growth, energy metabolism, appetite, stress, and reproduction .
For example, protein intake influences hormones that control appetite and food intake, communicating information about energy status to your brain .
Research has shown that eating protein decreases the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates the production of hormones that help you feel full, including peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1 .
One 3-month study in 156 teenagers with obesity associated a high protein breakfast with increased PYY and GLP-1 levels, which resulted in weight loss due to increased feelings of fullness .
Experts recommend eating a minimum of 2030 grams of protein per meal. You can do this by including high protein foods such as eggs, chicken breast, lentils, or fish at each meal .
Summary
Eating sufficient protein triggers the production of peptide hormones, some of which suppress appetite and help you feel full. Aim for a minimum of 2030 grams of protein per meal.
Can You Combine These Supplements
While you will want to speak to your physician about combining these supplements, as a general rule of thumb, you may be able to combine one or more of these supplements into your daily intake. For example, because pregnenolone supports DHEA, you may be able to take both of these supplements at the same time.
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How To Prepare The Hormone Reset Diet & Tips
The plan claims to lead to a staggering weight loss of up to 15 pounds in 21 days by improving the balance of seven different hormones to burn belly fat and decrease appetite.
The 21-day program is similar to an elimination diet as it excludes specific foods thought to cause hormonal imbalances. Dr. Gottfied claims that most women have at least one, if not three or more, significant hormonal imbalances. The diet plan claims to fix these imbalances by eliminating meat, alcohol, fruit, grains, and dairy.
It should be noted that there is no scientific evidence to back up the claims made by Gottfried regarding the Hormone Reset diet. Some of the recommendations for what to eat or avoid are based on a quiz taken in the book.