The Hormones of Fat Loss :: Weight Loss :: Hormones and Metabolism

The Hormones of Fat Loss
by author Lorna Vanderhaeghe, BSc

By understanding how hormones such as insulin, thyroid, serotonin, leptin, and cortisol work, we can regulate our weight more effectively.

Like many readers of alive, one of your New Year’s resolutions may have been to lose a few pounds. If you’ve already eaten your way through January, you’re not alone. Long-term studies show that one to two-thirds of weight lost through dieting is regained within one year. Almost all weight is regained within five years - disheartening information if you’re trying to lose weight by restricting calories.

Yet we know that packing around too many pounds can lead to cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, gastric reflux, and many other health complications. Most people lose weight to fit into a smaller clothing size, but being fat takes years off our lives and the emotional, physical, and societal costs are exorbitant.

I spent most of 2003 writing a book on fat loss. While wading through references, I was excited by research showing that not only the food we eat but certain hormones, including insulin, thyroid, serotonin, leptin, and cortisol, determine whether we are skinny or fat. By understanding how these hormones work we can regulate our waist size more effectively.

Sour Side of Insulin

High levels of insulin may contribute to our fatness. Insulin, the blood sugar regulator, is pumped out in excessive amounts as it tries to reduce the abnormally high blood sugar that results from a high carbohydrate, low protein diet. We inevitably gain weight and become fat, and our cells become resistant to insulin and fat loss.

Cortisol

High insulin also increases the secretion of cortisol, our stress hormone. High cortisol causes a corresponding drop in the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which, among other actions, helps to increase muscle mass. More muscle mass is needed for fat loss, as it increases fat burning and reduce insulin.

Chronic stress also activates all fat cells to store fat. The central fat cells, found mainly deep in the abdominal wall, have four times the cortisol receptors on their cell membranes. Each time we are stressed the cortisol-fat mechanism turns on and our body stores more fat.

Body Fat and Leptin

Another hormone - leptin, produced by body fat - is critical in telling the body when to eat and when we are satisfied. Scientists have learned that in some people the message of satiety is not heard and fat cells send out more and more leptin, causing resistance to leptin, increased food cravings, and the desire to continue eating. In other people, leptin levels are low due to zinc deficiency.

Serotonin Satisfaction

The hormone serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain made from the amino acids found in proteins, is also involved in signalling satisfaction. Low serotonin levels cause depression, obesity, lethargy, a preference for refined carbohydrates, and overeating because the brain senses it is starving. A diet that restricts protein-rich calories causes serotonin levels to plummet. People who are hyper-secretors of cortisol also exhibit suppressed serotonin levels.

Thyroid to Go

Low thyroid - called hypothyroidism - affects approximately 30 percent of the population in Canada. Low thyroid reduces our fat burning rate and causes fatigue, inhibiting energy levels.

Scientists have unlocked the secret to fighting fat. Diets don’t work. We must eat to ensure healthy hormones, eat less, walk, and laugh more.

Lorna Vanderhaeghe, BSc, is the author of several books, including the best seller Healthy Immunity: Scientifically Proven Natural Conditions from A-Z (Wiley and Sons, 2001) and No More HRT: Menopause Treat the Cause (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2002). She is also senior editor of Encyclopedia of Natural Healing (alive Books, 2002) and associate editor of alive Journal. Look for her Web site at healthyimmunity.com.

Source: alive #256, February 2004

The Terrible Ten: Those Last 10 Pounds
Why do those last few pounds of fat seem next to impossible to shed? You've been painstakingly following a weight reduction program for the past few months. You look and feel better than you can ever remember, but one thing is wrong - that last bit of fat is clinging to you for dear life.

Rock Around the Clock
According to The New York Times (May 6, 2004), surgeons will perform over 144,000 weight-loss operations in 2004. This is way up from 20,000 in 1995.

Hormone Helpers
Hormones deliver a powerful punch. These tiny chemical messengers, secreted by the endocrine system, have huge impact on our mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

Abolish Your Weight Woes
Conventional weight loss wisdom makes trimming the pounds gained during the holidays sound so easy-burn more energy than you take in and you'll shed pounds. But for most people, that's an oversimplification. Diet and exercise are not the only factors that play a role in your weight.

Avoiding the New Year's Dieting Blues
You've made it through another year, and if you're like most of us, you have probably already made a pact with that New Year's resolution.

Stress and Your Metabolism
Is everyone stressed these days? According to Kenneth Pelletier, PhD, author of Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer (Stanford University Press, 2002), between 80 and 90 percent of all illnesses are linked to stress, and 75 to 90 percent of all visits to the doctor are for stress and anxiety-related concerns.

Men-O-Pause
One of the biggest pet peeves among women lies in the belief that men have it so easy when it comes to their metabolisms. For instance, when men and women go on the same diet, men tend to lose more weight without trying as hard, but why?

Your Liver
When we think about enhancing our metabolism, we might look to one of the countless metabolic enhancers or fat burners that line the shelves of many health food stores.

Body Fuel
Over the past two decades, many of us have bought into the idea that carbohydrates give us energy, fat makes us fat, and protein-in excess-causes kidney damage. The truth is, it's not this easy.