Healthy weight loss doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need to calorie count, colour code or apply a complex points system. There’s just one rule you need to follow:
Cut out the CRAP!
Caffeine
Caffeine is a stress on the system and will cause your adrenal glands to release adrenalin into the system. This causes your body to release sugars into the blood stream releasing a rush of energy. 10,000 years ago you would have used this energy to either catch your own dinner or run from being something elses!
Todays stresses on the system such as caffeine, traffic jams or a relentless stream of emails mean the sugars released aren’t used as you’ve got nowhere to run to! And so the body releases insulin to take the sugar out of the blood stream. Insulin takes the sugars to your fat cells, where they are mixed with fatty acids and fixed as fats. Plus at the same time your body releases cortisol to reduce the adrenalin in your system.
Cortisol and insulin then work together to lay down fat particularly around your middle. This fat around your mid-section is a form of inflammation that releases its own hormones. The hormones released interfere with the production of leptin, the hormone that tells you when you’re full. Sadly the more fat around your middle the bigger your appetite will be!
Refined Sugars
Whenever you consume sugar insulin is released. Insulin is the hormone that makes us fat. It fixes sugars in the fat cells, plus it stops the production of lipase, the fat burning hormone. By cutting out refined sugars your insulin levels will drop allowing your blood sugars to be more balanced and creating a fat burning environment.
Alcohol
Alcohol is a form of sugar and is often full of toxins too. It has no nutritional value whatsoever. Enough said!
Processed Foods
The majority of processed food is so over produced that it has little nutritional value and the processing and storage phase often leaves the food full of extra toxins, putting a further stress on the system. In addition, the packaging in which processed foods are stored have chemical coatings that act as endocrine disruptors and create hormone imbalance. This impedes weight loss and is also linked to menopause weight gain.
Insulin and cortisol are key hormones for weight loss and Caffeine, Refined sugar, Alcohol and Processed foods all reduce the impact that insulin and cortisol have on your body’s ability to lose weight. So if long term healthy weight loss is your goal cut out the CRAP!
