Balancing Female Hormones: The Impact of Stress

Today is the last day of the October Stress Series!

And today I want to write a little bit about the impact of stress on female hormones, because…

In November, this is going to be the topic of the email series (the in December we can talk about surviving Christmas without putting on half a stone).

As always, if you are new this series, I would recommend you catch up on the whole series on my blog, starting at the beginning.

I’ve also been doing some some Video on my Facebook Page so if you haven’t already been following me on Facebook, I’ve put some videos on this blog and you can also watch then on my Fan Page. The most recent of which is talking about sugar cravings!

Okay, so, formalities out of the way, let’s talk Stress and Female Hormones!

Just to freak you out I’ll share this with you…

steroidogenic-pathway

Now before I cause too much stress, don’t worry about understanding this. We have the rest of November for that!

What I do want you to get from today is that our stress hormones (bottom right) are created through the same pathway as our sex hormones (left hand side).

I love to use the naughty child analogy.

If you have two children and one of them is very naughty, where does all the attention go?

To the naughty child of course! And the good child can often get neglected.

Same goes for our hormones.

If the body is focusing all its energy at creating stress hormones, healthy and balanced production of sex hormones can get neglected.

The other thing to notice on this diagram is that progesterone (one of the important female hormones) is used to make cortisol, the main stress hormone.

This means that if we have to make a lot of cortisol because we have a lot of stress, we can get what is called the pregnenolone or progesterone steal.

This is when our body steals resources from progesterone to ensure we have adequate hormones to respond to our environment. Stress, and NOT fertility, is the biological priority at this point in time.

It’s not a bad thing in the short term because it doesn’t make sense to get pregnant when you are in danger. But in the long term with chronic stressors, it can cause hormonal imbalances like PMS, exacerbate PCOS, endometriosis and uterine fibroids or even increase menopausal symptoms.

That is about as much detail that I want to go into today because I will be going into A LOT more detail across the month of November.

The last thing just to mention though is that many women approach me with hormonal problems. PCOS, PMS, menstrual migraine, endometriosis, fibroids etc.

There is a lot that can be done with food and supplements to support these conditions. However, do not forget about the power of lifestyle balance.

I honestly believe that it is one of THE most powerful tools in any health journey. Whether you want to lose weight, fix your digestion, work with some auto-immune condition or balance your hormones.

That’s it from me, I hope you have enjoyed this stress series and I will be writing to you soon.

If you would like a little more science then you can also catch up on this video I created to explain what causes longer cycles in women and how this relates to stress.

Beat Belly Fat With Stress Busting Foods

This week is the last week of the stress series. We’ve looked at some science and I’ve shared with you some lifestyle solutions.

I would like to share a little bit on nutritional support.

I’ve already mentioned that I had lost my mojo a little earlier this week. This actually led me to doing an adrenal stress test (which measure stress hormones) myself.

I got the results on Saturday morning and I was quite surprise. Here they are:

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I actually wasn’t expecting a high response. Typically we associate elevated cortisol with being wired. More of an energetic state of stress. I thought this result would have come back low due to the feelings of poor energy I was experiencing.

Interestingly, I have been seeing a lot of my clients coming back with a similar result.

The first step with any of this is to address lifestyle balance. If you read my previous email on mojo rehab, this is the stuff we are talking about.

There is also a lot of support that can be given by food choices, exercise choices and supplements as the cherry on top.

FOOD

It may not surprise you by now that the food choices help to balance stress are the SAME food choices, help with weight loss too.

To relieve stress induced by diet, balanced meals are a must.

It comes back to the simplicity of the food plate:

  • Eat 3 meals a day
  • Include lean protein with every meal
  • Slow releasing carbohydrates
  • Good fats (especially omega 3)

 

anna-marsh-food-plate

 

The following will NOT be supportive:

  • Skipping meals
  • Relying on coffee to fill you up
  • Eating meals high in sugar or low in proteins and fats
  • Under-eating or over-eating

All of the above have the ability to disrupt blood sugar and increase stress.

Calorie restriction can also be a stress on the body. This is why, when I work with women, I prefer to keep them in the sweet spot where their calories are as high as they can be and still lose weight. For most this is around 1700 to 2000 calories per day depending on size and exercise levels.

If you feel tired and stressed with low energy, checking your calorie intake may be a good place to start.

EXERCISE

Exercise has what we call a “hormetic effect” on the body.

Not exercising and moving your body won’t be good for health. However, too much exercise can actually be more damaging than too little.

In my coaching program I am working with women who are struggling just to get off the sofa, but also women who are chronically over-exercising in a (failed) attempt to shift excess weight.

We want a calorie “sweet spot” for weight loss and we also want an exercise “sweet spot”. Just enough to create the necessary physiological adaptations but not so much that the body is under undue stress.

If you are someone who is stressed but inactive. Adding in regular exercise should help you manage stress levels better.

If you are stress but already doing lots of exercise, stripping it back may have a beneficial effect.

Most women are afraid to drop back on exercise for fear of weight gain. I teach my clients how to balance their nutrition so that this doesn’t happen and the resultant effect is more than likely, weight loss!

SUPPLEMENTS

Before I talk about supplements I must say:

Please do not take this as medical advice, always check with your doctor or health care professional before starting a new supplement regime and supplements and medications can interact so if you are on any medications for stress and anxiety or depression, always work with someone who will check for any interactions.

When it comes to stress I am a major fan of herbal adaptogens. These are herbal products that can improve the connection between the brain and the adrenal glands or between stress hormones and the receptor.

When I work with my clients I prefer to run a test (as seen above) before making any recommendations.

If stress hormones are high, certain products may be more effective. If stress hormones are too low, often indicating burn out, other products may be beneficial.

Liquorice root and Holy Basil are my favourites for low cortisol

Ashwaganda, Rhodiola and Ginseng are my favourites for high cortisol

(please do not supplement without professional advice)

You can also up your intake of natural adaptogens by adding fresh herbs like Rosemary and Sage into your cooking.

You may also remember this diagram when we looked at stress, mood and comfort eating.

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Other useful supplements in this case would be: (I’ve added food sources too)

  • omega 3, found in oily fish
  • vitamin D (as a side now, now is the best time of year to test your vitamin D, it should be at its highest after the summer. If it’s low or borderline low now, you definitely want to supplement over winter)
  • curcumin (found in turmeric)
  • vitamin E (found in high amounts in walnuts and walnut oil)
  • 5HTP or Griffonia
  • Magnesium
  • Methylated B-Vitamins

More real food support can be found by eating cabbage family and onion family vegetables, green tea, chocolate (of course!) and red wine (in moderate amounts not the whole bottle!).

So in summary:

  • Consume a balance diet eating 3 balanced meals a day with protein and fats in each one
  • Eat enough calories, many women under-eat which is massively impacting health
  • Moderate exercise, not too much or too little
  • Lifestyle factors are more powerful than any pill but consider working with a practitioner that can recommend appropriate supplementation or include beneficial foods in your diet – who doesn’t love chocolate and red wine!?

 

 

 

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I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Sugar Cravings and Chocolate Monsters (VIDEO)

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Simplicity for Weight Loss (VIDEO)

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Three Simple Ways to Effectively Lose Weight and Drop Inches Without Over Exercising, Over Restricting and Over Complicating It!

Every-day I am contacted by women who want to know how to lose weight quickly, effectively & keep it off!

It might be that the tricks that used to work before, just don’t work anymore. Perhaps you have done things many times before and are struggling to find something that sticks. Or, simply, you’ve lost the mojo and can’t face up to the whole process of losing weight for the millionth time!

Often women describe to me what is known as paralysis by analysis. There is so much diet information out there and it all gets so complicated and confusing.

How do you know what you should be doing, what applies to you & what doesn’t?

Then once you start down a path you start to second guessing yourself and wonder if you should be adding in more cardio, buying those special shakes that so and so is drinking, or maybe you need to give up gluten?

I’d like to let you know a little secret.

A secret that will make your life, and weight loss, so much easier.

A secret that will stop you second guess yourself and wondering if you are doing it right or why you aren’t getting results.

 

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Tip Number 1

You may have heard some of the tips for losing weight, I’ll list some as an example: go paleo, don’t eat any carbs, no carbs after 6pm, quit sugar, give up gluten, eat some cereal I cannot mention ending in a K, Take X,Y & Z meal replacement shakes and bars sold by X, Y & Z company, do a juice fast and the list could go on.

The reason why most of this advice becomes confusing is because it  problem with most of this advice is that it lacks context.

But I will tell you why ALL of this could work. 

Adopting any of some of the above habits will most likely result in a consistent calorie deficit meaning that you are eating less than you are expending and for the most part, this results in weight loss.

Basic weight loss tip number 1: Consistent calorie deficits cause weight loss. (obvious and effective)

The good news is you don’t have to give up gluten, quit sugar, go paleo or purchase special products to eat less calories than you expend.  Anyone, on any budget can do this and when it’s done with consistency, the end result is usually a positive one.

I do need to add here that there is a sweet spot. Eating a LOT less than you expend in the long term slows down metabolism.

I prefer the women that I work with to be losing weight a little slower but keeping calories higher to support healthy metabolism. This usually looks like somewhere between 1700 and 2000 calories a day if they are modestly exercising. 

None of these women dropped their calories below 1700, most of them not below 1800.

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Eating in such a way and applying consistency is the first step for success. I recommend my clients track there food intake using a free app called My Fitness Pal.

Tip Number 2

So that’s the first tip. Simple, free and anyone can do it. So that brings us to tip two.

Let’s talk carbs.

Carbs are a commonly demonised macronutrient (fat was the old scape goat).

I have had clients say to me they have been advised that if they want to lose weight they must not eat ANY carbs, not even fruit!

I have to tell you something to be truly honest.

I used to dish out this advice too!

From experience on myself and 100’s of clients I would say that 99% of the time this is just NOT true!

Provided you follow tip 1, keeping a moderate amount of carbohydrate in your diet will actually help you lose weight as well as…

  • Encourage a healthy metabolism
  • Help you feel full and satiated
  • Stave off cravings and binges
  • Support healthy and happy hormones
  • Help you sleep better
  • Feel less stressed
  • Encourage better mood
  • (if you like exercise) optimise performance and recovery too

What IS important is the balance within the diet when you look at your carbohydrate intake relative to proteins and fats. Aiming for about 1/3 of calories from each is a simple way to start. You can track this all in My Fitness Pal but if you are not into all of that, just focussing on 3 or 4 meals a day which have a protein portion, carb portion, some vegetables and a little fat will probably be all you have to do.

Check out the Anna Marsh Food Plate as an example.

anna-marsh-food-plate

So if we combine tip 1 and 2 together it looks like this:

Consistently* eat between 1700 and 2000 calories per day and have a balanced amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

I know this may sound like common sense and you are wondering why you even need to read this. But this stuff works. I use it with all my clients.

Where most people go wrong with this is they are NOT consistent. Consistency produces results. End of.

Tip 3 is the final piece of the puzzle, exercise!

Exercise is a whole other minefield of confusing advice.

Should I be lifting weights? Should I be doing high intensity intervals? What about fasted cardio? I hate running, do I have to run?

One of the most important things I want to communicate to you is that basic principles work and they work well. My goal when I work with my clients is to keep things as simple as possible for as long as possible.

That said, the further along you get on your weight loss journey, you will need to change your approach. Plateaus are an inevitable part of the process and to be expected.

Your body will respond differently at 200 pounds when you aren’t exercising and you are eating badly compared to when you are 160 pounds and have developed habits of regular exercise and balanced eating.

For the most part I will say this, whatever exercise you choose to do, you will see the most bang for your buck by paying attention to the nutrition principles in 1 and 2.

The most difficult thing for most people is to be consistent.

Therefore, if you are choosing an exercise regime, choose one that you enjoy the most and is the most convenient for you. This will be your best bet to actually sticking to it!

If I could give you one additional tip it would be to be flexible with the intensities at which you move. Never exercising hard enough will let you down just as much as exercising too hard all the time!

Once a week push yourself hard, maybe twice a week do something moderate and maybe just walk and move your body a little bit every day to keep the blood flowing.

This is what I would consider to be a sensible workout schedule for someone who is starting their weight loss journey.

             
MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT SUN
40-60 minutes

Whole Body Resistance Workout

30-40 minutes

Steady State Cardio (where you can talk easily)

Active rest day including walking, gardening, playing with the kids 40-60 minutes

Whole Body Resistance Workout

30-40 minutes

Steady State Cardio (where you can talk easily)

Active rest day including walking, gardening, playing with the kids Active rest day including walking, gardening, playing with the kids

 

Bonus Tip (last but super important!)

I cannot leave you without saying one more thing.

Life is busy and most people live life at a fast pace.

Too fast.

The biggest road block for most people aiming to create sustainable change is time management and stress.

That is why I wanted to keep things simple.

However, do not underestimate the power of taking a step back and “decluttering” your life BEFORE you start making any drastic changes to your diet and exercise regime.

I see many of the women I work with throwing themselves into huge amounts of exercise and small amounts of food and not getting anywhere because they are so burnt out with that and all their other commitments.

So take a moment to ground yourself and carve out the space in your life to commit to changing your habits. I’m not saying wait for the perfect time because you’ll be waiting a long time.

What I am saying is make the choice to make the space.

Then take one habit at a time and do it well. When it feels good to add the next thing, add it in and do it consistently.

If you want more help and more direction on your weight loss journey and would like to consider if weight loss mentoring is right for you then help and support is moments away. 

20140912-0593I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Understanding HRV For Stress Management

I’m going to keep it simple today.

On my previous post I gave you a simple way to evaluate your lifestyle balance with some tools for making some small changes with a big difference.

The exercise I gave you was a cheap and effective way to assess the balance within your nervous system, the balance that defines whether you are in a state of fight or flight or a state of rest and recovery.

We need both.

We need a system that responds appropriately when required and we also need a system that is able to recover and heal.

Health is about being flexible to respond in the appropriate way at the appropriate time.

Something I personally use which is a little more sophisticated is Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

What is it?

HRV is a measure of the variability between heart beats.

For example, if your heart rate is 60bpm it doesn’t actually beat like a metronome.

If it was beating like a metronome this would mean that it would beat every second, on the second to beat 60 times in one minute.

But actually, 60pbm is an average.

Our heart will  sometimes beat at 0.9 seconds, at 0.85 seconds, then at 1.1 seconds, then at 0.95 seconds and so on. The average across a minute is 60bpm.

Heart rate VARIABILITY is the variability between the heart beats. The greater variability the healthier and less stressed the system. 

A more regular or metronomic heart beat indicates more stress and less FLEXIBILITY (health is all about flexibility are all!).

 

How is it measured?

It is very easy to measure HRV yourself with a Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor Strap (£40 on Amazon) and your Mobile Phone using the Elite HRV App.

You put the strap around your torso and you link it with the app and you take what is called a “Morning Readiness” reading.

This will tell you how “stressed” your system is which you then may use to define your choices that day.

Maybe you need to skip the morning workout and have a lie in.

Maybe you need to fuel up on some healthy foods.

Maybe you need to do some breathing exercising and not let the dramas at work get to you.

Maybe you need to make sure you leave work on time and get an early night.

 

Basically, you can use this testing system as a little nudge to get you to do the things you know you should be doing but just aren’t doing. 

 

I personally use the app when it comes to my training. Knowing when to push, when to back off and do more recovery.

 

As a result I have stripped back how often I train as I realised that how I was training, wasn’t enabling me to recover effectively.

I’ve noticed a big difference in my energy, my performance in sessions and positive changes in my body composition too.

This past week has been a particularly bad week for me (I’ll be covering some more on this in a future post). I mostly find if I have one low HRV day, if I take rest I bounce back the following day. That didn’t happen this week and I felt very low too.

I decided to take an extra day off the gym, but I also whacked my calorie intake up much higher than the norm, in the hope that it would help me bounce back. It worked a treat and the next day I was back in the gym feeling good.

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This may be a little advanced for some, but if you like data and gadgets, if you train hard and want to dial stuff in a little more, it comes highly recommended.

 

​​​​​​​Over and out!

A simple stress test (and what to do about it)

October is Stress Management Month at Anna Marsh Nutrition HQ (HQ being me sitting at my dining room table, typing up this post).

 

Over the past 3 post I’ve addressed some of the ways in which stress affects us. I wanted you to understand some of the background sciency stuff first. I know that the sciency stuff isn’t sexy, but it’s so empowering to understand and I’ve tried to keep it simple.

 

If you’ve missed it, Everything is up on the blog so you can catch up.

 

I think I’ve painted enough of a doom and gloom picture of how modern day living is impacting our health, weight, mood, hormones, skin, digestion etc etc.

 

Now it’s time to look at solutions! (finally!)

 

Last year I attended a Functional Medicine Conference in Chicago. One of my favourite quotes from the whole 6 days was…

life balance

Currently, we have such a warped perception of what balance looks like.

 

I’ve had two conversations with two different clients recently. Both have said “But I’m not stressed” then we have tested their stress hormones and found otherwise!

 

Almost a year ago to the day I sent an email out telling the story of one of my close friends to communicate this point.

 

I was in South Africa this time last year for a good friends wedding. I met up with one of my oldest friends and one evening we hiked up Lions Head in Cape Town.

 

We were walking and talking and she shared with me that earlier that year she’d had a break down. She was suffering from insomnia and was eventually hospitalised and had a coma induced for 3 days.

 

She had moved to Cape Town to get away from her stressful life in Johannesburg after being caught in the crossfire of a road rage incident.

 

Although the move was a positive one, moving home, cities and adjusting to a new job without her normal support network was another stress to add to the pile and she was potentially also suffering from PTSD after the incident in Joburg.

 

It all came to a head when she collapsed and was fortunate enough to be given 3 months off work to heal.

 

Although it sounds traumatic, and it was, she describes it as a blessing in disguise because it made her realised what was important.

 

It’s not normal to stare at the ceiling, unable to sleep at night and then head to work like a zombie on 1-2 hours of shut eye. 

 

It’s not normal to feel like you have been hit by a bus after a good nights sleep.

 

It’s not normal to struggle to get out of bed in the morning.

 

It’s not normal to ache all over and live with brain fog, or low mood, or digestive complaints, or imbalanced hormones. 

 

These are all complaints of imbalance.  And remember this…

change is the solution

 

What I’d like to give you today is a tool to evaluate where you are at right now. The same tool can be used to start to strip things back. 

 

This is something that I teach my clients, it’s called Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Balance.

 

These are the two parts of the nervous system. Parasympathetic is for resting and recovering. Sympathetic is responsible for a stressed state.

 

Get a pen and paper and what we are going to do is write down how many hours of the day you spend in each parts of the nervous system.

 

When we consider there are 24 hours in the day, “balance” would equate to 12 hours in each.

 

So write down everything you do each day.

 

Sympathetic Activities include:

  • commuting
  • driving
  • exercising
  • working
  • eating
  • watching TV (particularly violent or disturbing programs/imagery)
  • cooking
  • cleaning
  • social engagements
  • drinking coffee etc.

 

Parasympathetic Activities include:

  • sleep
  • spending time outdoors in nature
  • yoga (not too dynamic)
  • meditation
  • cuddling
  • stroking your pets
  • lying in bed and reading a book
  • playing a musical instrument or listening to relaxing music
  • massage
  • acupuncture
  • taking a hot bath
  • journaling
  • giving gratitude etc.

How much time do you spend in each?

 

How far out of balance are you?

 

If you live your life like many other people you are probably “on” from the moment you wake up in the morning, until your get into bed at night (and even then you might scroll on your tablet or phone for a bit).

 

Depending on what time you wake and sleep that could be 17 hours of the day give or take.

 

The goal in this case is not to aim to change so many things that you have a 12/12 split tomorrow (this in itself will create stress).

 

Instead, start 15, 20, 30 minutes at a time and claim back small pieces of your parasympathetic life.

 

Here are some ideas:

 

  • Download headspace – the free meditation app – start with 10 minutes a day
  • Get into bed at night and read something relaxing instead of the news or social media
  • Aim to get to sleep 30 minutes earlier
  • Start a yoga class
  • Learn to breathe
  • Take 15 minutes outside at lunch time
  • Avoid turning the TV on a few evenings a week and have a hot bath instead (as a bonus, add epsom salts to your bath – the magnesium can be very beneficial for stress)

 

These are but small changes, but small changes over time can make a big difference.

 

After all, a change is the solution and a small change can make a big difference.

 

Start now, where you are, with what you have.

 

More help to follow in the next post.

 

Ladies that Lift is my Weight Loss Coaching Program exclusively for women who are interested in making sustainable changes in their lifestyle to see sustainable changes in their weight, health and happiness. We focus on all aspects of life, not just counting calories. If you would like to know more and be part of this part (and achieve results like the women below, that actually last!), then please click the image below.

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Stress, Anxiety, Mood & Comfort Eating

So if you hadn’t already caught on, October is Stress Management Month so all my posts will be working around this theme.

 

If you didn’t catch the previous 2 posts, you’ll find them on the blog. I’d suggest you read all of them to build up the context.

 

I’ve literally thrown you in the deep end a bit.

 

And I’m afraid, I cannot apologise for that.

 

One of the things I stand for in my business is to empower women.

 

Women often feel a victim of their circumstance, their lives, their bodies and their relationship with food.

 

I like to think of my Weight Loss Coaching Program as more of a female empowerment program.

 

And we all know, knowledge is power.

 

So the past 2 emails have been a little “information heavy”. Embrace it.

 

I really feel in this day and age where most doctors appointments last 7 minutes and no one has the time to fully take everything into consideration, that you have to take responsibility for your own health.

 

Take the time to learn about the body, how it works and invest in your health now to create a healthy future. 

 

Not ride it out until something goes really wrong – because I can guarantee that by the time this happens, it’s been going wrong for years, decades even, you just didn’t notice until now.

 

So I digress.

 

Get your thinking caps on and your reading glasses out.

 

A notebook if you will and a decent pen 😉

 

I think you will find this one REALLY interesting!

 

Let’s talk about winding up!

 

In the previous two posts you would have learned that…

 

1) modern lifestyles create a continuous activation of the brain to adrenal gland connection causing an elevated and continuous output of stress hormones

 

2) Modern stressors contrast to “evolutionary stressors” because they are unresolved. They are always there. They never stop.

 

Evolutionary stressors would include; hunger, thirst, danger, infection, heat or cold.

 

You resolve the stress or you die. For example…

 

If you are hungry, you find food, you eat, stress resolved.

 

If you have to flee a wild beast, you flee or fight, the stress is resolved.

 

If you get an infection, you immune system kicks in, you resolve the infection or you die of it.

 

If you are cold, you find materials to build a fire or you die of hypothermia.

 

 

Because this is all coming back to weight loss, let’s look at food.

 

You feel hungry because there is lack of energy to the brain.

 

The change is brain energy causes the hypothalamus (area in the brain), to stimulate hormones which ask the adrenal glands to produce stress hormones.

 

Stress hormones mobilise energy and create alertness so that we are energised and mentally aware to find food. This would have been essential to survival.

 

Have you ever noticed that when you feel really hungry you can hear someone opening a chocolate wrapper across the room?

 

You can walk past a bakery and the bread smells 10 times as good?

 

You probably also notice that you start to fidget and you wouldn’t be able to just sit still and relax.

 

All these heightened senses are normal behaviours created by a substance called glutamate, which when elevated in small amounts, creates alertness, to help respond to the stress of starvation.

 

Once we find food and eat it, we get a serotonin and dopamine response.

 

Glutamate is converted to neurtransmitter known as GABA.

 

GABA is a calming neurotransmitter which tells the brain “we’re all good now, you can switch those stress hormones off”

 

It is serotonin, dopamine and GABA which create resolution. 

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Lack of energy in the brain switches the stress system on.

 

Neurotransmitters switch the stress system off.

 

Problem = hunger

 

Solution = food

 

Neurotransmitters signal the resolution.

 

Simples.

 

Except not anymore.

 

Today when we eat something, we are still worrying about our boss at work, the children fighting, what so and so said to so and so and whether or not we’ll make our mortgage payments.

 

Which means we don’t get that nice serotonin, dopamine, GABA switch off.

 

So you can imagine if this system is going on and on… and on and on… and on and on… day after day, month after month, year after year…

 

Somethings got to give!

 

We exist in a constant state of “searching”.

 

Except we aren’t searching for food…

 

Yet sometimes, we think we are.

 

As demonstrated by binge and disordered eating or “food addictions”.

 

This is all about searching for large amounts of sugar and processed food to create that dopamine, GABA and serotonin hit.

 

Others may turn to addictions, drugs, alcohol, pornography, sex, shopping, become workaholics or suffer social media addiction.

 

Even one you wouldn’t think of immediately – exercise addiction.

 

When I meet someone who tell me they exercise every day for 2 hours, or enter multiple ultra-distance events per year (like iron man or ultra-marathons).

 

The first thing that I ask myself is;

 

“I wonder what are you really searching for?”

 

The final piece of this puzzle comes back to the other two neurotransmitters, serotonin and GABA.

 

Most people, especially those on SSRI’s are familiar with serotonin. It’s the happy hormone.

 

Low levels of GABA is associated with anxiety.

 

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The viscous cycle of unresolved stress

 

If you are running your stress pathways with a flat foot all day long, these guys are going to burn out!

 

So can you see the link now between stress, anxiety, depression and addictive and destructive behaviours. 

 

I hope you can.

 

Now, I don’t want to make this all doom and gloom but I am conscious of throwing too much at you at once.

 

In the next post I will be looking at solutions and resolutions. 

 

For today, become aware.

 

If you want to get a handle on your food…

 

If you want to resolve other behaviours that are negatively impacting your life…

 

If you want to feel happier and less anxious…

 

It starts with you and it starts with how you manage your life and your thoughts so it becomes a less stressful place to be.

 

Thank you for staying tuned.

PS. If you want help losing weight, but most importantly rebalancing your lifestyle to find results that actually last (like these women did below), then feel free to apply for a Complimentary Breakthrough Call to discover if Weight Loss Mentoring is the right approach for you. 

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Weight Gain Is The Solution, Not The Problem

Firstly, I know I am a bit delayed on getting the second part of this series out.

 

The way that stress affects our body, our behaviour, our food choices and of course weight, is so complex and yet so simple at the same time.

 

It’s simple because all you really need to know is that chronic stress is most likely underlying in many of the things you are struggling with at the moment.

 

Your weight, your energy, your food choices, your mood, your digestion, skin, hair, nails, sleep, hormones etc. etc.

 

It’s complex because I think that most people probably know this. They just don’t know the why.

 

And sometimes we need to and want to understand the why so that we feel motivated to managed and create change.

 

So today is a little bit more of the why.

 

If you saw my previous post on Is Stress Your Metabolic Road Block? (If you didn’t head over the previous blog post), you should hopefully know now that modern living creates an unresolved stimulation of the brain-adrenal connection, stimulating stress hormone production.

 

I want to come back to this term “unresolved“.

 

It is one of THE most important terms I use to contextualise what is going on with people.

 

When there is a problem be it weight, sleep, mood, hormonal imbalances, digestive complaints, poor energy, foggy brain, skin issues or anything else someone would come and see me for…

 

the problem is always the same problem…

 

Something unresolved.

 

Now that might seem like a silly thing to say.

 

Of course the problem is something unresolved. It’s a problem, therefore it isn’t resolved.

 

But let me explain it like this.

 

The symptoms (weight, sleep, mood, hormonal imbalances, digestive complaints, low energy, skin problems etc.)

 

Are not the problem. 

 

The symptoms are not the problem they are a failed solution.

 

An attempt to create resolution that was not successful.

 

If it was successful there would no longer be any symptoms.

 

Now I know this is getting confusing so let me explain further (stay with me, I want you to get this!).

 

 

EXAMPLE:

 

 

Being overweight is a symptom of insulin resistance.

 

Insulin resistance, if you read my previous series on weight loss, is when we can’t get energy into cells to be burned up, so we store energy in our fat cells instead.

 

Insulin resistance is an attempt to resolve a problem.

 

One can be insulin resistance for many reasons.

 

Perhaps you have an infection in your gut and your immune system wants to prioritise energy resources towards itself to fight the infection.

 

Perhaps you are over-consuming calories and your body wants to store excess in the form of fat for times of famine (because traditionally, starvation was a real threat to survival)

 

Perhaps you are in a state of high stress and your body wants to keep energy for a fight or flight response.

 

So can you see how something happens (a stress – infection, food, perceived danger) and your body creates a change to cope with that thing.

 

The change in this example is insulin resistance.

 

The symptoms is weight gain.

 

The problem was a stress.

 

The insulin resistance was created to overcome the stressor.

 

It was the solution to the problem.

 

And… if the problem doesn’t go away (because we are bathed in a life of chronic stress).

 

We have an unresolved symptom to due an unresolved problem.

 

I hope I haven’t completely confused you now!

 

I wrote this on my Facebook page a week or so ago. I think it fits in well here today. ​​​​​​​

 

change is the solution

So this is what I want you to “get” from today’s message.

 

 

All your “complaints” are likely to come down to stress.

 

 

The continuous pressures of our daily lives have a “winding up” effect.

 

I feel like I have given you enough to think about today, so I will explain the “winding up” effect next time.

 

I’ll also be giving you some tools to evaluate your life and what you can do about it, because, ultimately, this is your responsibility.

 

Only you can manage your life.

 

Yes, there might be things going on at the moment that aren’t pleasant, you don’t know how to deal with and you may be wondering how you can cope.

 

From experience, most of the things that people worry about don’t happen.

 

It’s the things that we never thought would happen that blindside us, and we cope. 

 

Everytime. 

 

Because what does it mean not to cope. As long as you are alive and breathing, you are coping just fine. 

 

We cannot change some things in our life immediately, but when we change the way we think about the things in our life, the things in our life change. 

 

I’ll leave you with that thought today.

 

More pieces of the puzzle to follow I promise.

 

If you feel totally confused, stick with it. It will all come together and you may need to read these emails a few times (think of all the calories you will burn doing so!).

 

PS. If you want help losing weight, but most importantly rebalancing your lifestyle to find results that actually last (like these women did below), then feel free to apply for a Complimentary Breakthrough Call to discover if Weight Loss Mentoring is the right approach for you. 

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Is Stress Your Metabolic Road Block?

October is stress management month.

Why?

I see with almost 90% of my clients that stress is a massive road block to their weight, health and fitness related goals.

Normally when my clients start to eat in a way that isn’t helpful in the context with their goals, miss workouts or disengage from what they want to achieve, 9 times out of 10, it’s down to some sort of stress. 

Stress impacts our weight in many ways:

  •  >> The physiological impact that changes our metabolism which may affect weight and hunger
  •  >> The psychological impact that drives our behaviour and makes it harder to make the best choices

I’d like to cover these broad areas across the month to help you understand why stress is the biggest thing to get a handle on if you want a healthier life. 

I’ll also be sharing with you what you can do about it.

So I will unfortunately start with some of the sciency stuff.

I’ll aim to keep it simple, although I can’t promise 😉

I’d encourage you to persevere and do you best to process the information and understand it.

FYI – we live in a world where information comes at us instantly and we seldom actually have to use our brains. Believe it or not, this is something that is influencing your weight!

Did you know that professional chess players burn up to 6000 calories (the equivalent of running 3 marathons) per day, due to the amount of glucose used by the brain.

When we direct energy towards the brain by actually trying to use it, we pull it away from the immune system and this actually something that can help with weight loss, because weight gain is actually immunological!

So you are losing weight just by reading this email :)

Let the science begin!

adrenal-test-2009

This is an adrenal stress test (a saliva test that tests stress hormone output)

The adrenal glands are the glands in the body that produce your stress hormone, cortisol.

Cortisol is an essential hormone that we release every day. It should be highest in the morning because it is associated with being alert and mobilising energy. It is lowest in the evening because you don’t want to be alert when you are trying to sleep.

The ideal rhythm of the cortisol is shown by the green in the graph.

You can see in this case, the person who took this test (me!) was not producing enough cortisol during the day.

More on that later.

What I want you to know about cortisol for today is that it is responsible for mobilising fat stores.

So healthy cortisol function is essential for weight loss!

So what would make cortisol function unhealthy of imbalanced?

Long term stress.

Short term stress may induce a peak in cortisol (as seen below)

jacqui1

This is normal and healthy physiology.

In previous times short term stress would have been…

  • >> Hunger
  • >> Cold
  • >> Heat
  • >> Thirst
  • >> Attack from a wild animal
  • >> Conflict with another tribe
  • >> Infection

 

The cortisol response would initiate the energy to overcome the stress – search for food, find water, fight and infection, deal with a threat.

Then physiology would return to normal.

The problem we have in modern times is that traditional stressors are no longer relevant…

>> we have an abundance of food available all the time

>> we drink continuously throughout the day

>> we control our temperature with heating or air conditioning

>> we have no threat from wild animals

>> we have medications to deal with infections

 

The stressors of modern day live are continuous and unresolved…

>> we continuously worry about things that haven’t happened yet

>> we have financial stress

>> we have the stress of over-feeding

>> we have the stress of over-drinking

>> we have stress of modern day toxins

>> we have work/relationship stress which mostly exists inbetween our own ears

 

The continuous nature of modern day stress results in a continuous activation of what is known as the HPA-axis.

The Hypothalamic-Pituitary (parts of the brain) – Adrenal (gland releasing cortisol) – Axis

This is the connection between the brain and the adrenal glands which then cause the release of stress hormones.

What is also important to note is that a stressed state is a state where we predominantly burn sugars AND NOT FATS.

This means that if you are carrying extra weight, you won’t be able to burn it in a state of stress.

You will burn sugars that are available and once you’ve got through those, you’ll start to break down proteins.

This means muscles and organs (like the gut lining – causing digestive problems).

The loss of lean tissues, slows metabolism and creates this…

cushings

This is actually a diagram of someone with Cushings Syndrome. An autoimmune condition resulting in a hyper-reactivity of the HPA-axis resulting in a large amount of stress hormones being produced.

I love this picture because it is a fantastic graphic presentation of what chronic stress does to the body.

Thinning limbs with fat accumulating around the belly, not to mention hair loss, disrupted hormones, problems with bones, problems with energy, muscle aches and pains, inflammatory conditions and the list goes on and on…

So that is all I want you to get from today.

Modern life = chronic activation of the stress pathways = loss of ability to burn fat and disruption of many metabolic pathways.More to follow in the post…

PS. If you want help losing weight, but most importantly rebalancing your lifestyle to find results that actually last (like these women did below), then feel free to apply for a Complimentary Breakthrough Call to discover if Weight Loss Mentoring is the right approach for you. 

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