Women's Health and Fitness - Reducing Cortisol Levels Can Help You To Lose Weight

It is now known that stress can actually stop you losing weight especially around your middle.  Stress can cause your body to secrete high levels of cortisol hormone into your bloodstream, because of your body's "flight or fight" response to stress.  Stress can be either psychological (mental and emotional) or physical.

Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and is actually important for the regulation of blood pressure, the immune system and many other functions.  Cortisol can be good in small amounts but high levels can lead to an increase of abdominal fat, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and can also increase your bad cholesterol levels and decrease your good cholesterol levels. 

High levels of cortisol can also decrease your bone density, leading to osteoporosis and loss of muscle tissue, which will also slow down your metabolic rate, and it can also increase your blood pressure along with other problems.

Each of you will react differently to stress; some of you will produce more cortisol to a particular stress while others will produce less.  It has been found that those of you that produce more cortisol will actually eat more food as well, in particular carbohydrates.

What you need to do to combat producing too much cortisol is to learn ways to relax and also to maybe change your lifestyle.

Relaxation can be achieved in a number of ways either by exercising, mediation, yoga or breathing to start with.

Maybe one of the easiest and simplest ways is breathing.  This is done by gently breathing in through the nose, gently expanding your abdomen and then gently expelling the air through your nose pulling in your abdomen at the same time.  Whilst breathing out the air you need to focus on that breath.   After several breaths in and out you should start to feel yourself relax.  You need to practice doing this exercise a few minutes a day to start with building up to five minutes in the end.  You can also practice this when you are feeling stressed or when things are getting on top of you.  Just a few minutes can slow your body down and help it to feel relax.

Life style changes can be like changing your eating habits for a healthier diet, getting enough sleep, or even organizing your time more efficiently so that you do not feel so stressed.  Also looking after your body will help your body to cope with stresses that you come across during your day.

So if you are exercising frequently and eating properly but still not losing any weight especially from around the middle then maybe you are suffering from high levels of cortisol caused by stress.  Look at ways to solve the problem and hopefully then you should see a difference in your weight and around your middle.  

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Gill Webster is dedicated to helping women over 40, learn how to live a healthy beautiful life. To learn more, jump to  www.feelinggreatafter40.com and sign up for her free newsletter on health and fitness.

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Balance Your Glucose Levels With Meshashringi From Himalaya

Meshashringi From Himalaya: Natural remedies for glucose levels

Diabetes which of course has elevated blood glucose levels is becoming more prevalent by the day and thanks to the ever increasing indulgence in sodas junk food and food containing preservatives. Yet some even those people who are a following a healthier lifestyle and eating whole foods also fall victim to increased blood sugar levels.

Himalaya Meshashringi is an amalgamation of pure herbal extract of Gymnema Sylvestre. Also known as Gurmar and Meshashringi, there herb has been used in Ayurveda for a long time for regulating glucose levels. Meshashringi literally means "sugar destroyer". The effects after consuming Gymnema is well and here is how it works; for example pop open a Gymnema capsule, taste the powder and spit it out. After that, if try to eat a piece of chocolate, you will not be able to taste the sugar in it as well as the sweetness in any other sugar delicacy.

This happens so because the key component in this natural remedy for glucose levels is Gymnema acid that mimics the glucose molecules thus numbing the receptor sites in the tongue. Even better research made ode on this herb shows that Gymnema works in the same way internally too. This is done by supporting the normal function of the specialized cells that aids in sugar taste within the intestinal walls. Not only that, Meshashringi From Himalaya helps in maintaining normal blood sugar levels as well as normal cholesterol levels.

Meshashringi From Himalaya: Benefits

Supports the health of the pancreasDestroys the taste of sugar thus drastically minimizing the craving for sweetsSupports healthy beta cells that are also responsible for the release of insulin in the pancreasIs well recommended for athletes as well as health conscious individualsSupports healthy liver functionMaintains normal serum cholesterol as well as triglyceride levelsHas anti-obesity effects and is widely used as an herbal remedy in terms of weight loss

With the passing of days more and people are steering towards natural remedies for the treatment of different treatments and condition and in this case natural remedies for glucose levels. Yes, the Meshashringi From Himalaya is one of the most popular of the same and is gaining popularity the world over. Try it out yourself. It definitely works .

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Women's Health and Fitness - Reducing Cortisol Levels Can Help You To Lose Weight

It is now known that stress can actually stop you losing weight especially around your middle.  Stress can cause your body to secrete high levels of cortisol hormone into your bloodstream, because of your body's "flight or fight" response to stress.  Stress can be either psychological (mental and emotional) or physical.

Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and is actually important for the regulation of blood pressure, the immune system and many other functions.  Cortisol can be good in small amounts but high levels can lead to an increase of abdominal fat, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and can also increase your bad cholesterol levels and decrease your good cholesterol levels.

High levels of cortisol can also decrease your bone density, leading to osteoporosis and loss of muscle tissue, which will also slow down your metabolic rate, and it can also increase your blood pressure along with other problems.

Each of you will react differently to stress; some of you will produce more cortisol to a particular stress while others will produce less.  It has been found that those of you that produce more cortisol will actually eat more food as well, in particular carbohydrates.

What you need to do to combat producing too much cortisol is to learn ways to relax and also to maybe change your lifestyle.

Relaxation can be achieved in a number of ways either by exercising, mediation, yoga or breathing to start with.

Maybe one of the easiest and simplest ways is breathing.  This is done by gently breathing in through the nose, gently expanding your abdomen and then gently expelling the air through your nose pulling in your abdomen at the same time.  Whilst breathing out the air you need to focus on that breath.   After several breaths in and out you should start to feel yourself relax.  You need to practice doing this exercise a few minutes a day to start with building up to five minutes in the end.  You can also practice this when you are feeling stressed or when things are getting on top of you.  Just a few minutes can slow your body down and help it to feel relax.

Life style changes can be like changing your eating habits for a healthier diet, getting enough sleep, or even organizing your time more efficiently so that you do not feel so stressed.  Also looking after your body will help your body to cope with stresses that you come across during your day.

So if you are exercising frequently and eating properly but still not losing any weight especially from around the middle then maybe you are suffering from high levels of cortisol caused by stress.  Look at ways to solve the problem and hopefully then you should see a difference in your weight and around your middle.

- - - - - -
Gill Webster is dedicated to helping women over 40, learn how to live a healthy beautiful life. To learn more, jump to  www.feelinggreatafter40.com and sign up for her free newsletter on health and fitness.

Read More