Have you ever thought about how your body controls your weight and appetite? How does it know when to sleep and when to eat? It’s true that it is quite a complex process that involves a balanced functioning of a set of chemical interactions between your nervous system, brain, hormones, fat cells, and endocrine system.
The way to having a balanced weight and healthy appetite is proper communication between all our body systems. But the thing of consideration is that when such chemical interactions occur, we experience untimely cravings and hunger, especially for sugar and carbs and feel that our body weight is absolutely out of control.
Don’t blame yourself as it is all because of our body hormones. These hormones are messenger molecules that transmit specific instructions to the organs of our system. If we are to successfully manage them we can regulate our appetite and manage our body weight.
In this post, I have bust out about various hormones of our bodies and have mentioned some easy ways to manage them. Luckily! There are lots of hormones in our body but with a proper diet and lifestyle practice, we can manage them all!
- The Hunger Hormone – Ghrelin
The Ghrelin hormone is released when the stomach is empty. It sends a message to the brain that you haven’t eaten anything and you want something to eat.
Under normal cases, this hormone triggers up when the stomach is empty. In this case, the ghrelin release is high. When you fill up the stomach, ghrelin decreases. For some obese and overweight individuals, the levels of ghrelin decrease only to a slight level after a meal. For this reason, they do not feel satiated and hence crave for more food.
Ways to Manage Ghrelin
- Consume balanced meals with a high level of healthy fat, fiber, and proteins.
- Cut sugar intake, particularly fructose. High levels of fructose are found in agave, corn syrup, fruit juices, mango, and banana.
- If you lack proper sleep then ghrelin can stay high. This will cause you to crave more, particularly for sugar and carbs, even after having a complete meal.
- The Stress Hormone – Cortisol
Cortisol is the main hormone for stress. This hormone is released by the adrenal glands in response to stress. The more you are stressed, the higher the cortisol will be released into your bloodstream. Ultimately, it increases cravings for salt, sugar, and fatty foods. In addition to this, your body’s metabolism process slows down and you tend to gain more weight.
High cortisol levels ultimately result in loss of muscle mass, elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, resistance to insulin, over time, and triglycerides. But remember, these are just a few of the side-effects.
Moodiness, dizziness upon standing, difficulty losing weight, difficulty sleeping, low libido, fatigue and frequent headaches, anxiety, food addiction, sugar or salt cravings, and feeling lazy even after hours of sleep are some of the signs of imbalance cortisol levels.
So, follow these ways in order to manage cortisol level with the most important being managed stress.
Ways to Manage Cortisol
- Wean off coffee or caffeine in any form. Switch to green tea and herbal teas.
- Consume balanced meals that include low-starch veggies, healthy fat, and protein.
- Manage stress through movement, proper sleep, deep breathing, meditation, and yoga.
- Ginseng, Ashwagandha, and Rhodiola are some herbs that are proven to reduce stress.
- Female Sex Hormone – Estrogen
An increased level of estrogen causes complex issues among women. Already a large number of females across the world are suffering from problems borne out of estrogen.
It is the main female sex hormone that is involved in regulating its reproductive system. The dominance of estrogen, which means higher levels of estrogen as compared to progesterone, can make it difficult for women to manage or lose weight.
Some of the common signs of estrogen dominance are breast tenderness, mood swings, feeling bloated and puffy, insomnia, anxiety, migraines, mood swings, difficulty losing weight, and heavy periods.
Ways to Manage Estrogen
- Most importantly, exercise regularly.
- Consume cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, Brussels, broccoli, kale, sprouts, and other foods high in DIM. The DIM is a compound that helps the body to less excess estrogen.
- Consume fiber-rich vegetables.
- The Fat Storage Hormone – Insulin
The insulin hormone is responsible for body cells to store in sugar or glucose and is released by the pancreas. When a person consumes meals having too much sugar or carbs, the glucose triggers the production of insulin within the bloodstream.
Usually, people who over-consume sugar and simple starches, experience an excessive amount of insulin secretion. Ultimately, the body cells become numb. Ultimately, you experience high blood sugar and storage of fat around the belly area.
Feeling hungry most of the times, eating sweets, increased appetite or thirst, fatigue after meals, poor memory, brain fog, difficulty losing weight, and light-headedness are prominent signs of insulin imbalance.
Ways to Manage Insulin
- It is essential that you give up refined carbs, artificial sweeteners, and sugar.
- Reduce lectins intake found in legumes, corn, gluten, peanuts, dairy, and vegetables.
- Drink apple cider vinegar before meals.
- Consume healthy fats including omega-3 fatty acids.
- Take magnesium supplements as it is a vital mineral to stabilize blood sugar.
- Exercise regularly
- The Queen of Hormones – Thyroid
The thyroid hormone is considered as the queen of hormones because it is responsible for every single function of the body. From your energy levels, mood, sex drive, skin, hair, mood, to metabolism and digestion, an imbalance in thyroid levels can disturb them all.
In most of the cases, people suffer from an under-active thyroid and tend to have an extremely low basal metabolic rate. This results in weight gain and difficulty losing weight.
Constipation, weight gain, cold feet and hands, hair loss, dry skin, depression, feeling tired, morning headaches, and brain fog are common symptoms of thyroid.
Ways to Manage Thyroid
- Foremost, get enough sleep.
- Manage stress and offer your adrenals support with adaptogens.
- Consume a high-quality multivitamin with selenium, zinc, vitamins B, vitamin A, iron, and vitamin D.
- Consume fresh and healthy foods.
- Go gluten-free, particularly if your low thyroid is combined with an autoimmune component.
- Always seek medicinal support to determine the root cause of thyroid imbalances.