SPRINGER: The facts about hormones

There is no doubt that hormones can sometimes rule the cravings and mood swings that the body undergoes. As the body's master chemicals, they can have a profound effect on your emotions, appetite and metabolism, according to Fitness magazine.

However, blaming your hormones entirely for your weight gain might be unfounded. Specialists are still divided over how much impact your hormones actually have on your waistline. After all, you make the choice between a healthful snack and one of junk food. There are six identified weight-related areas in which hormones do play a definitive role.

1. Your appetite. The two main appetite-regulating hormones are insulin and glucagons, both of which are produced by your pancreas. When you eat, your pancreas pumps out insulin that helps transport nutrients into your cells for use as energy. It also tempers your desire to eat. Eating erratically or consuming sweets in excess can cause a spike in blood sugar levels and a quick corresponding rise in insulin; such surges stoke appetite.

2. Weight gain. Consistently overeating creates a vicious cycle: your pancreas produces more insulin in response to more food. As you put on the pounds, more of the hormone is needed. Chronically high levels of insulin cause cravings for carbohydrates. Age also reduces cellular response to insulin. Researchers suspect that this is one reason women gain weight as they get older.

3. Stress eating. In response to high stress levels, the body produces the hormone cortisol that ensures our ability to fight or flee. However, when chronic stress puts your body into cortisol overdrive, that turns your flat abs into flab. Daily exercise can inhibit an overzealous cortisol response, hence the reason exercise is so effective in fighting stress.

4. PMS cravings. Normal fluctuations in the hormones progesterone and estrogen during the weeks before and after a period do create cravings. It's your body's way of triggering energy storage in anticipation or the added metabolic demands of pregnancy. Indulge your cravings, But do so in moderation.

5. Your womanly shape. Estrogen is a sex hormone that helps pad the hips, thighs and lower abdomens with fat stores. These fat stores not only protect a growing fetus but also fuel the production of sex hormones throughout your life. Hence the reason women with extremely low body fat stop menstruating and sometimes have trouble later conceiving.

6. Weight maintenance. It is not just willpower that determines whether you can keep those extra pounds off. A hormone called ghrelin makes it more difficult to stay at a healthy weight once you reach it. Ghrelin is a potent appetite booster and dieting seems to spur it into action. Positive thinking seems to play a major role in those that are able to maintain lost weight. Those that successfully lost weight continue to weigh themselves regularly, keep track of their diet, eat portion-controlled low-fat foods and view their new eating habits as permanent.

Kim Springer and her husband, Mike, are certified personal trainers and owners of Springer Training. They can be reached at 233-9442 or at their Web site www.springertraining.com.


<<--[back]