Stress, Diet and Hormone Balance
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If you want to lose menopause weight gain, balance your hormones and live a healthier life, you are going to have to kill your stress before it kills you. Chronic stress will eventually kill you and not only that, it will make you fat, especially around the waist line before it does. Stress, hormones and diet have a deep connection to your ability to lose weight.
If you are following a hormone diet, using bioidentical hormones and still find that you have excess weight, take an audit of the stress in your life. Are you in a relationship that creates stress for you? Are you commuting daily to work? Are you suffering from sleep disturbances, waking up in the middle of the night and then unable to get back to sleep? Are you alone and suffering from loneliness? Are you suffering from adrenal burnout, feeling stressed, worried, anxious, all the time? Have you had your thyroid levels checked recently?
All of these factors are going to contribute to weight gain which concentrates especially around the waist line. Chronic stress has to be controlled before it creates serious health problems for you. Not only do you have to follow a healthy hormone diet, replace the hormones that are diminished in your body with bioidentical hormones, you must reduce the stress in your life before you are able to lose menopause weight.
High stress levels will cause your cortisol levels to rise. Reducing cortisol levels by reducing the stress you are exposed to will increase the DHEA level in your system. DHEA has been shown to be an anti aging hormone with a multitude of benefits, such as increasing testosterone and estrogen in your body. It is also an antidote to high cortisol levels.
You will sleep better as well. Melatonin and growth hormone levels will increase which enable increased fat burning and better sleep. If you reduce your stress, you will reduce your cortisol levels and feel calmer and less anxious.
By reducing the stress in your life, you will reduce your carbohydrate and sugar cravings. Lowering your intake of carbohydrates and sugar will reduce the accumulated belly fat you can’t seem to get rid of. Another benefit to reducing stress will lead to an increase in leptin levels which will decrease your appetite. Leptin is produced when you sleep. If you are not sleeping well, leptin which controls appetite will decline. You will crave sugar and bad carbs which work against you.
Thyroid levels are affected by stress. Decreased thyroid will lead to one of the major symptoms of hypothyroidism – weight gain around the waist. Balancing your hormones, checking thyroid levels and treating low thyroid with thyroid medication is the way to help you lose menopause weight gain.
Reducing the stress in your life will affect your weight. But the question is how to reduce these stress levels? Meditation, yoga, massage therapy and even pedicures can reduce your stress levels. Surround yourself with people that you enjoy. Watch funny movies. Stop watching the news. Read a good book or keep a diary of your feelings, your goals. Start a detox diet to get rid of the toxins in your body. Remove from your life the things that cause you stress. Adopt a more positive view of life. Be a little selfish. Take time out for you. All of these things will help to reduce stress levels, reduce cortisol levels, increase peaceful sleep and contribute to your happiness and wellbeing. The added bonus is weight loss.
At this stage in life, we must take extra care of our health. Losing weight is difficult, even if you eat only vegetables and protein and sacrifice the carbs. Find a doctor who has up to date knowledge about hormones, supplements, nutrition, bioidentical hormones and other age management issues. Ask your doctor for his opinion on the hormone diets you have read about on this site, whether its Dr Oz’s You on a Diet, Dr. Turner’s hormone diet, Suzanne Somers’ Somersizing diet, the low glycemic Mediterranean diet or the Okinawa diet. All of these diets are good for you and your health, but without balancing your hormones, achieving stress reduction resulting in the reduction of your cortisol levels and thyroid correction, none of these diets will work very well and give you the weight loss results you want.
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G. Broker @ June 26, 2010