The hormone Cortisol is released when we are
in a life threatening situation. Released by
the Adrenal glands cortisol in turn helps
the body to release sugar into the blood
steam. This gives us immediate energy to
Flee a life threatening situation. Known as
the "flight of fight response".
Most people today lead very stressful
lifestyles. Women who take on the role of
superwomen and try to not only hold down
top jobs but run households, have children
and still expect to look and feel like a top
model are particularly over stressed, men
too are expected to achieve more be more
successful and also feel under pressure to
look muscular and fit. This type of stress
is a continuous and unrelenting stress
which causes the body to be
continuously ready for action! This can
result in palpitations, not sleeping, more
vulnerable to infections like colds, flu,
fatigue, IBS etc. the list goes on.
To cope with this continuous stress the body
tells you to refuel or EAT. On top of this
we also comfort eat to try to achieve
relaxation and calming. As we are
continuously running around Junk food is
often the only thing available in a short
time, and the food most people crave when
stressed out are carbohydrate and fat based.
High calorie, high glycemic foods.
So Does Stress Make you Fat? Indirectly
yes it can. And don’t forget that
“Overtraining” i.e. not having enough rest
between workouts, also puts more stress on
your system. Very elevated cortisol levels
can cause the loss of muscle tissue by
helping to convert lean body tissue to
glucose -so if you feel that the harder you
workout at the gym the less results you see,
then this could be an explanation!
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information on ways to lower your cortisol
levels and information on the glycemic food
index!
