So you try to stick to a Paleo style diet, exercise, drink filtered water, and use organic products – – – but are you still struggling with weight around the belly?
Do you use a smartphone, stream your media, have a gazillion emails in your inbox, cook, clean, socialise AND try to fit in some exercise?
If you answer YES, this is written just for YOU.
Modern-day BUSY
The cultural paradigm has shifted to favour high achievement as a mark of a persons worth, feeling tired after a hard day a badge of achievement, and having a million things on your plate as a mark of your success.
It’s not your fault.
It is a problem with the modern world and our projected need for more and better.
Finding some balance inside of this is where you can positively affect your life, without losing the perks of living in this cool era.
Hormones and Life Cycles
Our bodies have not evolved to meet the rapid advances in technology, pace and productivity. Therefore, using out body this way leads to faster ageing of the system, issues with the functions of the hormone producing glands, and nutritional deficiencies.
Usually we see the result of this when we have a big hormone shift, such as when peri-menopause hits, or after having a baby. If our system is slightly off course, these hormone junctures can really set off the balance, especially when high levels of stress hormones are in the mix.
If the body can’t self-correct within a few weeks to months, then natural medicine is an amazing ally in getting your hormones happy again.
The EMAIL hormones – just click send now
I’m playing on words here, but many people don’t realise that seemingly passive activities like working at a computer spikes our stress hormones and can even tax our thyroid. Our brain uses glucose, vitamins, minerals and thyroid hormone to perform rapidly. If you have a foggy head, slower thinking, or need to search mentally for words, it may be an undiagnosable condition called sub-clinical hypothyroidism. I call it ‘undiagnosable’ because standard medical testing won’t pick it up. But we do using functional pathology. A bit more about that later.
When we are working on the computer and feel any type of urgency, stress, shallow breathing, or frustration, we are in a state of sympathetic nervous system dominance – better known as ‘fight, flight or freeze’.
We can have these feelings when driving, talking with difficult people, worrying about life, or feeling social pressures.
Our body responds in the only way it knows how – the same way it has for the last 200,000 years – and that is with a rush of impulses to glands and smooth muscles to instruct the adrenal medulla to release epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) into the bloodstream. These “stress hormones” cause several changes in the body, including an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
If our adrenal glands are constantly being triggered, their function inevitably becomes affected.
Love your ADRENALS for Weight Loss
The adrenal glands are small and sit on top of each kidney.
They produce our stress hormones, and we want them to be working really well to keep us active and enjoying life.
When their function is out of balance, many symptoms can arise, such as;
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Muscle weakness
- Poor endurance
- Rapid heart beat
- Feeling stressed out
- Irritability or impatience
- Digestive issues
- Skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis or allergies
- Waking up with excessive energy
- Feeling tired between 2-4PM
- Find it hard to relax before bed
- Can’t tolerate noise
Weight Gain and STRESS
We don’t typically see patients in the first phase of imbalance because many of the symptoms are – well….pleasurable. But they are nonetheless signs of IMBALANCE;
Phase 1:
- Weight loss
- Hyperactivity
- Anxiety
- Extreme productivity
- Loss of appetite
Phase 2:
After a while, the body can’t maintain this level of hormone output and we start to see the symptoms that we don’t like so much;
- Periods of fatigue
- Periods of brain fog
- Weight gain
- Sleep disturbances
- Cravings
Phase 3
If the body continues to be pushed, then it moves into a more chronic state of adrenal imbalance, called adrenal fatigue syndrome, or HPA-d (hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal axis dysfunction)
- Fatigue that does not shift with rest
- Fatigue often worsens with activity
- Stubborn weight that won’t shift with calorie reduction
- More severe brain fog
- Pain in the body due to inflammation
The test result below shows results of a 3-point saliva cortisol test corresponding with the 3 phases of stress imbalance.
Running a sensitive and sophisticated test such as the one pictured allows us to treat your adrenal glands and hormones with the most effective and appropriate treatment – as each stage needs different herbs and nutrients to rebalance.
When looking at weight loss involving hormone imbalance, we also look at the following factors;
- Nutrient deficiencies or excesses
- Thorough thyroid hormone testing
- Sex hormone balance – E1, E2, E3, Progesterone, Testosterone.
- Cardiovascular risk markers
- Inflammatory Markers
- Food intolerances
- Methylation factors and detoxification capacity.
Dire Consequences
Scientists have long known that stress complicates a host of health problems. Now they are discovering that chronic stress — a mainstay of modern life — doesn’t merely exacerbate disease, it actually can cause it.
Effect on Thyroid
Elevated cortisol will affect the thyroid hormones by converting freeT4 to reverse T3 (an inactive hormone) This is a protective response built into us. Chronic stress leads to reverse T3 dominance, and the high amount of inactive thyroid hormones circulating in the blood compete with active hormones at the cell entry site, with reverse T3 blocking the entry. This is one reason your TSH and T4 will be normal, yet you suffer with all the symptoms of a thyroid disease.
Essentially, this slows the cells down, including your metabolism and ability to detoxify, leading to a really stagnant system, weight gain, fatigue, and mood changes.
Treatments with RESULTS
Our treatment protocols are designed off your test results, so each person has a unique treatment plan, which is adjusted as needed according to progress.
Weight loss programs generally include specific diet approaches best suited to the individual, including food intolerance testing for cutting edge scientifically validated food sensitivity testing. Nutritional deficiency correction – because our body needs optimal nutrients to function. Detoxification and anti-oxidant support, and herbal medicine to help the hormones balance faster.
“The Lucy Rose Clinic not only discovered why I was so tired and couldn’t lose weight, they got me feeling better with a really personalised treatment approach. My practitioner is so caring and supportive, and I am proud to say I am back in my size 12 skinny jeans”
~ Tracey from Sydney
You can be productive, healthy and mentally well – most of us just need some good nutritional, and herbal support, and diet correction to achieve this in our modern world.
Feel free to book a call in with one of my specially trained naturopath practitioners to find out more about our unique approach to wellness. Click here