Tag Archive for inflammation

Stress can make you Fat and Sick

I’ve had several meetings in the past 2 weeks about health and weight problems that were stress induced.  For those of you who wonder how stress could possibly make you sick or heavy, here’s a couple of reasons out of the many (you’d need text books to cover everything.)

Our adrenal glands, which sit right on top of the kidneys, make dozens of hormones.stessbinge  HORMONES RULE US. PERIOD.  When we feel stress from anything ( an argument, over exercising, traffic, kids, a project, illness/infections, work stress, dieting.. etc) our adrenal glands squirt some “fight or flight” hormones into our blood.  There’s several, but I’m going to lump them all under the one called “CORTISOL”.

Follow me here:  even though most stressful situations do NOT involve having to physically run/kill/chase/escape from a physical danger, the response from our body is as if that was the case.  Cortisol/adrenaline prepares us for a physical exertion. ( It’s a very primal response. ) How?  So many ways..   this is just a couple.

1) When “stress” is felt, sugar is immediately dumped into the blood stream.  Sugar is FAST energy and fat is SLOW energy, right?  If the body is preparing for a threat, it wants FAST energy.  Where does the sugar come from?  First, the liver shoots out it’s teaspoon or so of stored sugar, then, if the stress continues, the muscle cells will be easily converted to glucose/sugar (that’s called “muscle wasting”) and then fat cells will give up their fatty acids and they’ll be converted to sugar.    *************  What if you don’t actually need all that SUGAR/GLUCOSE because your emergency didn’t involve anything physical?    YouGottaProblem.   Excess sugar is ALWAYS CONVERTED TO TRIGLYCERIDES AND STORED IN THE MIDSECTION.  ALWAYS.  That’s why stress causes heart disease, because the cortisol dumps sugar in the blood that’s not needed, so it becomes dangerous belly fat.  ( The many dangers of belly fat are a whole nother lecture, seriously.)

2) Cortisol in the blood immediately causes the heart rate to increase, the blood pressure to increase, and it causes your cells to DUMP their Magnesium (remember, this is the short list).  Studies are showing that most of us are Magnesium deficient, which is bad, because Mag has many, many jobs to do in our body. One of them is to relax our muscles.  When Cortisol is present though, we’re in an “anti-relaxed state”;  dumping Magnesium allows our muscles to contract quickly.  Again, so we can zebra losing spotsrun/kill/chase/escape.   Stay in a stressed state, and the Magnesium deficit just grows.

3) Cortisol shuts down stomach acid, which means it shuts down digestion.  Digestion’s NOT a priority in a “fight or flight” situation.  Stay stressed, and you become nutrient deficient.  Nutrients run and build our body;  consequences are inevitable.

4) Cortisol halts Sex Hormone production, because the same “ingredients” (aka nutrients) are used to make the fight / flight hormones and the sex hormones.  There’s only just so many of those ingredients, and Reproduction is NOT a priority in a “fight or flight” situation.  The body will ALWAYS choose to make fight or flight hormones over sex hormones.  Hormones run and build our body: consequences are inevitable.

I could go on and on and on.  There’s not one single part of us that isn’t negatively affected by TOO MUCH cortisol.  That said, we need cortisol!  It gets us up in the morning, and it’s supposed to be our bodies “anti-inflammatory” response to injury.  Unfortunately, when the cortisol valve doesn’t shut off, the opposite response happens:  INFLAMMATION.  The cause of everything bad:(

If this post is ringing bells in your head because “this sounds like you”,  email me.  Your health, your weight, your moods, your energy, greatly depend on having healthy adrenal glands and normal levels of cortisol.  When damage has been done, you need to undo it, as soon as possible!

Oh, you know what else causes stress/cortisol/inflammation?  Too much sugar, flour, and toxins.  Seriously.  Yet another reason to eat Real Whole Foods.

Cholesterol Clarity, and Some Recipes

debbie (22)There’s a lot of confusion and mis-information about Cholesterol, so let’s clear a few things up here:  The fat and cholesterol you eat does NOT go straight to your arteries and clog them.  That’s not how the body works AT ALL.  That’s a fear tactic pharmaceutical companies use to get you on their statins.  Cholesterol is a HEALING molecule, a major building block,  and an  antioxidant; it’s so VITAL to our body that God made EVERY SINGLE CELL IN OUR BODY produce it.  When you see a reading of your Total Cholesterol, your LIVER made most of that.  Very, very little of the cholesterol in our BLOOD comes from the food we eat.

Our brain needs TONS of cholesterol to function; our sex hormones are made from cholesterol, Vitamin D is made from cholesterol, bile is made from cholesterol; every time the body has an injury (say, a damaged artery from Insulin or toxic chemicals), the liver sends cholesterol to the site to Heal and Seal the damage. Even mental stress signals the body to produce more cholesterol.

Lipo-proteins are proteins that carry fat and cholesterol inside of them.  Low-Density Lipoproteins carry fats and cholesterol from the liver to other places in the body, and High Density Lipoproteins carry the waste products back to the liver.  Cholesterol does NOT equal lipo-proteins.  Measuring Lipoproteins is a way (some say an inaccurate way) of measuring the amount of cholesterol in your body.  Lipo-proteins are NOT ALL THE SAME.  Seven have  been identified so far; some are big, fluffy, and un-damaging, some are small, dense, and damaging.  Particle density tests can show the differences, but you’ll have to ask.  Otherwise, your doctor will prescribe the cholesterol test created in the 1970s to make a proclamation about your health.  Sound smart?

Cholesterol has been demonized, but that’s undeserved.  OXIDIZED cholesterol, and OXIDIZED lipoproteins, now they’re dangerous.  How do you Oxidize?  Lots of ways: eat sugars and flours that raise the blood sugar levels above normal;  eat Trans Fats; eat, breath, wear, or slather on chemicals that go right to the blood stream;  or flood your blood stream with Cortisol (your stress hormone),  as opposed to “managing” your stress via your mind, exercise, yoga, meditation, etc.

cholesterol clarityBottom line on clogged arteries?  Sugar and flours raise Insulin levels, increased insulin damages arteries, causes inflammation, completely shuts down fat burning in muscle cells, raises LDL and VLDL, and lowers HDL.   Trans fats and chemicals also increase inflammation and cause damage.  Our Food Matters; every bite we take either makes us healthier or sicker.

Cholesterol Clarity is a great, great book with the latest research from 28 Cardiologists and Lipid (fat) Researchers.  It’s an EASY read and honestly MIND BLOWING.   Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis and Grain Brain by Dr. David Peremutter are also Must Reads.  If you care about your health, you must take your health into your Own Hands.   Learn how your body works.  No one cares about you, or your loved ones, as much as you do.

Let me end with a couple of recipes.  The first is some granola I had this weekend at an Energy workshop ( it was all about Quantum Physics and Cool Stuff), and it’s called Paleo Granola.  My friend Ginny made it and it might have been the most popular food there.  OMGosh.   Here’s the link:http://www.paleocupboard.com/granola.html.   The next recipe welemon-coconut-balls-sized made here Friday night when a couple of my college girls were home.  It’s called Keto Lemon Coconut Balls -AHHH! these were delicious! We used Creme Fraiche instead of cream cheese, and real lemon juice, and more coconut than it called for. (I can never stick to a recipe)  Can’t wait to make these again! http://ketogenicwoman.com/keto-lemon-coconut-balls/.

Eating well and being healthy doesn’t mean boiled chicken and steamed broccoli.  That’s called “dieting”, and dieting never works.  Instead, eat healthy fats and proteins, tons of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, and some whole fat dairy (if your stomach says yes).  Eating well is delicious, and satisfying, and satiating.  Inflammation decreases, healing begins, and your brain will quit screaming at you to keep eating.  Eat Real Whole Foods.