Chronic stress, whether physical or emotional, causes the release of many different chemicals in your body. Chronic stress is also a major cause of weight gain. Many studies continue to show us that we are growing around the waistline in America. Managing your stress levels and ultimately the chemicals your body produces in response to stress can help you lose weight and gain health!
Your Adrenal Glands play a role in stress and can become fatigued. When they do they affect many functions of your body, one of which is your ability to lose weight. The adrenal glands are the stress-handling glands. They produce a variety of hormones and neurotransmitters. They are known as epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol and DHEA. When these are imbalanced they can contribute directly to weight gain and increased cravings for foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat.
Cortisol directly affects your metabolism. It is responsible for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels between meals and helps to break down fat when we exercise. When we don’t have healthy levels of Cortisol we will store fat instead of breaking it down. This fat will end up primarily in the belly. Epinephrine, another stress chemical is also required in breaking down fat. It is very difficult to lose weight without healthy amounts of both of these chemicals. Dopamine and Serotonin levels are almost always diminished in people who are dealing with long term stress. These chemical imbalances are associated with increased cravings especially for carbohydrates. Norepinephrine affects your motivation which can affect your desire to exercise or stick with your health plan.
If you have been unable to successfully lose weight there are solutions! Once the chemical imbalances have been identified, we can naturally and safely rebalance them and get you on a path to healthy weight management and increased energy.