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I have to be honest; I think I raised my cortisol levels trying to write this article. Hormones are so simple and yet so complex at the same time that it could make you nuts trying to understand and explain it all.
But truth be told -- cortisol is an intricate part of the hormone dance and its balance is critical to maintaining balance to all your other hormones, particularly during the years that surround menopause.
I'll try and keep this to the point. As you may already know your adrenal glands share the task of making steroid hormones with your ovaries prior to the menopausal years. What you may not realize is that as you transition through the "change of life" your adrenal system becomes largely responsible for all your steroid hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and cortisol.
Are you following me so far? Good, cause now I'm going to get into why your health, particularly your adrenal health, is so important.
More likely than not you associate how you look in the mirror or how your clothes are fitting to your health. If your comfortable with your clothes and your reflection than your health must be in fairly good shape, correct?
Well, your body may disagree with you! If you've been living a high stress lifestyle (and I think it's fair to say all women live high stress lifestyles simply due to trying to manage all we have to manage), have yo-yo dieted to keep your weight in check, over-exercise, consume a lot of sugar or highly processed foods, than although you may have been able to maintain your pant size your body is starving for nutrients.
And guess what? Peri-menopause & menopause is when this all starts to catch up to you. You see, up to this point your body has been able to get along and whether you realize it or not you may have been self-medicating any adrenal fatigue or hormone imbalances that you were suffering from prior to menopause.
You may have unknowingly reached for things like caffeinated beverages, a couple of small chocolates or a bag of popcorn to help correct a hormonal imbalance that sets in due to adrenal fatigue, developing insulin resistance or high cortisol levels. Or maybe you hit the gym or exercised obsessively and the adrenaline released from exercises would make you feel better and mask any imbalances you may have been suffering from.
One way or another you got through the day and you were able to keep your reflection or you dress size within a comfortable range. But now something is different. Now your body has expanded beyond your comfort range and you feel it is completely out of control.
What happened?
What happened is that whatever imbalance you were suffering from, caught up with you, whether it was adrenal fatigue, insulin resistance, chronically high cortisol levels, overexposure to toxins or whatever.
Now if you live a high stress lifestyle or have been unknowingly self medicating a hormone imbalance with food, caffeine or exercise prior to this time, your body is going to find that all of sudden it doesn't have the nutrients, energy, or biochemical's available to manage all of this and it's going to start storing fat as a way to compensate. After all, your fat cells are capable of making both major & minor hormones like estrogen and dehydro-epiandrosterone (DHEA).
And if your body is struggling to make estrogens, maintain bone density and you are eating a low-fat diet and under a lot of stress your body needs that fat to survive! After all as you already know, life is about more than the reflection in the mirror or your current pant size.
But, here's the good news, you are capable of turning this all around. But it starts by healing the body, not starving the body or over-exercising it. It starts by following a sensible yet balanced nutrition plan (like the one outlined in Menopausal Fitness and You) that will provide the body with balanced meals and the nutrients it needs to heal and support itself.
Once the body's healed and is in a happy place, the weight you've gained will start to come off. If you are pre-menopause and haven't gained any weight yet, now's a good time to start healing your body to ensure you make a healthy and radiant transition through menopause.
The second thing you need to do is incorporate the proper amount of exercises, this would entail 3 days of resistance training and possibly 2-3 cardio days depending on your current stress levels. The exercise program outlined in Menopausal Fitness and You is a great place to start plus with the unlimited 13 week email support I'll be able to make recommendations customized to you.
Either way, if your desire is to shed unwanted weight gained due to menopause you must start by healing the body by eating balanced meals that are comprised of protein, healthy fats, complex carbs and non-starchy veggies and you must start incorporating resistance training.
Once you have your diet dialed in, a good supplement regime will help fill the nutritional gaps and provide support to your endocrine system -- more on this in the next newsletter!
Oh, one more thing... there are so many things that impact your overall health that while diet and exercise is important -- if you are not addressing your stress, lack of sleep or other emotional issues your current diet and exercise program may not be able to compensate for the drain you're placing on your body.
To recap... to start successfully losing that stubborn belly fat you must get on track to reclaim your health by:
- Eating balanced meals every 3-4 hours.
- Incorporating resistance training.
- Incorporate or cut back on the amount of aerobic exercise you do depending on your stress levels.
- If you are stressed -- you must find ways to eliminate some of your sources of stress (and this is really key to your success).
- Spend 3-4hours a week doing activities that bring you pure joy & laughter :)
Consistently adhere to the statements above and you'll find that success is right around the corner.
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