Balance the Hormones for Fat Loss and Muscle Gain

Accumulation of fat and/or muscle loss is byproduct of hormonal imbalance. Therefore, it is vital to address what possible hormonal imbalance may cause fat gain and muscle loss. As we learn hormonal imbalance, we can start looking into what can be a possible nutrients that we may be lacking and what food sources we can consume to gain balance to those hormones.

It is possible that hormonal imbalance that you may be experiencing can come from inadequate sleep, lack of physical activity, chronic consumption of medications including recreational drugs, and so on.

Although there are some signs and symptoms of certain hormonal deficiency, when in doubt, you should always check with your physician and have a through examination.

6 Possible Hormonal Conditions

IGF 1 Deficiency

IGF 1 stands for Insulin Like Growth Factor 1 and plays very important role in childhood growth and has anabolic (building) effect in adults. IGF 1 is produced mainly in liver and can slow down with lack of physical activities, poor nutrition, and poor quality of sleep.

Conditions that related to IGF 1 deficiency are generally premature aging related such as atrophy of muscles and skin, which can be seen on facial wrinkles especially on forehead, droopy skin under the eyes, belly, and under arms.

Reason why as we get older or have too much stress make us look older may related to IGF 1 deficiency due to malnutrition, lack of exercise, and poor quality of sleep and not just our aging.

Thyroid Deficiency

Thyroid hormone has function of stimulating metabolic reaction to produce the body heat and keep us slim. Therefore, thyroid deficiency or hypothyroidism is a condition characterized by coldness, dry skin and hair, swelling of face and body.

Because of heat production in the body is minimized, some symptoms can be facial paleness and puffiness. Swelling can be seen in majority of the limbs including face, arms, legs, and abdominal regions. Some other common signs are abnormal weight gain, constipation, tiredness, hair loss, and heavy menstrual bleeding.

Iodine deficiency is most common is hypothyroidism.

Excess Cortisol

Cortisol is a stress hormone to raise blood pressure to send more blood to the muscles to be ready for any physical demands. However, when the hormone is overproduced chronically, due to social, environmental, physical, and chemical stress our body will be responding.

Because of the nature of cortisol, excess cortisol is characterized by high blood pressure. Cortisol also retains water so parts of the body can be swollen but tensed body. In other words obesity and overweight with stiff body is common.

Excess Insulin

Insulin is probably is the well-known hormone for fat accumulation. Although insulin has very important role of bringing energy source to our body, excess insulin can cause health issues.

Excess insulin is characterized by one thing, overweight. It is very common to see person with insulin therapy to be gaining 15lb within a month.

Majority of times carbohydrates, especially sugar and refined carbohydrates are being blamed on high insulin production. Although excess insulin production is mainly due to dietary problem, however, lack of physical activity is also an issue. It is very vital for us to be physically active to stimulate muscles so that our body is more insulin sensitive rather than insulin resistant.

Progesterone Deficiency (or Excess Estrogen)

Progesterone deficiency and excess estrogen can go hand in hand. Women during their menstrual cycle, first 14 days is called follicle stage where estrogen level starting to rise and progesterone stays relatively normal. 14 day is called ovulation stage where estrogen level is at its peak and progesterone level starts to rise. And between 15-28 days is called luteal stage where estrogen level starting to drop and progesterone level stay elevated.

Signs of estrogen elevation is swelling of physical appearance and anxious behavior. Where as signs of progesterone elevation is decline in water retention and typically calm is behavior.

Testosterone Deficiency

Testosterone is a major anabolic and sexual hormone for men. Deficiency of this hormone can characterized by loss of male characteristics such as muscle mass and strength loss, excessive emotion, lack of energy and so on.

It is somewhat similar to progesterone deficiency in women.

When looking at hormonal imbalance, there is a good chance that one may have multiple hormonal imbalances. Above hormones are all related to fat metabolism and muscle development. Of course as we age, hormonal depletion may happen, however, I strongly believe that there are ways to maintain these hormonal balance for us to be more fit, strong, and healthy in both physically and mentally.

Hormonal Deficiencies = Possible Nutrient Deficiencies

Although there are hormone therapy that you can have your physician prescribe but before taking that route, let's talk about some of the nutrients that are commonly deficient with people who are experiencing the 6 hormonal deficiencies listed above. Interesting thing is all of the hormonal deficiencies has similar nutritional deficiencies.

One of the nutrients is protein or amino acid. Majority of the hormone above does require protein or amino acids to be stimulated. Therefore, consuming variety of food source to bring in protein seems to be important. Supplementing with powder or bar is also available, however, from personal experience and desire, it is far better to replenish protein and amino acid needs with real food sources.

Another common nutrients are minerals, iodine, magnesium, selenium and zinc. We don't need them in abundance but still are required for the hormone to be functioning properly. Among these, zinc and magnesium seems be deficient in our diet due to over-consumption of processed food. Iodine seems to be lacking due to false understanding of salt raise our blood pressure.

Avoiding fat consumption has also played a huge impact in hormonal imbalance because of poor understanding of fat and marketing purpose of some food industries. Industrial fat, such as corn, vegetables, cottonseed, and canola oil, although they claim to lower the cholesterol but is very harmful to our health. It takes a lot of heat and pressure to extract those fat from cottonseed, corn, and vegetables and sitting under the light on the shelves of the stores for several days and weeks before it gets to our house. It is overly oxidized. If you are not familiar with oxidation process then think of apple cut in half and leave it out on the table. Eventually it will turn brown. That is an oxidation. However, pastured butter, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil along with fat from animal and vegetable sources are healthy and less likely to be contaminated or oxidized and should not be avoided.

Lack of vegetable consumption is another issue with hormonal imbalance including consumption of starchy vegetables like potatoes, pumpkins, and squash. We've spoke earlier about some hormonal imbalance is due to environmental and chemical stress. Well, fiber in vegetables does help remove those toxin and pollutant that is in our food sources.

Food Sources to Balance the Nutrient Deficiencies

Here are list of food sources that can help balance the hormonal imbalance. There's no one specific food in the list that is better than the other. They are all valuable food sources and can be manageable for any diet that you may following.

• Meat - Beef, Chicken, Turkey

• Legumes - Beans, Rice, Chickpeas,

• Fish - Salmon, Tuna, Sardine, Mackerel, Halibut

• Cabbage Family Vegetables - Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflowers, Brussel Sprouts, Arugula

• Eggs

• Nuts - Brazil Nuts

• Mushrooms

• Starchy Vegetables - Potatoes, Pumpkin, Squash,

• Dark Chocolate (70-85%)

• Salt - Sea Salt, Celtic Salt

• Healthy fat - pastured butter, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil

Other Consideration

Sleep is one of the common factors in hormonal imbalance. It is very important for body's recovery, including balancing out the hormone, to be sleeping at least 6 hours a day. I do realize that some people may be able to operate well even with less sleep. However, how is your body doing? If you are experiencing droopy eyes, ache all over, bloating, low in energy, or anxiety issues most likely your hormone is imbalance. If you have difficulty getting 6+ hours of sleep at night, try to get some nap time for 10-15 min.

Stimulating muscles are also very important to promote hormonal balance. Walking is not good enough. It has to be muscularly challenged activity. Strength training, hiking with sack, rock climbing, gardening, horse back riding and so on will challenge your muscles. It is also important to vary your physical activity. Do at least 3 days of physical activity that would last for at least 30 minutes per day.

Limiting processed food and beverages are vital to keep the hormone functioning the way they should be. Frequent snacking and alcohol consumption does interferes with your sleep and digestion which pretty much affect majority of hormonal balance. Everybody has different tolerance level so know your limit but moreover, decrease the frequency snack and alcohol consumptions.

Reference:

Hertoghe, T. (luxemburg). Atlas of Endocrinology for Hormone Therapy. Windhof: SA Medical International Medical Books.

Kota Shimada