The Cortisol- Belly Fat Connection (Hormones and Weight Gain)

I was planning to write about cortisol for the next post in this blog series on hormones. But I realized that two dietitians beat me to it. Amusingly, both are named Abby (well, Abbey and Abby to be specific). Their articles give a thorough breakdown of the role that cortisol plays in our bodies. The connection between cortisol and weight gain – particularly belly weight. And, nutrition strategies that can have an impact. Also, they take a look at the scientific evidence for specific diets and supplements that the internet claims can “fix cortisol quick”.

So, instead of recreating the wheel, I’m sharing their articles with you. And, adding my personal take on things from my almost 30 years of experience.

Here’s Abby Langer’s post: Does Cortisol Cause Weight Gain? Everything You Need to Know

Here’s Abbey Sharp’s post: Low Cortisol Levels and Weight Gain. How Cortisol Relates to Weight

Kristen’s Thoughts on Cortisol and Belly Fat

My experience of working with individual clients for so many years has led me to believe that chronic stress does have an impact on weight. It’s difficult to pinpoint whether this is through the action of cortisol, or other factors. A significant number of my clients are successful women. Some might call us ‘type A’ (I say ‘us’ because I recognize myself here). Driven, successful, we take on a lot of responsibility. These are fantastic characteristics and not something that we want to change. However, a consequence is that we’re chronically stressed. Often, we don’t even recognize ourselves as stressed unless something happens that takes our stress levels even higher. After having worked with hundreds of women like this, I’ve come to see that despite being physically active and eating quite healthfully, they have stubborn belly weight that just won’t shift. That’s usually why they’ve sought me out. Yes, I recommend some tweaks to their eating habits. (We all have blind spots). But more importantly, what I’ve seen to be essential for creating that weight shift is to take steps to lower chronic stress levels. Specifically:

• Daily mindfulness activities. I have no preference in how people do their mindfulness. We’re looking for the activity to take our minds out of the constant planning/to-do list and instead, sink into the moment. Examples include meditation, prayer, listening to music, a stroll in nature (forest bathing), practicing an artistic pursuit (e.g. playing the piano, singing in a choir, painting), and yoga.

• Prioritizing quality sleep. Incorporate good sleep hygiene. Talk with your primary care provider if menopausal symptoms are interrupting your sleep.

• Taking things off your plate. I mean the metaphorical plate, not eating smaller portions. This is the best way to really address the chronic stress. It’s the root cause. But usually it’s a longer-term solution. For example, what can you delegate to someone else? Is there a volunteer commitment that you can step away from?

• Adaptogens. A number of my clients have found Ashwaghanda to be helpful when combined with the other three items above. I want to be really clear here. It’s not going to work to continue on with your current lifestyle and expect a supplement to melt away belly fat (despite what the alluring social media ads tell you). If you’re considering taking adaptogens, just like before starting any vitamin/ supplement, check with a health professional to make sure it is a fit with your health conditions and/or medications.   

Understand more about your hormones. Check out this post on thyroid hormones.

Photo credit: Elisa Ventur on Unsplash

Nutrition for Insulin Resistance (Nutrition for Managing Blood Sugar)

Insulin’s primary role is to control your blood sugar.

I’ll get into more about insulin in a minute. But first, a quick orientation. This is the second in a series of posts where we dive into specific hormones and their connection with nutrition. (Check out the first article on thyroid hormones.) Why am I doing this series? Because “hormones” is one of the latest buzzwords in health on the internet. And, there’s both truth and manipulation intertwined in those messages. In this series, I’m teasing out the scientific evidence so you can spot the manipulation. Let’s start with a definition of hormones. What are hormones? Hormones are chemicals that your body creates to send a signal from one part of the body, through your bloodstream, to another part of your body.

Now, let’s get into the details about insulin.

We help a lot of people with managing blood sugar and insulin resistance. So, I wanted to cover it next in this series.

What Does Insulin Do?

Insulin is a hormone made in your pancreas. Your pancreas is a gland located near your stomach. As I shared already, insulin’s primary role is to control your blood sugar. When you digest carbohydrates (carbs), they’re broken down in your intestine into a sugar called glucose, which is absorbed into your bloodstream to be circulated to cells around your body such as your muscles and your liver. When glucose enters your blood, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin allows the glucose to move from your blood into the cells of your body where it’s needed for fuel. And, insulin helps your blood glucose to move into your liver where it’s stored to be used for energy later on.

Insulin Problems- What is Insulin Resistance?

There are two main types of problems with insulin.

Type 1 Diabetes (what used to be called juvenile or child-onset diabetes) is when the part of your pancreas that makes insulin has been damaged. This damage impairs your ability to produce insulin. That’s why people with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin (via needles or a pump). None of the dietitians currently on our team support people with type 1 diabetes so I won’t go further into this condition. 

The second problem with insulin is more common: insulin resistance. In insulin resistance, your body’s cells aren’t responding to the insulin that you make and aren’t letting glucose into your cells. At first, your pancreas will release more and more insulin to get the results – i.e. move the sugar from your blood into your cells. It does this because your body is like Goldilocks – it wants just the right amount of sugar in your blood – not too much and not too little. When you have too much sugar in your blood, over a long period of time, it causes damage to your blood vessels. Those are the side effects of uncontrolled diabetes that you may be familiar with such as blindness, nerve damage (pain & tingling in feet and hands), and amputation. High blood sugar also is associated with inflammation. To prevent this damage, your body produces more and more insulin to get the job done of moving the glucose from your blood into your cells.

Over time, despite your pancreas producing extra insulin, the resistance is so great that your blood sugar remains high. It’s this stage when blood sugar levels are high despite your body producing insulin, that is called “pre-diabetes”. When blood sugar levels rise even higher, it’s called Type 2 Diabetes (what used to be called “adult-onset diabetes”).

Risks of Insulin Resistance

Several factors increase the risk of insulin resistance. For almost all of these factors, it’s not known how or why they increase the risk of insulin resistance.

• Age: People over age 45 are at increased risk of insulin resistance.

• Genetics: Insulin resistance has a genetic component. It runs in families. People of certain cultural/ ethnic backgrounds have higher rates of insulin resistance. However, it’s not certain how much is related to genetics and how much is related to the social determinants of health (or the interaction of the two as in epigenetics). Some cultural groups that experience higher rates of insulin resistance are Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, and Pacific Islander people.   

• Menopause: While the relationship is not fully understood, estrogen helps insulin do its work. When estrogen levels drop in the menopause transition, insulin resistance increases.

• PCOS: It’s estimated that 75% of women with PCOS experience insulin resistance.

• Sleep Apnea: Sleep apnea increases the risk of insulin resistance.

• Larger Body Size: Insulin resistance rates are higher amongst people who carry more fat on their bodies. It’s not yet known whether the amount of fat causes insulin resistance or whether there is an unknown third factor that contributes to both the increased amount of fat and insulin resistance.

• Physical Inactivity: Physical activity helps insulin do its job. Therefore, a sedentary lifestyle means that insulin must do all the heavy lifting by itself.   

How to Support Insulin with Nutrition (Nutrition for Blood Sugar Control)

1. Move Your Body: Going for a walk or doing other forms of physical activity after you’ve eaten helps insulin clear blood sugar.

2. Choose Less Refined Carbs: When carbs are more refined, they take a shorter time to digest, resulting in the glucose hitting your bloodstream faster, i.e. a blood sugar spike. Choose whole grains so that they are digested more slowly. It’s easier for your body to handle the slower arrival of glucose into your bloodstream.

3. No Naked Carbs: Eat foods containing protein and/or fat when you have foods that contain carbs. I.e., don’t eat carbs alone (a.k.a. naked). Protein and fat help to slow the release of sugar into your blood – a similar result as #2 above. 

4. Eat Fewer Carbs: It’s logical that if you eat fewer carbohydrates, you will have less glucose entering your blood. Your body will be less stimulated to release insulin. Ketogenic (“keto”) diets are very, very low carb. But you can also eat lower or low-ish carb too. It doesn’t have to be a choice of high carb or keto. Those are just the two ends of the spectrum. Many factors go into deciding what level of carbs is a fit for you, including your physical activity, what foods you enjoy, how frequently you eat socially, and who else is in your household. What’s important is choosing a way to eat that fits your life long-term. Two weeks of doing keto isn’t going to fix your insulin resistance.   

5. Have Good Vitamin D Status: A meta-analysis found that having good vitamin D levels in your body reduces insulin resistance. To achieve a healthy vitamin D status, most of us will require vitamin D supplementation. I don’t have a specific amount to recommend because we customize our supplement recommendations to each individual.

6. Consider Other Supplements: There are supplements that have intriguing, although not definitive, scientific evidence regarding their impact on lowering blood sugar. Examples include berberine, chromium, and magnesium. As I shared above, I don’t give supplement recommendations in blog posts. We always individualize supplement recommendations because we take into consideration: what you eat, health diagnoses, medications, and other factors. 

Want more information on managing your hormones? Check out this article on Nutrition for Thyroid (Supporting Metabolism).

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Insulin Resistance and Diabetes

Moghetti, P., Tosi, F. Insulin resistance and PCOS: chicken or egg?. J Endocrinol Invest 44, 233–244 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-020-01351-0

Gabryelska Agata, Karuga Filip Franciszek, Szmyd Bartosz, Białasiewicz Piotr. HIF-1α as a Mediator of Insulin Resistance, T2DM, and Its Complications: Potential Links With Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Frontiers in Physiology.11. 2020. DOI 10.3389/fphys.2020.01035 

Vitamin D and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes in People With Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data From 3 Randomized Clinical Trials https://doi.org/10.7326/M22-3018  

My Hormones Are Out of Balance. Can Nutrition Help?

Lately I’ve had a number of conversations with people who are looking for help with their nutrition because “my hormones are out of balance”. When I ask them how they’ve come to the conclusion that their hormones are out of balance, they have very vague answers. With this beginning to be a trend, I knew that I wanted to share it with you. To separate the facts from fiction.

In this post I share what hormones are. Their function in the body. And, how I’ll be writing a series of blog posts that dive into how nutrition interacts with hormones.

Why Are People Thinking That Their Hormones Are Out of Balance?

Hormones are the latest hot topic in the health world. I see it in my social media feed too. Very confident, fit people exclaiming that it’s not your fault that you’re tired and overweight. It’s your hormones. They’ve found the secret answer to balance your hormones and solve all your problems. Now I know I’m being obtuse in this description. These marketers are very convincing, playing on our emotions and insecurities. I can’t speak for these social media health influencers. Whether they’re knowingly preying on people. Or, if they honestly don’t understand human physiology and how to read scientific research.

What I do know from being in nutrition for almost 30 years is that hormones are just the latest in a long list of valid human physiology and nutrition concepts that get so co-opted and taken so far out of context that they take on a new, fiction-based meaning. Past examples include toxins and fat, as in “eating fat makes you fat” and “it’s fatty” meaning that a food is bad – you shouldn’t eat it. I also know that a popular marketing technique in the diet industry is to tell you that it’s not your fault that you’re overweight. That there’s a secret that’s been kept from you. Recently it was metabolism. Now hormones seems to be on the rise. 

Fighting Back Against Manipulative Marketing

Recognizing that hormones are just the latest in the long line of misinformation and manipulative marketing, let’s fight back. How do we do that? Through knowledge. Knowledge is power. The nutrition and health misinformation is only powerful because most people aren’t taught how the human body works. When we’re lacking knowledge, anyone can come along and use our naiveite against us.

Let me share an example from my life. When I was doing my Masters degree, I lived with a house full of roommates who are engineers and very into cars. Before I lived with them, I didn’t know how a car worked. Before I lived with them, if you’d have asked me how a car works, I would have responded something like “you turn the key in the ignition and press the gas peddle”.  Living with them I learned how engines actually work, what the pistons are doing, how that makes the wheels turn, etc. With this basic knowledge, I now understand why maintenance is required. Don’t get me wrong, I still take it to a mechanic to do the maintenance. I’m not doing my own oil changes or anything. But I’m less likely to be taken advantage of by a mechanic because I have this knowledge.

What is a Hormone? What is Their Function?

The way that I’m now empowered by my car knowledge, I want you to have an understanding of hormones.      

 So, what is a hormone anyways? The human body has two main ways to communicate messages between different parts of the body, namely nerves and hormones. You likely know your nervous system – the nerves connecting to the spinal cord and the brain. When you touch a hot stove with your finger, your nerves send a message to your brain of hot, pain. With this message communicated, you know to move your finger off of the hot stove.

 The other communication system are hormones, a.k.a. the endocrine system. Hormones are chemicals in the body that communicate a message from one part of the body to another part of the body. Often when people talk about “hormones” they’re referring to the hormones related to reproductive/ sexual function. As in “you can’t blame teenagers, it’s their hormones”. It’s true that testosterone and estrogen are hormones. But hormones aren’t just sending messages related to sexual activity/ reproduction. You’ve likely heard of many other hormones and not realized that they’re hormones. Examples include:

• Insulin: which has a role in managing blood sugar.  

• Melatonin: which has a role in sleep.

• Adrenalin: which has a role in the fight-flight-freeze stress response.

 With hormones being one of the major communication mechanisms in the body, they are intricately involved in being healthy, and conversely, in many health conditions. And, nutrition interacts with them in many, many ways. A few examples include:

• Diabetes

• The impacts of cortisol on body composition (fat and muscle).

• PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome)

• PMS/PMDD

• The symptoms associated with perimenopause.

• The increased risks for heart disease and osteoporosis post-menopause.

Stay Tuned

There are so many health conditions that involve hormones. And, so many ways that nutrition can have an impact. It’s impossible for me to cover everything in a single blog post. So, my commitment to you is that through this year I’ll publish a series of blog posts diving deeper into the role of some of these hormones in our bodies. And, how nutrition can impact them.

Our Dietitian Team’s Knowledge of Nutrition and Hormones

Here’s a taste of the team’s knowledge when it comes to hormones, health, and nutrition.

·        All of the dietitians on our team are well-versed in blood sugar management (insulin).

·        I’ve long worked to support people with PCOS, PMS/PMDD, and during the perimenopause transition.

·        Jessica, Mamta, and Morgan are currently undertaking professional development in reproductive hormone-related areas to take their knowledge from fair to excellent – for both men and women.

·        Lorrie also is well-versed in cortisol’s role for sports nutrition (i.e. maximizing muscle/leaning out). And, I’ve worked for many years with the impact of cortisol for weight gain and sports nutrition.

Use this link to book an information call with me to find out which dietitian on our team is the best fit for what you’re experiencing with your hormones and health: https://calendly.com/kristenyarker

Photo by Piret Ilver on Unsplash

Does Canadian Milk Contain Hormones?

One of my favourite parts of my work is busting nutrition myths. There are so many out there that I know my job will never be done. The reality is that most people get their nutrition information from talking with friends and searching the internet. The problem is that often people spread myths unknowingly. And, the internet is an amazing place with all sorts of nutrition information – from fantastic (I’m sharing this with you over the internet after all), to complete fantasy, and everything in between. Sometimes the issue is that information has been taken out of context and when miss-applied leads to myths. One common myth is Canadian milk contain hormones.

The myth comes from the fact that the Canadian and US milk supplies are different.

Here in Canada, bovine growth hormone is not allowed.

Let me repeat that. Growth hormone is not allowed in dairy from Canadian cows. This has been the national regulations since 1999. The situation in the US is very different. In the US, growth hormone is allowed in conventional milk but not allowed in organic milk.

Growth hormone increases the amount of milk that each cow makes, which means you get more milk from keeping fewer cows, which in turn means cheaper milk. It’s one of the reasons that dairy products are cheaper in the US. But it’s only cheaper if you compare US milk containing growth hormone to Canadian milk that is hormone-free, which is kind of like comparing apples to oranges. A recent study compared hormone-free milk in the US to our Canadian milk (i.e. an apples-to-apples comparison). It found that US hormone-free milk is actually more expensive than Canadian milk.

Does this mean that all dairy products in Canada are hormone free? Unfortunately no. Currently, dairy products imported from the US are not required to be bovine growth hormone-free. US-imported dairy products will increase as a result of the new Trans-Pacific Partnership that the federal government recently signed. To find Canadian dairy products, look for the little blue and white cow symbol (that usually says “100% Canadian Milk”).

Now I want to be clear, I’m not writing this article to convince you to buy non-organic dairy. I completely respect your decision to choose only organic dairy or to be dairy-free. There can be many other factors for your decisions, such as pesticide use and animal rights issues, to name two. I just want you to make your decision based on correct information.

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