Insulin – a Fat Storing Hormone
Detox, Hormone Diets Comments (1)
I recently started one of the hormone diets – the South Beach diet. It’s a difficult diet to do for the first two weeks but I managed to lose 13 pounds the first time I started the diet. However, things have changed, that is when I was younger. Now I’m in menopause and yesterday was day 5. I stepped on the scale and haven’t lost a pound, even though I was regularly exercising. Imagine my disappointment. Could it be hormone imbalance, hypothyroidism or a problem with insulin resistance?
Now the South Beach diet is tough for the first two weeks because basically, it’s a diet with three meals a day consisting of protein and vegetables and low carbohydrate snacks – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You are allowed no sugar, no fatty meats, and no bad carbs. It’s tough for the first two weeks of the diet because of the lack of sugar and carbohydrates. However, I like the diet because you don’t have to measure portions and it’s easy to modify when you have to dine out in a restaurant. Also, the last time I tried this diet, the pounds peel off quickly and I could actually see my belly fat disappear and my waist got rapidly smaller on this hormone diet.
The reason for this is that with the complete reduction of sugar and bad carbohydrates, even though most foods contain sugars, the speed at which the body absorbs those sugars determines how much insulin is produced and whether the sugar is used immediately or stored for later use (fat). Either we burn it or it is stored as fat. This is the reason we get fat as we age. Because of all the junk food we eat, our insulin levels are high and there is a danger that we could become insulin resistant. Eventually, if insulin levels are not kept in check, we risk the danger of getting Type 2 diabetes. Insulin is the fat storing hormone.
When the hormone insulin is out of balance, all of our hormones are out of balance. This causes menopause weight gain and symptoms such as hot flashes. What do you do in a situation like this? You’re on a diet and not losing any weight?
One of the first things you should do before beginning your diet and after cleaning all the junk food, bad carbs and sugar out of your kitchen is to have your thyroid and hormone levels checked. Added to this, is to get your insulin levels checked too. My mistake was that I didn’t first begin my diet with a detox diet to flush out the toxins and prepare my body for losing that menopause weight. You should also use at the same time a herbal or Master Cleanse which will assist your body to lose weight.
Even after you have stopped dieting you should avoid sugars and bad carbohydrates which will cause your insulin levels to rise and becoming the fat storing hormone. Sugar is the worst culprit and should be avoided in your diet at all costs. If you need a sweetener, there are several natural sweeteners you can use, such as stevia extract available at health food stores or Suzanne Somers‘ natural sweetener, available on her website. So now you know what insulin is, insulin is the fat storing hormone and will wreck havoc with your attempts to follow and succeed with any diet until you manage it.
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G. Broker @ August 6, 2010
Sugar’s bad. I’ve had the same problem trying to lose weight and my doctor told me it’s my thyroid. I ate too much sugar when I was younger. Sugar is everywhere in all our foods in so many different forms.