Hormonal Harmony       

by Dr. Scott Isaacs
excerpted: Hormal Balance

When your body’s hormone levels get out of balance, you put on weight.
 
You already know fad diets don’t work. In fact, studies have shown that about 98% of people who lose weight on a “diet” will gain it back (and maybe even then some) within five years. If you’ve tried everything and are still overweight, it’s easy to get discouraged. But anyone longing to lose weight and keep it off forever, can do so with hormonal balance. Achieve this state and you won’t just slim down…you’ll get amazingly healthy in every respect.
 
Hormonal balance improves just about every aspect of your life and your body will be lean and efficient. You won’t have excessive hunger or cravings, and your metabolism will work to keep your body at a healthy weight. You will feel more energetic but without stress or anxiety. Your mood will be elevated. You will have deep, restful, rejuvenating sleep every night. You will have a sharp mind. Hormonal balance means feeling better and living longer.
 
Hormones play a key role in weight control and it is our hormonal imbalances that can affect weight and perpetuate obesity.
 
Before you try a drastic series of extreme diets that either eliminate your fat intake or encourage you to avoid carbs, take a look at your hormonal health. Sure, you can lose weight on these diets, but you won’t be truly healthy, and you’ll probably put all the weight back on when you go off the diet. When you balance your hormones you have permanent weight loss without hunger or cravings.
 
What is hormonal balance? It depends on who you ask. If you ask a gynecologist, she’ll tell you it’s the female hormones—estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin. Ask a urologist, and he’ll tell you it’s all about testosterone. Ask a diabetologist, and she’ll tell you it’s about balancing your insulin, glucagon, and blood sugar. An endocrinologist will tell you that it’s about having all your hormones balanced. All your hormones affect one another. It’s one big circle. When one hormone is out of balance, it has profound effects on all your hormones as they are all connected. Hormonal balance means having the perfect amount of every hormone. It means having a body that’s healthy and resilient.
 
Our hormones work together to control our appetite, body weight, and metabolism.
 
Insights from Hormonal Balance:
 
Food isn’t the only thing that affects your hormones. Medications, vitamins, and supplements can and do affect your hormonal balance. Often, people don’t even consider how a medication, vitamin, or supplement is affecting other parts of their body as long as the substance is treating whatever they are taking it for. For instance:

1. Certain blood pressure medications help improve insulin resistance, while others can slow metabolism and worsen insulin resistance. If you take a blood pressure medication that is an ACE inhibitor or an Angiotensin Receptor Blocker (ARB), not only are you lowering your blood pressure but these drugs have also been shown to improve insulin resistance, reducing the risk for diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease. However, if you are taking a blood pressure medication that acts as a beta-blocker, the medicine could make insulin resistance worse.