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The Worst Thing You Can Do When Trying To Lose Weight

PEERtrainer Note: This is an excerpt from a new article. The full article can be read here:

The Worst Thing You Can Do When Trying To Lose Weight

"A myth which has been ingrained in our beliefs is that blood sugar is inherently unstable, and we need a constant stream of calories to ensure it never dips or spikes. Now people are running out to buy little snack packs and trying to eat exactly 100 calories every hour to make sure their blood sugar remains stable.

This is actually one of the worst things you can do for blood sugar stability, and worse still is that this will actually fight your ability to lose weight.

If insulin is the storage hormone, then glucagon is the "take from storage" hormone. The problem is that insulin responds rapidly to the increase in blood sugar that eating causes, allowing us to store excess energy readily, but glucagon has a much slower response which only happens after we have gone through that fuel, a process which can take up to four hours!

If you attempt to control blood sugar by eating often, the only metabolic change you are likely to make is that your body will be releasing more insulin and less glucagon. By actively suppressing glucagon secretion, your body is less likely to take energy back out of storage, and weight loss will be slow."

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PPS: If you want to get our complete (free) guide on how to eat in a way that keeps your hormones working "right" the right way--what foods to eat, what foods to not to eat, the best vegetables for balancing your hormones, just enter your email and we will send you a webinar, a transcript of the webinar, plus 3 new videos that go deeper into this whole subject:

 

Related PEERtrainer Articles:

The Hormone That Literally Burns Stored Fat

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The Worst Thing You Can Do When Trying To Lose Weight

The 3 Things You MUST Do To Burn Belly Fat

How To Build Muscle (New From PEERtrainer)

How Stress Helps Us Store Belly Fat

Full Article Here

"While stress may possibly play a role in increasing belly fat through insulin sensitivity, the more insidious way and common way which stress influences the production of belly fat is through selective deposition of free fatty acids. Cortisol actively selects for fat to be deposited as belly fat instead of subcutaneous fat!

We are not certain why cortisol has this effect, but a well-regarded theory is that it serves the body well, when stressed, to store its excess energy in a readily available form.

Belly fat is easier to release and burn than subcutaneous fat, so storing excess energy as belly fat favors a quick energy response to stress, allowing us to escape a future stressful situation better. But when the stress is constant, we just keep storing more and more fat in the belly, and since our response to stress is usually not running or climbing, we never give the body the opportunity to burn the fat back off!"

"While stress is itself an unpleasant psychological state, it is cortisol which wreaks havoc upon our body when it is chronically high, and it is cortisol which tells the body to store belly fat. Psychological aspects of stress may encourage "stress eating" or other detrimental behaviors, and for this reason stress management techniques are important, but in the short-term we can also try to fix cortisol levels and reduce the overall health risk associated with chronically high cortisol levels and the belly fat it encourages."

Keep Reading: Stress and Belly Fat, How To Get Rid Of Belly Fat

Can Chinese Medicine Help You Lose Weight?

The Cycle of Five Elements and Weight Loss

Traditional Chinese medicine and herbology focuses on a cycle of five elements to which nature rotates. Since you're part of nature, you also experience these changes. From this Eastern perspective, spring becomes the Wood Element season.

We associate the Wood Element with your liver and gallbladder. During spring, cleansing and detoxifying your liver and gallbladder symbolizes letting go after winter storing and introversion.

Longer days provide more sunlight and warmer temperatures, which allow you more time outdoors. Sun provides you with vitamin D and opens your pores much like flowers blossom. Warmth symbolizes lightness, joy, and vibrant health.

I want to share my expertise in traditional Chinese medicine to give you three simple, effective strategies to detoxify, become your sexiest self, and get the most out of warmer weather ahead.

Chinese Medicine and Weight Loss

Reducing Weight Reduces Cancer Risk

Increased body fat increases risk of cancer. Body fat acts as a depot for producing inflammation and hormones that contribute to a pro-cancer physiology. Overweight, overfat, and obese individuals have increased rates of cancer and cancer recurrence.

One reason body fat contributes to cancer growth is that it contributes to increased levels of inflammatory factors such as COX2 and LOX5, C Reactive Protein and the cytokine Interleukin-6 all of which contribute to a pro-cancer environment.

Related PEERtrainer article: How to Reduce Inflammation

2. Maintaining normal blood sugar metabolism and normal insulin signaling and reducing the risk of diabetes. Elevated blood sugar, diabetes, and pre-diabetes, also known as insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome, can fuel cancer growth. Diabetics with chronically elevated blood sugar, insulin and Insulin Like Growth Factor (IGF-1) levels have increased risk of cancer and cancer progression. Why? Cancer cells preferentially utilize sugar as a fuel.

The more sugary your blood, the more ready fuel for cancer cell growth. Elevated insulin and IGF-1 levels also promote cancer cell growth. Exercise not only reduces body fat and increases percent muscle mass, but also influences hormone signaling to normalize blood sugar metabolism. The key is here is MODERATE exercise. Very intense exercise can trigger the release of cortisol, a hormone that elevates blood sugar.  

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