How Hormones Affect Weight in Wayland MI

Our endocrine system in Wayland MI is comprised of several glands including the ovaries, testes, adrenal, thyroid, pituitary and thymus glands along with others.  These important organs make and secrete hormones.

Understanding Hormones in Wayland MI

Hormones travel in the blood and are chemical messengers used by the glands to communicate with the rest of the body.  Once received by another organ, hormones signal changes in the cells that can lead to weight loss or gain, increased or decreased hunger, sleep, stress, and mood.

Ghrelin= Is made in the stomach and signals the brain that we are hungry and its time to eat.  Levels of ghrelin are affected by age, gender and blood sugar levels.  It is kept in a tight balance with Leptin.

Leptin= is made and released from our fat cells.  It signals the brain that we are full from eating.  We can become resistant to its signals though, similar to insulin resistance and this can cause us to overeat.  Leptin resistance develops over time due mainly to 3 factors:  Too little sleep, too much stress and finally too much of the wrong foods which influence us to overeat.

Cortisol= is the primary stress hormone released from the adrenal glands in response to a release of adrenaline during stressful situations.  Its primary role is to release glucose into the blood, preparing the body for a fight for flight response.  While raising blood glucose it simultaneously decreases immune and digestive function.  Usually this is self-limiting, but in our modern lives stress is too high, too much of the time and this system stays active leading to an over exposure to cortisol.  This over exposure negatively effects all body systems leading to feelings of depression, poor sleep, brain fog, overwhelm, weight gain especially around our midsection and food craving.

Gaining control of our hormones is one way to start changing your lifestyle to support a healthy weight.  By managing and limiting stress we reduce the swings of cortisol and adrenaline.  Focusing on a whole food based diet while keeping our blood sugar stable helps to keep leptin signaling appropriate.