Fix This Hormone To Lose Belly Fat FAST

Introduction to Belly Fat and Cortisol 0:00

If you have been struggling with weight issues, specifically that belly fat that you are unable to lose, even though you're trying extreme dieting or you've been exercising on a regular basis and you might even have tried those expensive weight loss supplements, but none of these things are working, the reason might be this one particular hormone that interferes with every effort you are making in losing that belly fat and fixing this hormone might be the key that you're looking that can help you in loosing that fat.

And no it is not your thyroid hormone, it's not the insulin hormone. It is another lesser known hormone which has been specifically linked with accumulation of bellyfat and makes it difficult for people to lose weight. So, today I am going to share with you this exact hormone and more importantly what you can do to rebalance this hormone so that way it makes it easier for you to start losing the belly fat. Hi, I'm Dr Anshul Gupta, a former Cleveland Clinic functional medicine physician from US. I help people improve their chronic diseases by making personalized functional medicines plans.

The hormone I am talking about today is cortisol.

How Cortisol Drives Fat Storage 1:12

Most people know cortisol as your stress hormone. But most people are unaware that cortisol is that hormone which decides for your body whether your is going to burn fat or store fat. The reason being as soon as cortisol levels start increasing in your fat cells in the body becomes insulin resistant that shifts your into the fat storage mode. Plus cortisol directly affects your metabolism in the body and slows it down. So you are unable to burn that stored fat in your body. The other thing cortisol does to your is increase inflammation in body, whenever there is high amount of inflammation, your bodies fat loss mode goes away.

It literally gets shut down and all of your bodys resources are diverted towards reducing this inflammation. In fact, some of the things that you might be doing might actually be contributing to this cortisol dysfunction. It has been shown that high intense exercising can increase cortisol levels in your body. it also shows that when your bodies going through extended amounts of fasting, that also raises your cortisol level. Now these are not the only reasons why your cortisol levels are high in your body.

One of the major reasons of cortisol level being high is exposure to chronic amount of stress. We are living in a world currently where we are bombarded with stress from all different angles. Whether it is personal relationship or work related stress or that morning commute where you have to fight that traffic to reach your workplaces.

Signs of High Cortisol and Testing 2:45

Or that financial stress which always is back of our mind. Any kind of stress to your body, ask your adrenals to produce more cortisol. And when this cortisol level stays high all the time, day after day, that makes our body into a fat storage machine. Now let me also share with you some signs and symptoms that high cortisol shows up in your bodies and then I am going to share exactly how to fix it. The very first sign or symptom is that you are accumulating fat specifically around your lower belly area.

The next thing is you're feeling wired and tired. What that means is, you feel tired during the day but when the time comes to sleep, your feeling extremely wired. Then you have mood changes. Specifically, You feel stressed out, anxious or overwhelmed very easily. You have either salt or sugar cravings which are also because of high cortisol levels. and plus you have low energy issues or you feel fatigued. So now you know the signs and symptoms of high cortisol in your body. Now the next question is that is there a lab test to check your cortisol?

So answer is yes, you do have a test but you need an advanced cortisol check. which checks your cortisol 4 times during the day. This is where a functional medicine doctor or a naturopath could be useful to order this test for you. Now let me share with you some easy things that you can do starting tomorrow itself that is going to help you in lowering this cortisol and get you into the journey of losing that stubborn belly fat. The very first step starts from as soon as you wake up in the morning.

You need to get at least 10 minutes of sunlight as fast as possible.

Morning Habits to Lower Cortisol 4:39

The reason being exposure to sunlight in the morning helps in rebalancing your cortisol as well as also has effect in balancing your melatonin hormones and cortisol and melotonin go hand in hand a lot of people. So by exposure sunlight for 10 minutes in morning as soon as you wake up, you are already working on your cortisol levels. The step 2 is that after you are done with this sunlight exposure, do not go for that tea or coffee. The reason being caffeinated beverages has been shown in research studies to have a very big cortisol spike and that causes elevated cortisol throughout the day.

drinking your coffee or tea within 60 minutes of waking up. This is where your breakfast options also becomes very important. Make sure you are having a high protein breakfast. A high-protein breakfast stabilizes your insulin levels as well as also stabilises your cortisol so that you do not get that morning spike of cortisol that will lead to a higher cortisol throughout the day. The step 3 in lowering your Cortisol levels is doing deep breathing exercises. It only takes 5 minutes to rebalance your cortisol levels by deep breathing exercises.

And it is not me just saying that. Research actually supports deep-breathing exercises for 5 mins. That's it. Either you can do it as a part of your morning routine or during your lunch break or even before you go to bed. Whenever you get the time of that 5 minutes, make sure you do the deep breathing exercises that will help in rebalancing your cortisol. The next step which again is going to take only 10 minutes of you time is post meal walking.

Breathing, Walking, and Supplements 6:30

The reason being, after you eat your meals, specifically your lunches and dinners, your insulin levels increases which causes your fat tissues to accumulate more fat in them. And by doing that post meal walking for only 5-10 minutes, you lower that insulin level so you store less amount of fat. More importantly, by this 5 to 10 minutes exercise, the body goes into the fat burning mode and keeps it there for the whole day. The next thing you can do is actually take some supplements that is going to support your adrenal glands.

The top supplements over here comes is rhodiola and ashwagandha. These both are what we call as adaptogenic herbs. They have shown to rebalance your Adrenal glands and also improves your cortisol levels. So add ashvaganda and rodiola to your adrenals. Your adrenal gland also needs B vitamins. Specifically, it needs your B12 and folate to function properly. So make sure you are adding a methylated B vitamin supplement so you can support your adrenal glands. Vitamin C is another great supplement which supports your Adrenal Gland.

Most people think Vitamin c is only good for the immune system but they don't know your adrenals gland also needs vitamin c to properly function. So either you add it through your food or as a supplement, make sure you're adding vitamin C to support your adrenal gland. Another great supplement over here is magnesium. Magnesium is one of those minerals which supports 300 enzymatic reactions in your body and it supports your adrenals too. Make sure include magnesium glycanate as the supplement to your support adrenal glands.

So today I have shared with you an important hormone called cortisol, which is also known as stress hormone. But people do not know that it also controls your fat burning switch.

Final Takeaways and Closing 8:27

And this might be an key that you might miss in your lost fat journey. So I hope now you are aware how important this cortisol is and specifically more importantly what simple things you can do today to rebalance your cortisol. So not only you're going to able to lose weight as well as its stubborn belly fat but more important you also going see that your mood is better, you have more energy and plus you mental clarity also. Start working on your Cortisol and hope this is a missing key in your weight loss journey.

I hope you like this video. If you do, please like and subscribe to my channel as well as share this with others who can benefit from it. Until next time, take care, bye.