Now, I know what you might be thinking.
“Duh, of course I am! I don’t need you to tell me that.”
But, the obvious: eating fast food every day, not working out on a regular basis and skipping meals, isn’t exactly what I’m talking about.
I mean, what if YOU (your body) are making you fat.
The infomercials tried to address this issue several years ago, but did a poor job explaining it. On top of that, they blamed your body and told you the answer was in a pill that cost $150 per bottle.
Remember this infomercial?
If you’ve attended any of Trinity’s seminars on nutrition and fat loss, you’ve been introduced to the idea of you and your body making you fatter.
What I’m talking about is Cortisol.
What’s that? Cortisol is a hormone in your body. A stress hormone.
When you are stressed, Cortisol is released.
Why? (I’m glad you asked)
“Back in the day,” when cavemen were roaming the earth they would have an occasional encounter with a dinosaur or another animal larger than themselves.
Have you ever heard the phrase "fight or flight?"
Cortisol plays a part in it.
Cortisol and Adrenaline are released to give a short burst of increased strength and endurance.
You can either stay and fight of the attack or run really, really fast and leave the danger far behind.
And that is where “fight or flight” came from.
Now, if there is a threat and you do have to run then everything in the body is normalized again after the excess of both the Cortisol and Adrenline are used. However, if there’s continued stress on the body and no signs of an outlet for the two hormones to work properly, YOU will store the excess as fat.
For example,
YOU are late for work due to traffic…. STRESS
YOU spill coffee on your dress and have an important meeting…. STRESS
YOUR boss is angry because YOU didn’t have the report completed on time…. STRESS
YOU don’t know if you will have a job tomorrow or the next day, or the next…. STRESS
YOU’RE fighting with your significant other… STRESS
and on
and on
and on it goes.
These aren’t considered life threatening events so Cortisol will not be used properly. It will cause more stress on the body and cause you to store fat.
So, YOU are making yourself fatter!
But, there’s an easy fix for this too.
There are tips and techniques that will help you to use these hormones in order to keep them from having negative effects on your body.
The easy answer is relax, breathe and unwind.
Here are some ways to accomplish that…
Slow, deep breathing. Usually 10 – 20 repetitions work great.
Listening to soft music (or any music that helps you relax)
Meditating
Laughing
Taking a short nap
Closing your eyes (no interruptions) and visualizing the events (past, present or future) the way you intend for them to happen. It only takes 2 to 5 minutes.
Taking a walk
Lifting weights
Cardiovascular exercise
Yoga
Proper nighttime sleep
Taking a hot bath
….do you get the point?
You need to find things, simple things, you can do (the more the better) to relax. Then when times get tough, call a time out and do one of these to get you back to a relaxed state.
