How stress can make you fat…

Are you carrying some excess weight that will not shift regardless of how much you restrict food and increase exercise? In this blog post I want to discuss the relationship between stress and those stubborn, unwanted pounds – and steps you can take to do something about it!

What is stress…

The prominent psychologist Richard Lazarus stated;

…any event in which environmental demands, internal demands, or both, tax or exceed the adaptive resources of an individual…

Most people think of stress as a psychological event such as a demanding job, having a fight with your significant other, crazy kids. However, stress can also be caused by physiological challenges also, such as;

• Insomnia.
• Chronic infections.
• Inflammation.
• Autoimmune disease.
• Environmental toxins; alcohol, caffeine, pesticides.
• Poor diet and extreme dieting.
• Too much exercise.

On top of that a physical stress response can be triggerd by ‘real or imagined’ situations. This means that not only actual situations such as the examples given above, but also imagined situations, for example; reliving past stressful events, catastrophising future events and unhelpful internal dialogue.

The stress response, also known as ‘flight or fight’, helps us respond to an emergency situation by mustering all the bodies systems to work together to survive through secreting the hormone cortisol (amongst others). Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system and in an acute situation is essential for survival…it was never designed for today’s relentless activation.

 

Stress and excess weight…

Chronic stress not only elevates cortisol, it disrupts the natural cortisol rythm and this plays havoc with your body! Here are ways that stress can keep you fat…

• raises your blood sugar
• makes it harder for glucose to get into your cells
• makes you hungry and crave sugar
• reduces your ability to burn fat
• suppresses your HPA-axis, which causes hormonal imbalances
• reduces your DHEA, testosterone, growth hormone and TSH levels
• makes your cells less sensitive to insulin
• increases your belly fat and makes your liver fatty
• increases the rate at which you store fat
• raises the level of fatty acids and triglycerides in your blood

 

What you can do about it…

Here are some practical tips to help with the belly bulge;

• Enjoy a good protein packed breakfast, this will help to stabalise blood sugar throughout the day, keeping you full and staving off carbohydrate or sugar cravings (see recipes).

 

• Eat enough food; it might sound counter intuitive, but eating enough of the right kind of food can help you stay out of starvation mode (a stressor).

 

• Choose nutrient dense foods; if the cells in your body are depleted of nutrient, they will cry out for more…how? By keeping you hungry until the nutrient need has been met!

 

• Stress management might sound easier than done when your busy with work, family and chores. But it is essential part of health and wellbeing. It can be as simple as taking time to breathe!

 

• Moderate exercise has been well documented to reduce stress, include some resistance into your workout – also check out interval training.