4 Sneaky Hormones That Are Ruining Your Fat Burning! Much has been spoken

recently about the importance of hormones in fat burning and there are all sorts of

pills and potions that claim to be able to manipulate hormones to improve fat

burning but in this article we want to look into the four key hormones that

influence fat burning and weight loss. This will give you all the information you

need to make informed choices when it comes to food and activity. Whether you’re

on a diet or are taking part in vigorous exercise this information will be critical to

your success. The two main hormones we’ll look at first are insulin and cortisol and

we’ll show you how they synergistically work to mess up your weight loss efforts.

After that we’re going to describe the functions of two little known hormones –

leptin and grehlin.

 

Insulin

 

Many of you will have heard of the hormone insulin, perhaps some of you know a

person with type 1 diabetes who has to inject insulin many times a day to keep their

blood sugar stable, or perhaps you may be or know a person with type 2 diabetes

who has been told they have high levels of insulin or that they have insulin resistance.

But what actually is insulin and what does it do?

 

Insulin is a peptide hormone released from the pancreas in response to food being

eaten. Insulin’s job is to carry the breakdown products of carbohydrate digestion

– namely glucose – into the cells to be used for energy. Insulin also carries the

breakdown products of protein digestion – namely amino acids – into the cells for

a number of functions including protein synthesis. It seems that the breakdown

product of fats in the diet – namely free fatty acids – do not have an effect on

insulin. Insulin can communicate with all manner of cells in the body; muscle cells,

brain cells, liver cells and fat cells telling them to take in glucose and amino acids.

This mechanism works perfectly if there is a good balance of protein, fats and

carbohydrates in the diet. The problem arises when there is excess carbohydrate

in the diet, especially carbohydrates that release their glucose very quickly, which

leads to sharp rises in blood glucose levels. Once the liver and muscle cells are full

of the sugar they need insulin can no longer have an effect, however the fat cells

happily take up the remaining sugar from the blood stream and an interesting

thing happens. The glucose in the fats cells is metabolised to a substance called

glycerol 3 phosphate, which in turn can be converted to triglycerides, essentially

turning sugar in to fat.

 

When there is insulin floating around in the blood stream you body shuts off

lipolysis – the signals to burn fat. You see you can’t burn fat and store sugar at the

same time; you can only do one or the other. So keep your insulin low and your fat

burning turned on. This is vitally important for anyone who wants to reduce their

body fat to understand as without dietary modification fat loss will be futile.

Seek a nutrition consultation.

 

Cortisol

 

 
Stress is a major cause of weight gain. We tend to eat more when we are stressed

and use food as comfort, particularly sweet sugary foods. Stress comes in many

forms – food intolerances, alcohol consumption, financial stress, relationship

stress, mental emotional stress, poor blood sugar regulation etc… When you are

stressed you release the stress hormone cortisol. One job of cortisol is to raise

blood sugar by releasing fats and protein that are sent to the liver and converted to

glucose, however if this glucose is not used (as most of us are inactive when we are

stressed such as at work or sitting in traffic) it gets re-stored as fat – particularly

visceral fat that accumulates around the organs. Research has shown that stress

leads to the accumulation of fat stored on the tummy area. So if you want to lose

some weight, you are going to need to de-stress. As you can see both insulin and

cortisol work together to keep you fat particularly if you’re stressed and eat poorly.

This is why it’s vitally important to eat right, exercise and reduce the stress in your

life to get these sneaky hormones on your team.

 

Leptin and grehlin

 

 

Two hormones called leptin and grehlin are important in weight control. Leptin is

produced from white adipose tissue and from cells in the stomach. As you eat leptin

rises and tells the brain that you are full and you stop eating. However, with

conditions such as over eating and obesity leptin levels can become extremely

high leading to leptin resistance, a condition much like insulin resistance, where

lots of leptin is in the blood but your brain doesn’t respond to it any more. Therefore

you don’t feel full and carry on over eating. Increased leptin also causes increased

insulin production and can exacerbate insulin resistance, high blood sugar and the

accumulation of more fat.

Grehlin on the other hand stimulates hunger, increases food intake and increases

fat mass. It is produced in the stomach, the pancreas and hypothalamic arcuate

nucleus in the brain. We know from research that inadequate sleep is associated

with high levels of grehlin and leads to increased appetite and overeating, thus

getting adequate sleep is essential for weight control. So get plenty of sleep and

don’t over eat to control leptin and grehlin. These two hormones can in the right

environment (poor diet, insomnia and stress) team up to halt your fat loss plan.

 

In summary, to offset the downside of these very powerful hormones you need to

eat a good mixture of foods from protein, carbohydrate and fat sources. Taking up

a good fat burning exercise programme that decreases insulin resistance coupled

with good stress reduction measures should allow your body to effectively shed

body fat at a safe and sensible rate. If you’re interested in finding out precisely how

to do this check out this great online resource from our website:

www.peakxvfitness.com/products.