How to Turn Off Weight Gain Hormones

Turning on Metabolic Hormones to Fight Fat 

The human body secretes thousands of hormones, many of which have multiple functions.  Hormones are signaling molecules found everywhere inside of us.  They affect how the cells and organs function by communicating what is going on in the body. In this article, I’m going to focus on the hormones that affect metabolism, or energy production.  You have surely heard about some of these hormones:

Adrenal hormones

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  Cortisol
• Adrenaline
• DHEA

Pancreatic hormones

• Insulin
• Glucagon

Other hormones

• Thyroid
• HGH

Adrenal Hormones

Cortisol Hormone

Adrenal hormones come from two little glands situated on top of each kidney, the adrenal glands. Although small, these glands are very important. They give us our sleep-wake cycles, and keep everything in line with the metabolism. They get you started in the morning, and put you down at night. They also have a lot to do with fat storage.

Cortisol is the major metabolic hormone from the adrenal glands. Cortisol affects fat in the following ways:

• Long-term elevations of cortisol raises insulin and increases fat
• Rapid, or short spurts of cortisol pair with adrenaline or HGH (Human Growth Hormone) and decreases fat

Stress causes us to make more cortisol. Positive stress can help build muscle and decrease fat by being coupled with HGH (human growth hormone). But negative stress, or long-term stress, coupled with insulin causes a loss of muscle and increase in fat.  If you think about it, the very things people do when they are stressed may worsen their situation.  Cortisol causes us to crave sugar and starch, which increase insulin, causing more fat gain.  So, eating chocolate when stressed is exactly the wrong thing to do – if you don’t want to gain weight.

You can maximize the good effects of cortisol on fat with positive stress through:

• Exercise
• Learning
• Helping others
• Growing
• Writing a book
• Starting a business
• Raising a family

Whenever we are improving, we are stressed. That’s why life is hard.  However, when we choose our stress, accept it, and love it, we are in positive stress mode. This increases our growth hormones and we actually build our bodies and reduce fat storage.

Negative stress, on the other hand, occurs when we don’t choose. When a choice is forced on us from the outside, we feel loss, depressed, or trapped. This increases the negative effects of cortisol.

Fear and distress are negative stressors that result from:

• Trauma or injury
• Car accident
• Death of a loved-one
• Divorce
• Toxins
• Illness, infections
• Dead-end job
• Lack of money

You can make simple lifestyle choices that will reduce stress and lower your cortisol levels. Meditation, prayer, sleep, enjoying a hobby, and maintaining a regular routine all help to manage cortisol and improve the ratios of adrenal hormones.

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Adrenaline Hormone

The hormone that causes your heart to race and your blood pressure to go up when you have a scare is also one that can help you burn fat.

In a dangerous situation, adrenaline mobilizes fat in order to increase the energy supply for the muscles and brain.  You can use this to your advantage to stimulate adrenaline and burn more fat without having to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, ride 3.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu, or go spelunking with a torch.  You can do this in the safety of your own home!

Interval training is a good way to release adrenaline. Engage in interval training in a controlled way to gain all the benefits and avoid any negative stress effects.  An interval training routine looks like this:

1. “Sprint” – 8 SECONDS (yes, that’s only 8 seconds).
2. Then, exercise lightly for 12 seconds.
3. Repeat this two-part sequence for 20 minutes three times per week.

That’s all it takes.  You can participate in any other forms of exercise on other days or at other times, but this is the way to stimulate your adrenaline to help you burn fat.

A “sprint” is where you go all-out and give the exercise all you have.  For example, interval training on a bicycle looks like this:

1. You pump hard (like riding up a hill) for 8 seconds.
2. Followed by easy cycling (like on a flat surface), not resting or stopping, for 12 seconds.
3. Repeat the above sequence for 20 minutes.

This can be done with other exercises such as running, weightlifting, and so forth.  You’ll experience the greatest pleasure and consistency by choosing an exercise that you enjoy. You can supplement your interval training with other exercises that focus specifically on other goals (i.e. build muscle).

To stimulate ADRENALINE and help you burn fat:

• Exercise 3 times per week for 20 minutes, alternating:
  • 8 seconds of sprinting
  • 12 seconds of light exercise

DHEA Hormone

This hormone is an “androgen” which is related to testosterone. It has been shown to decrease insulin resistance, and therefore decrease insulin. Thus, DHEA can help prevent abdominal fat and diabetes. Like testosterone, DHEA improves muscle mass, and therefore strength and stamina. It may have some effect on mental focus and drive, but this is variable.

DHEA is found in health-food stores over-the-counter. Women generally need less than men. It is a good idea to have this level tested (use the DHEAS test) to see if you need to supplement. If you do, a starting dose might be:

• Women: 5 mg per day
• Men: 25 mg per day

Pancreatic hormones

Insulin Hormone

Teaching our culture to live on the “food pyramid” has had huge effects on insulin production. Since the 1970s when the “low fat, high carbohydrate” craze began, our entire population has only become more and more obese.  Much of this is due to insulin, a hormone released by the pancreas in the following situations:

• When we eat
• When we eat any carbohydrates
• When we eat anything sweet

Insulin causes the body to store fat.  It produces fat from our carbohydrates for storage.  It also blocks the body’s ability to use fat for energy.  Thus, people with high insulin levels can become hypoglycemic very easily and will crave carbohydrates.

Insulin

• Increases fat storage, especially in the abdomen
• Decreases fat use

Interestingly, an increase in insulin doesn’t require us to eat any calories. People who drink diet drinks with no calories gain more weight on the same diet than those who have drinks with sugar.[1] This happens because the taste of sweet causes us to release insulin. But we want less insulin so we can use fat normally.

In order to decrease insulin and increase burning fat, we should:

• Eat fewer times in a day. 2-3 meals is better than 4-5. Avoid snacks, drink only water between meals.
• Avoid simple sugars and starches.
• Avoid anything that tastes sweet, especially artificial sweeteners.

Glucagon Hormone

The opposite of insulin is glucagon.  While insulin causes us to store energy, glucagon causes the release of energy. Many of the medications for diabetes block glucagon so the body can’t make extra energy, release extra sugar, or block the use of fat.  When insulin goes up, glucagon goes down, and vice-versa.  In order to burn fat, we want more glucagon.

Glucagon is released when we eat protein without carbohydrates.  This is important because when we eat sugar or starch with protein, such as meat and potatoes, we get insulin more than glucagon.

To increase glucagon

Don’t mix sugar and starch with protein (meat, eggs, fish, cheese).

Other Hormones

Thyroid Hormone

When people feel like they’re gaining weight and feel slow and sluggish they often go to the doctor to have their thyroid checked.  The doctor does a single test, TSH, and tells the person, “your test is normal,” as if to say it can’t be the thyroid.

The thyroid hormone is very long-acting.  Thyroid levels generally go up in the winter to increase energy production and fat use. Then they drop in the summer to decrease heat and store more fat for winter.

As such, generally our lifestyle causes us to have low thyroid hormone levels. TSH is produced by a small gland in the brain called the pituitary. The TSH test derives its data from the brain and tells us it’s normal even when it isn’t.  So, there are millions of people walking around with low thyroid and a normal TSH test.

These people have a very hard time burning fat, even on a diet.  In fact, low calorie diets and aerobic exercise may actually have a negative stress effect on thyroid hormone levels.

There are several ways to improve thyroid function naturally:

• Interval exercise
• Periodic fasting for short periods (one day)
• Iodine
• Selenium
• Zinc

Human Growth Hormone (HGH)

Lois, an elderly woman came in because she wanted a prescription for human growth hormone shots. She had been using them for some time, and they seemed to help her feel better, have more energy, keep up her muscle mass, and lower her stomach fat. However, this hormone is very expensive so she wanted her insurance to pay for it. She needed a test first to document deficiency. We ordered the test and she had a perfect level, though she hadn’t been taking any for over a month.

Human growth hormone affects the fat indirectly. What’s really interesting about this hormone is that it doesn’t do anything for those who aren’t deficient. Those who are deficient in it get increased muscle mass and decreased fat.

The natural way to get this hormone is illustrated by the rest of the story of Lois. The day she was to take the test she wasn’t able to go into the lab in the morning so she waited until the late afternoon to take it. She thought she needed to fast so she waited until after the blood draw to eat, fasting for almost 24 hours. It turns out, HGH is released during fasting by a hormone from the stomach called ghrelin, named because it is a Growth-Hormone-RELeasing-IN (hormone). Ghrelin is made by the stomach when it is empty. So when she fasted all day her growth hormone was released in the normal way, and she had normal HGH levels. Of course, her insurance company didn’t pay for the injections, but she found a new way to get the hormone she needed! Fasting increases human growth hormone.

Bottom Line

Take the above as a general outline, but the fact is, hormones affect different people in different ways because of many other factors that are involved:

• Emotions
• Levels of other hormones
• Nutrition status
• Toxins
• Genetic variations
• …and so forth

You can use this knowledge to your advantage to take control of fat and maintain optimum health. Remember:

Cortisol

• Increases fat when coupled with insulin
• Causes cravings, hunger
• Decreases fat when coupled with HGH or adrenaline

Adrenaline

• Burns fat
• Decreases hunger

DHEA[2]

• Lowers insulin

Insulin

• Increases fat storage, mostly in the abdomen
• Prevents fat from being used for energy

Glucagon[3]

• Increases fat burning

HGH[4]

• Increases lean muscle and decreases fat in those who are deficient.

Thyroid[5]

• Increases fat use by increasing metabolism.

Prescription For Hormone Balance:

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  Lower stress by using positive stressors:
  • Learn a new language, or how to paint with oils and so forth.
  • Grow in every way
  • Help others improve their lives
  • Pray and meditate
• Exercise three times per week using 8-second sprints with 12-second cool-downs.
• Eat only whole, organic foods
• Take the following supplements:
  • Iodine 12.5 mg per day for 90 days, then one per week
  • Selenium 200 mcg per day for 90 days, then one per week.
  • Zinc 25 mg per day for 90 days, then one per week.
• Fast one day per month for about 24 hours (you may drink water)
• Don’t mix sugar/starch with protein
• Drink only water between meals
• Eat 2 or 3 meals per day
• Avoid sweets

This is a long list, but, then again, these things will affect all of your metabolic hormones, and allow you to continue to live a normal life without constantly fighting with your fat!

If you liked this article, then you’ll love these:

• Overcoming Obesity Step by Step
• Metabolic Syndrome: Dr. Saunders Recovery Protocol
• Maximize Fat Burning with High-Intensity Interval Training

 

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Dr. Scott D. Saunders, M.D. is a practicing physician, specializing in preventative health care, who utilizes eclectic health care for the whole family, including conventional, orthomolecular and natural medicine. He is also the medical director of The Integrative Medical Center of Santa Barbara in Lompoc, CA. He went to UCLA medical school and is board certified in family medicine. View natural remedies with Dr. Saunders at: http://drsaundersmd.com

 

 

Sources:
[1] http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fit/lose-weight/myth-diet-soda
[2] http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=199765
[3] http://www.diabetes.co.uk/body/glucagon.html
[4] http://www.webmd.com/diet/the-truth-about-hgh-for-weight-loss?page=2
[5] http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/thyroid/physio.html