Why These Three Things Should Scare You and What To Do About It
A research team at Yale found that people with high stress levels, even non-overweight women, release more cortisol and are prone to accumulating more abdominal fat.
The effects of cortisol levels on belly fat have been the subject of much media coverage over the past few years mainly because abdominal fat leads to so many health issues.
As stated on the Mayo Clinic Website: “Although subcutaneous fat poses cosmetic concerns, visceral fat is linked with far more dangerous health problems, including: Cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, Colorectal cancer”.
So it is understandable why both men and women would want to get rid of belly fat.
But the link between stress and belly fat is of particular interest to me.
Get Rid of Stress
We all know that to get rid of unwanted weight, proper nutrition and exercise are what is required. There are no two ways about that. Marketing strategists will try to have you believe that you can lose weight without changing your eating and without exercising. That is a whole lot of unhealthy baloney! As long as our bodies are made to use fuel as energy and our frame is made up of muscles and bones, the fuel we take in and the maintenance of those muscles and bones are what will determine how well our body functions and whether or not we can maintain a healthy weight. That’s all there is to it.
But let’s pause and look at the effect of stress in this process.
If we believe the research that stress affects our cortisol levels and makes us store fat, then how are we to deal with stress?
Here are some of my recommendations:
Exercise
Fact: When you exercise, you feel good. That’s thanks to the endorphins you produce when you move your mass. Your brain likes endorphins. Again from the Mayo Clinic: “Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being active can boost your feel-good endorphins and distract you from daily worries.” If you want to create endorphins you must exercise.
Yoga
Yoga not only helps you stretch and tone your muscles, it helps you get off the merry-go-round and forces you to focus on your breathing. It is a great stress reducer. Do it daily, do it weekly, do it for 5 minutes or 50 minutes, just do it. It’s a great way to combine relaxation with exercise.
Mindfulness Meditation
Many people hear the word “meditation” and say “Forget it!” Fine, your loss. But if stress is an issue for you, you owe it to yourself to search out the various forms of meditation out there. Mindfulness meditation is all about savoring the moment. Being present, not changing anything but tuning in to yourself while tuning out the cares and concerns of your day. You can practice mindfulness meditation simply by focusing on your inhale and your exhale. That’s it. Count to 6 as you inhale and do the same as you exhale. Do that a few times and you will feel your body relax. Voilà! You can do this at a stop light or in the comfort of your home. You can even do it on the run. An article in the Huffinton Post tells you How To Turn Running Into A Mindfulness Practice. There you have it. You can even multi-task. Exercise and Meditate at the same time! How great is that? The tips in the article are ones you can adapt to Walking, Swimming, Cycling or my favorite, Mushing. =)
The nice thing about Mindfulness Meditation is that it doesn’t take much to practice putting your brain into a relaxed state. You can do it throughout the day as often as you want and it only takes 30 to 60 seconds! If you have a smart phone check out the apps for a Meditation Chime and set it to go off at intervals during the day. When you hear the sound of the chime, stop what you are doing and take 30 seconds to mindfully breathe focusing on your in-breath and your out-breath. With time you will find yourself doing this more and more especially when things start to get stressful. It’s like anything else, practice makes progress.
If you want a more structured approach, try some of the free online programs. Deepak Chopra and Oprah occasionally offer 21-Day Meditation Challenges. It’s a good way to check out if this type is to your liking.
Silent Journey also offers the opportunity for you to try their online meditation exercises with beautiful relaxing photography.
Chamomile Tea
Don’t neglect the soothing effect of herbal teas, especially Chamomile Tea. Not only are they caffeine-free but the soothing effects of chamomile are particularly relaxing in the evening before bed.
Herbal Supplement
If herbal supplements interest you but you don’t want to create your own mix, you may want to consider a supplement that has put together all the ingredients you need for all-around stress support. TLS ACTS is a perfect combination of ingredients that lend adrenal, thyroid, cortisol and stress support. Look at the Product Info and Ingredients for TLS ACTS and as with all supplements, check with your doctor or pharmacist for any interactions with any medications you may be taking.
Get Rid of Belly Fat
Granted, getting rid of belly fat can be daunting at times especially if you are a post menopausal woman. It does require a lot of core exercises, and eating the right foods makes a huge difference. If supplemental help is something you are willing to consider then the supplement I recommend is CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid.) CLA used to be found naturally in our foods before bio-engineering changed all that. While I believe weight loss is best achieved by eating healthy and exercising daily, I also believe that adding supplements of nutrients our bodies are meant to have, can benefit us especially when trying to reach weight loss goals. Here’s more on CLA and how it works to get rid of belly fat.
Most people who are feeling the effects of stress say they just don’t have time to do anything about it.
I used to be one of those people. Life will always give us the excuses we need to procrastinate and not take care of ourselves.
Until we decide that our own personal Health Care needs to be at the top of our priority list, we will continue to worsen until we are faced with having to deal with Sick Care.