Hormones in fat loss, fitness and health!!

Today’s Re-Powering Information - My friend Nicole wrote some great information about hormones and how they play a role in fat loss, fitness and health. So much of how we feel is hormonally related. They control many of the symptoms we experience and we can influence them to be regulated naturally by how we sleep, what and when we eat, how we manage stress and so on. I’m passing it along to you as she wrote it.

As promised, I want to write about sugar/ insulin/hormones how they relate to fat loss or lack of fat loss. While I am not an expert in this area, I certainly can shed some light onto the topic as I best understand it. There is a lot more to the hormone story than I will present here, so these are just some basics:

Insulin- this is the number 1 hormone that needs to be controlled carefully in order to lose body fat. The better you control insulin , the leaner you will be. The very best way to control this hormone is by consuming low grams of carbohydrates at each meal and those carbs should only be of the highest quality and have a lower glycemic rating. When carbs are consumed beyond the moderate level, insulin is triggered and this happens rapidly. The fat storing, anabolic acting hormone goes right to work at reducing the sugar in the blood. If calories are high (and possibly even if they are not, fat storage is likely to result). Once in a while is not a big deal, but day after day this will cause weight gain and create the HABIT of over-consuming carbs. It is the refined carbs that you need to avoid, not the wholesome nutrient rich vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

To control weight gain and increase fat loss- control carb consumption.

Leptin- hormone responsible for regulating appetite and metabolism. Do not fast and get plenty of sleep. Skipping meals as well as sleep deprivation lowers leptin level. Leptin is helpful in controlling appetite.

Side note from the web:

Fructose and leptin resistance- A study published recently suggests that the consumption of high amounts of fructose causes leptin resistance and elevated triglycerides in rats. The high fructose diet rats subsequently ate more and gained more weight than controls when fed a high fat, high calorie diet

Ghrelin- hormone that increases appetite. It is also affected by lack of sleep, which increases the levels of this hormone.

Growth Hormone- This hormone can be stimulated easily with resistance training as well as plyometric or some types of intensity training such as sprints and plyometrics.It is very important to simultaneously has adequate nutrient intake in order for the growth hormone to be effective in muscle building and fat loss. This is an anabolic hormone and creates muscle growth. If there is an over abundance of refined carb consumption this hormone gets shut down.

Cortisol- stress hormone that flows through the body and is caused by many types of stressors. Life stress, emotions, feelings and even high duration cardio or over training. It is a catobolic hormone that weakens the body, breaks down muscle tissue and decreases immunity.Since you can not control so many factors in life that cause stress, you are best able to CONTROL YOUR REACTIONS to them. I know , easier said than done. Reading books about happiness, how to re-evaluate situations, and quotes are all helpful in reacting with a more positive attitude.

Glucagon this hormone is involved in carbohydrate metabolism. It is when carb consumption is low. I is a hormone that helps to release stored bodyfat.

This is the reason I emphasize the importance of keeping your overall glycemic load of each meal in check when fat loss is your primary goal. Hope it helped.

End

The standard of success in life isn't the things. It isn't the money or the stuff -- it is absolutely the amount of joy you feel.

--- Abraham

Have a restful weekend!

Take responsibility and get after what you want. Period!

Today’s Re-Powering information – simply a brilliant quote!



"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse."

-- Florence Nightingale


Last night I attended a 90 minute seminar for Hope hosted by Dave Ramsey. One of the messages was to get up and take responsibility. We know that can’t and but stem from fears and with fear you can not have hope. Take responsibility and get after what you want. Period!



Okay I couldn’t’ resist – here’ another quote! Savor it!



“Work to make your life something more than long, because there is no guarantee that it will be.”



Chris Widener



Have a relaxing and ultra enjoyable weekend.

"Hunger hormones"

Today’s RE-Powering information – More evidence linking the importance of sleep to health and weight loss. In a nut shell, lack of sleep increases the hormone Ghrelin (think growlin’) stimulates hunger. The less you sleep, the more ghrelin is produced making you hungrier. See, it’s not in your mind – it’s in your physiology. Sleep more and less ghrelin in produced and you won’t be as hungry during the day. The second finding is that leptin is decreased. Leptin is the hormone that makes you feel full. So if you are not sleeping, you are never satisfied and always hungry. It’s physical and then it becomes emotional as well. As you are exhausted you make more emotional than rational decisions. Then as the habit progresses, the vicious cycle worsens.

The great news is that you can turn it around with sleep. Sleep and lose weight –yes it’s true. Also, you burn the greatest calories from fat while at the lowest intensity levels (sleeping). Now don’t just think you can sleep and skip camp. You burn more calories and more fat calories in camp than you do sleeping, the ratio of fuel being used from fat is just lower.

So enough technical stuff. The bottom line is to get to bed! We are a sleep deprived nation and we’d all feel better if we slept 7+ hours a night.

See the facts below.

"Hunger hormones" ghrelin and leptin affected by poor sleep
Insomnia has long been associated with poor health, including weight gain and even obesity. Now researchers at UCLA have found out why.

In a study to be published in the May issue of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology and currently available online by subscription, Sarosh Motivala, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, and colleagues looked at two hormones that are primarily responsible for regulating the body's energy balance, telling the body when it is hungry and when it is full. The study found that chronic insomnia disrupts one of these two hormones.

To date, no study has evaluated nocturnal levels of the two hormones, ghrelin and leptin, in primary insomnia patients. Ghrelin, a peptide secreted by the stomach, stimulates appetite and increases before meals. Leptin, which affects body weight and is secreted primarily by fat cells, signals the hypothalamus regarding the degree of fat storage in the body; decreased leptin tells the body there is a calorie shortage and promotes hunger, while increased levels promote energy expenditure.

In the study, researchers compared healthy sleepers with those suffering from chronic insomnia and measured the levels of the two hormones at various times throughout the night. They found that while leptin levels averaged out over the night to be roughly the same between the two groups, levels of ghrelin were 30 percent lower in insomnia sufferers.

On the face of it, a decreased level of ghrelin would seem to inhibit weight gain; it is an increase in ghrelin, after all, that stimulates appetite. But Motivala compared his findings with other, earlier studies on sleep deprivation and speculates that a switch may occur during the day: Sleep loss leads to increased ghrelin and decreased leptin, a "double whammy" that stimulates appetite. Motivala is currently working on a study to examine this switch.

"The current study shows that insomnia patients have a dysregulation in energy balance that could explain why these patients gain weight over time," said Motivala, who is also a member of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA. "This is an exciting finding because it highlights how diverse behaviors like sleep and eating are connected. We are just beginning to explore the possible consequences of these connections, but it is another example of the importance of a good night's sleep for the body."

For the study, 38 male participants were divided into two groups — 14 insomnia sufferers and 24 healthy subjects. Both groups had similar ages and body weight. Both groups underwent polysomnography sleep studies that monitor brain waves. Circulating levels of ghrelin and leptin were measured at 11 p.m., 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Ghrelin levels across the night were significantly lower in insomnia patients, while leptin were not significantly different between the two groups.

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The UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology encompasses an interdisciplinary network of scientists working to advance the understanding of psychoneuroimmunology by linking basic and clinical research programs and by translating findings into clinical practice. The center is affiliated with the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Organics... regarding hormones, pesticides and carcinogens

I love to see everyone waking up each moment and seizing the day.



Tomorrow I said we would focus on back, shoulders, biceps, core and cardio. As always we plan to be outside. With the wind blowing into the building this morning and b/c we were not doing much movement, the majority choose inside. The rest of the week looks good for weather.



Today’s Re-Powering information: Gale sent me this information about Risky Foods regarding hormones, pesticides and carcinogens. I cover some of this in the Grocery Shopping Tour which is coming up Thursday Feb 25th. The boot camp site is down at the moment, but you can register later. I think you may be surprised at some of these findings. There are also additional links to foods containing mercury, articles on buying organic, etc.






Not Just HFCS and Peanut Butter: 10 Other Risky Foods
Is buying organic the answer to avoiding hormones, pesticides and carcinogens?

By Maura Judkis, U.S. News & World Report
More on this in Health & Fitness

* Mercury Found in High Fructose Corn Syrup
* How Much Meat Should a Climate Change-Wary Flexitarian Eat?
* 4 Easy Ways to Be a Freegan

As if we don't have enough to be worried about already. In the midst of food safety scares from salmonella in peanut butter and mercury in high fructose corn syrup, Sprig.com has produced a list of 10 other foods that can be dangerous. Their risks range from hormones to pesticides to carcinogenic substances. How to avoid many of these risks? Buy organic.

Farmed salmon. It's high in polychlorinated biphenyls, with 11 times more dioxins than wild salmon.

Conventionally grown bell peppers. They require more pesticides than any other vegetable—with as many as 64 being found on a single sample of pepper in one study.

Non-organic strawberries. Some growers of strawberries irrigate their plants with Nutri-Sweet-laced water. The sugar substitute is a probable carcinogen.

Chilean sea bass. The fish is high in mercury, and if eaten consistently over time, can elevate the body's mercury levels to dangerous amounts.

Non-organic peaches. Pesticides easily penetrate their soft skins and permeate the fruit.

Genetically modified corn. We still don't know the long-term effects of genetically modified corn, but it's been tied to an increase in allergies for humans.

Bluefin tuna. Not only is it high in mercury, but overfishing may drive the species to extinction and affect the sea's ecosystem.

Industrially farmed chicken. Arsenic has been found in conventional chickens, as has antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Non-organic apples. When grown in humid Mid-Atlantic states, the crop uses more pesticides than California, Oregon and Washington states.

Cattle treated with rBGH. Recombinant bovine growth hormone has been traced to breast cancer and hormonal disorders.

Read more on MSN Health & Fitness:

* Organic Foods: Are They Safer? More Nutritious?
* Organics for the 21st Century
* Tracking Down a Salmonella Outbreak
* Seventh Salmonella Death Linked to Peanut Products
* Organics: Are They Worth It?