Hormones are Expanding your Midsection!

When you think of hormones, you think of menopause or menstrual cycles. You don’t t automatically think of belly fat, acne, hair loss, mood swings, fatigue etc. Hormone imbalance affects us ALL at ALL ages. There are MANY hormone disruptors in our lives these days from plastic to body care products to food to stress. This is enough to disrupt anyone’s hormone flow.

Cortisol is the head honcho of your hormones. It has a lot of sway with how other hormones work and if its out of balance all of your other hormones will be out of balance. Cortisol is a fluid level and changes through the day based on time, events and other body reactions. Cortisol is affected by stress, which is a large looming epidemic in the world today. Cortisol is associated with hard to lose belly fat, sugar cravings and lousy sleep! Who needs that? Controlling our response to stress is the biggest factor in cortisol control. For tips on how to control cortisol, check out my Tuesday Talk series on cortisol.

Slow metabolism can be caused by hormonal imbalance. While stress and cortisol definitely do affect your thyroid and metabolism, there are many other things that can affect your thyroid. Endocrine disruptors in today’s environment, gluten sensitivity and vitamin d deficiency are just a few things that can undo your thyroid function. Thyroid disruption symptoms can be weight gain, fatigue, brain fog and depression. In fact, 15-20% of people with depression are low in thyroid hormone (1). Studies today are showing acceptable ranges of TSH .3-2.5 mIU/l and some are saying normal is between .1 and 1.5. (2) These are not the levels most modern medicine doctors are comparing to your test results.

You can help balance your thyroid in many ways, such as addressing the cause of the stress, removing the endocrine disruptors in your life, adding vitamin d, changing your diet to be gluten free and using essential oils to balance and support your body and it’s hormone process.

Insulin resistance is another culprit of stored belly fat. When your body is resistant to insulin it creates more fat and puts it in an accessible place – your belly! The only way to get at this is by changing up your diet and addressing the insulin resistance issue.

Low estrogen can cause appetite stimulation. There are several ways to help balance estrogen. Regular exercise, acupuncture, sexual activity and using essential oils are excellent natural ways to balance out the estrogen and bring balance to the body.

Low testosterone will leave you feeling squishy. You will have a hard time reshaping your body with strength training and you might feel like the Pillsbury dough boy. To combat this extra fluff, dump the sugar, including the alcohol! I know you gasp in horror, but the fact is alcohol can slow metabolism down by 70% in women. Do you want to lose some extra fluff or be numb with alcohol?

Losing weight with imbalanced hormones is not impossible. In fact, when you lose a few pounds, your hormones tend to come more in balance. There is a higher estrogen count in fat cells and the steps you take to lose weight will also help your hormone levels.

Looking to get rid of that pesky belly fat? Tired of that adult acne, hair loss and sucky sleep? We can work together to balance your hormones and bring your life back to balance.

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1.↑Gold MS, Pottash AL, Extein I. “Hypothyroidism and depression. Evidence from complete thyroid function evaluation.” Journal of the American Medical Association 245 (19) (1981): 1919-22; Hickie I, Bennett B, Mitchell P, Wilhelm K, Orlay W. “Clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism in patients with chronic and treatment-resistant depression.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 30 (2) (1996): 246-52.

2.↑Wartofsky L, Dickey RA. “The evidence for a narrower thyrotropin reference range is compelling.” Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 90 (9) (2005): 5483-8.

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