How to Achieve Balance and Keep your Hormones in Check
Hormones work in a complex system to make sure your body is satisfied and getting the right nutrients and fuel. What you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat can cause changes in the levels of hormones that affect your hunger, your satiety, and your fat accumulation.
When your hormones are imbalanced, it throws off systems within your body and causes you to eat more and to store more fat. Follow these steps to achieve hormone balance:
1. Get enough sleep.
A lack of sleep can reduce leptin levels in your body, which is the hormone responsible for telling your brain you are full. Make sure you get a full 8 hours of sleep a night and take the time to relax and breathe. Stressing out is not doing you or your body any good and can cause imbalance in your hormones.
2. Change your attitude toward carbs.
Slow-burning carbs found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains help you avoid overeating and increase satiety because they are released slowly into your bloodstream, which helps keep your sugar level balanced. Carbs have a bad rep, but they are not actually all bad. Eating good, slow-burning carbs can help you lose weight. It is when you eat empty carbs like white potatoes, white rice, breads, pasta, cookies, and breakfast cereals that you gain weight.
4. Choose good fats.
Yes, there is such a thing! Fats that are high in omega-3 fatty acids can actually increase satiety and fat-burning hormones. Fats do not actually have a huge impact on weight, and when you choose the correct fats, it can help you to lose weight. Try Truth Bars Dark Chocolate Coconut Bar which contains CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) a type of fat which aids in weight loss by boosting metabolic rate and help control your blood sugar.
5. Revamp your workout.
When working out, don’t focus on only cardio to burn calories. Doing too much cardio can cause cortisol, the stress hormone, to spike and eat away at your muscle. It also lowers testosterone and can reduce thyroid hormone levels, which are responsible for keeping your metabolic rate up. Try doing shorter and more intense workouts. This helps your body raise its resting metabolic rate and build muscle, which will keep burning calories even after you’re done with your workout.
6. Eat at least 3 meals a day.
Do not try to starve yourself. The pattern of going hours without eating and then eating a lot to make up for it does not work. Many people try to skip breakfast and lunch to cut calories. This lowers your metabolic rate because your body goes into “starvation mode” and thinks it needs to store energy. Then when you do eat, your body stores fat for the next time you starve it.
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