Stress making you fat? Blame your cortisol levels…

Stress is a natural response that the body undergoes when faced with any form of physical, emotional or mental challenge.

Physical- excessive exercise, running away from danger

Emotional- Breakups, divorce, death in family

Mental- over worked, working 50+ hours a week

The body reacts in the exact same way to any of these stressors, causing actual hormonal changes in the body. The key hormone being is cortisol, excess cortisol levels in the body is the main culprit of stress associated weight gain.  Cortisol not only causes our body to gain excess fat, but it sends it right to our mid-section. This type of fat, called visceral or "toxic" fat, doesn't just lie under the skin; it actually surrounds our organs, and is correlated to an increased risk of heart disease.

What else does cortisol do?

-          Slows down your metabolism making it more difficult for your body to burn calories.

-          Raises blood sugar levels causing hyperglycemia and mood swings

-          Causes food cravings of salty, sweet and fatty foods

-          Causes excess nervous energy causing emotional eating

Prevention

-          Choose healthy foods to munch on

-          Take supplements to support adrenals

-          Exercise, yoga, meditation

Supplement

-          TrueStress

Just 2 capsules of TrueStress a day, to support the body and the adrenal glands during times of stress and anxiety.

-          TrueEdurance

And for those individuals who are experiencing extreme fatigue or exhaustion due to stress, I choose TrueEndurance, to help manage stress as well as provide much-needed energy during the day.