How to Achieve Healthy Weight by Restoring Hormonal Balance

Food is life. It provides energy and building blocks for the body. All cells require healthy raw materials from the food you eat, and if you put garbage in, the cells starve. In other words, if what you eat is processed and devitalized, if it does not fuel your body, if it deprives you from essential vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins - you will crave more of food, which will eventually translate into more pounds on you.

But if you switch to a wholesome diet, which really feeds your tissues right and provides all necessary nutrients for your metabolic processes - you will logically start eating less and lose weight.

The most important weight loss strategy is to put yourself into a metabolic state that allows your body to function in its most efficient mode. Many people try to follow the generally recommended diet which restricts fats and proteins and emphasizes carbohydrates, but the results are usually disappointing: instead of shedding off excessive pounds, the dieters are gaining even more weight! However, if you try to follow a dietary strategy with the correct proportion of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% healthy fats - you will help your body achieve a metabolic state that allows you function at your best and lose weight. You will feel better, restore your insulin level, cope with food cravings, and enhance your overall performance. Contrary to the state of metabolic balance, high-carbohydrate nutrition does not allow you to access stored body fat to use it for energy.

Another important weight-loss strategy is to learn how to combine food proportions and categories in a right way. You may eat the right foods, but you also may eat them in the wrong time of the day, or eat too much of them at one time. Certain products, especially carbohydrate-rich foods, are capable of generating profound hormonal responses that may increase the amount of stored fat. The hormone called insulin, which is released by the pancreas as a reaction to a carbohydrate-rich meal, also promotes conversion of food into fat that is stored in the body “for later use”. Excess insulin also impedes the process of releasing the stored fat and converting it into energy.

In order to counteract such unpleasant effect of excess insulin, you need to learn how to stimulate glucagon - another pancreatic hormone which neutralizes the effect of insulin. Glucagon increases with the increase in exercise and protein consumption. Therefore, in order to balance the level of insulin and launch a metabolic process of losing weight, you need a daily physical activity and a diet with 30% protein evenly distributed among your three daily meals. A protein + exercise combination will boost your glucagon level and keep your weight in check.

One more hormone which is involved in regulating body weight is called “eicosanoid”. It is secreted by all body cells and, among others, has a function of controlling the release of stored body fat. Like all other hormones, eicosanoids are made by your body from saturated fats, contained in butter, lard and meats, as well as from essential monounsaturated fats (Omega-3 and Omega-6), contained in marine and unrefined vegetable and seed oils. Therefore, if you want to lose weight, you also have to make sure that your diet includes those healthy fats in the proportion of 30%.

When you consider the hormonal activity of your body and take conscious steps to restore healthy hormonal balance by exercising and eating the right proportion of nutrients (40% carbs, 30% fats and 30% proteins) - you turn food into a medicine that will eventually help you achieve your optimal weight.

Wayne Hammel

Metabo UltraMax

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