Jillian Michaels - Master your Metabolism

Hormones that impact bodyfat levels

Subcutaneous fat is not necessarily bad. It produces good hormones like leptin and
adiponectin. It may improve your sensitivity to insulin and protect you from diabetes.

Visceral fat is the fat in your gut. It is metabolically evil. It slows metabolism, lowers
growth hormone, raises cortisol, and creates insulin resistance.

1. Insulin. Comes from the pancreas.

a. Function is to lower the concentration of glucose in your blood. Shortly after
you eat food, the sugars are released into the bloodstream. Within minutes,
insulin surges and moves those sugars directly into the liver, where they are
converted into glycogen for use by the muscles. It also turns glucose into
fatty acids and moves them into fat cells for storage.
b. High levels of blood sugar stimulate insulin release; low levels suppress it.
Maintaining low insulin levels - one of the primary goals of the diet - allows
your body to more easily tap into your stored fat for fuel.
c. Exercise helps your muscle cells become more sensitive to insulin and more
efficient at using glucose for fuel.
d. When you eat too many carbs, insulin increases dramatically to scoop all the
sugar into your cells. This overefficient sugar removal doesnt leave enough
glucose in your bloodstream, so your blood sugar levels drop and you feel
hungry again.
e. When muscles are still filled up from the last snack, the insulin puts the sugar
straight into fat cells. As long as there are large amounts of insulin in your
bloodstream, you dont burn any fat either.
f. If you repeat this cycle enough, your pancreas will overcompensate and
produce more insulin, which your cells with start to ignore - insulin
resistance. Turned away at the door of the muscles, the sugar is left to roam
about your blood. This is called impaired fasting glucose, which can lead to
diabetes.
g. The more bodyfat you have, the more insulin is in your brain. Just as your
bodies become insulin resistant, so can our brains.
2. Thyroid.
a. Thyroid problems are very common. Thyroid hormones help control the
amount of oxygen each cell uses, the rate at which your body burns calories,
your heart rate, overall growth, body temperature, digestion, memory and
mood.
b. Your pituitary gland creates thyroid-stimulating hormone. The thyroid then
uses iodine in your blood to turn it into thyroid hormones. The largest
amount is T4, which is converted into T3 - the important one which boosts
metabolism. The conversion is fickle and completely dependent on what
else is going on in your body. Whether youre sick, stressed, eating well, on
medication - all of this will impact how efficiently this conversion happens,
and therefore how much active T3 your body has.
c. If youre not taking in enough calories, the pituitary gland stops producing
TSH, therefore the thyroid doesnt produce T4, which means less T3.
d. An underactive thyroid can make you gain weight. The most common cause
is Hashimotos thyroiditis, a hereditary condition which is more common in
women.
3. Estrogen and progesterone
 a. Estrogen has a major impact on blood fats, digestive enzymes, water and
salt balance, bone density, heart function and memory.
b. They are steroid hormones - which means your body creates them out of
cholesterol. Our environment thrusts a tremendous amount of estrogen on
our bodies in the form of environmental toxins from plastics or pesticides,
food additives etc.
c. Estrogens can either bind with receptors on the outside of cells, like other
hormones, or scoot directly to receptors in the nucleus, where the DNA is.
These dual powers are part of what makes estrogen so influential.
d. Women make 2 main kinds of estrogen - estraadiol and estronel.
e. Estradiol is produced by the ovaries. Estradoil is the estrogen of youth.
In proper levels it helps womens bodies stay lean. It lowers insulin and
blood pressures. Women with more estradiol tend to have higher levels of
muscle and lower levels of fat. It does give women breasts and hips though.
f. Estrone is produced in our fat cells and adrenal glands. It has fewer positive
things about it, but before we hit menopause, estrone is easily converted into
estradiol. Afterwards, unfortunately it stays estrone. Estrone shifts fat from
your hips to your belly. As you lose more of your ovarian estrogen, your
body becomes desparate to hang on to other estrogen-making areas of the
body, including fat, making it harder for you to lose that belly fat. The more
fat you have, the more estrone youll produce, because fat tissue turns fat-
burning androgens into fat-storing estrone.
g. Insulin increases circulating levels of estrogen, and estrone causes insulin
resistance. Estrogen is 50-100 times higher in overweight post-menopausal
women than in those who are thinner.
h. Progestrone comes from the ovaries where it is released when the follicle
bursts. It plays a big part in protecting pregnancy and promoting breast
feeding. It is also produced in the adrenals and serves as a precursor to
cortisol, testosterone and estrogen. Progestrone helps to balance estrogen
and can help manage some of the issues. When progesterone levels drops,
that creates problems. They drop right before your period, which can trigger
carb cravings. Progesterone also drops at menopause, even more
dramatically than estrogen. Because progesterone is also the precursor for
testosterone and stradiol, when your progesterone production falls off, you
also start to lose the fat-burning effects of those metabolically positive
hormones.
i. People used to think that womens hormone balance problems stemmed
from declining levels of estrogen. Increasingly, women in Western cultures
tend to have too much estrogen rather than too little. Girls mature earlier,
breast cancer rates have jumped. A large part of this hormonal disruptions
comes from xenoestrogens in the environment 0 synthetic estrogens from
ingredients in cosmetics, preservative in our food and the plastic wrappers.
j. Other factors that increase unhealthy levels of estrogen are stress, lack of
quality fats or proteins, too many refined sugars.
k. It is now thought that menopausal symptoms are caused by a dip in
progesterone, rather than a lack of estrogen.
l. Stress can also make this worse. Cortisol and progesterone compete for the
same receptors in your cells - so when you overproduce cortisol, you
threaten your healthy progesterone activity.
4. Testosterone and DHEA
a. These are androgens. Boosting these hormones can help us increase our
energy and muscle.
b. Testosterone boosts libido, keeps energy high, and preserves mental
function. Most of womens testosterone and DHEA comes from their
adrenals. DHEA is a precursor to testosterone (and estrogen in women) and
 may help prevent breast cancer and osteoporosis, as well as helping us live
longer.
c. Androgens are anabolic hormones - they build rather than destroy. Mostly,
they build muscle. They are the forces of good in the metabolic war!
d. As we age, the levels of these hormones decrease. As people gain weight,
their bodies start to convert more of the testosterone to estrogen. This
estrogen then starts to overshadow the effects of the testosterone. More
estrongen, more fat; more fat, more estrogen.
e. Artificially supplementing with these hormones can be dangerous. It can
trick your body into thinking it has plenty, so it stops producing any of its own.
Also, your body can convert the excess hormone back into estrogen, which
worsens your problems with bodyfat. Dont mess around with
supplementation without medical assistance. Youre much better off
optimizing your bodys natural production of androgens.
f. You can do that my protecting your adrenals and making sure you have
enough good-quality fats and protein to build these steroids.
5. Norepinephrine, epinephrine and cortisol
a. These are our fight-or-flight hormones. They are produced in the adrenals.
b. Norepinephrine restricts blood vessels, increasing blood pressure.
c. Epinephrine increases heart rate and blood flow to muscles.
d. The balance of these stress hormones depends on the situation. If you are
looking at a challenge you think you can handle, you release more
norepinephrine. If you face a more difficult challenge, you release more
epinephrine - the anxiety hormone. But when youre overwhelmed,
discouraged, and convinced youre screwed, its cortisol - the hormone of
defeat.
e. When you first become stressed, norepinephrine will tell your body to stop
producing insulin so that you have plenty of fast-acting blood sugar ready.
Epinephrine will relax the stomach muscles and intestines, and decrease
blood flow to these organs. These two actions cause some of the high blood
sugar levels and stomach problems associated with stress.
f. Once the stressor has passed, cortisol will tell your body to stop producing
these hormones and to resume digestions. But cortisol continues to have a
huge impact of your blood sugar, particularly on how your body uses fuel. It
is a carabolic hormone which tells your body what fat, protein or
carbohydrate to burn and when to burn them. Cortisol can either take your
fat and more it to your muscle to be usedm or break down muscle and
convert it into glycogen for more energy. Excess cortisol also
deconstructs bone and skin, leading to osteoporosis, easy bruising and
stretch marks.
g. The epinephrine (adrenaline) rush of acute stress suppresses appetite.
Cortisol handing around after the event will stimulate it, particularly for high-
fat, high-carb foods. It also lowers leptin levels and increases levels of
neuropeptide Y (NPY), which also stimulates appetite. Once you eat, your
body releases a cascade of rewarding brain chemicals that can sey up an
addictive relationship between stress and food. Stress eaters who self-
medicate with food tend to have hair-trigger epinephrine reactions and
chronically high levels of cortisol.
h. When stress continues for a long time, cortisol levels remain high, and the
body resists weight loss. Your body thinks times are hard and you might
starve, so it hoards any food you eat and any fat already present in your
body. Cortisol also turns adipoctes - young fat cells - into mature fat cells
that stick with us forever.
i. Cortisol tends to take fat from healthier areas, like your hips, and move it to
your abdomen, where cortisol has more receptors. This belly fat then leads
 to more cortisol because it has higher concentrations of a specific enzyme
that converts inactive cortisone to active cortisol. The more belly fat you
have, the more active cortisol will be converted by these enzymes. Another
viscious cycle.
j. Some people tend to overrespond, even to minor threats, because their
stress feeback loops become stronger and stronger with each negative
experience in their past. Chronic overstimulation of our adrenals is epidemic.
k. If you suspect you have high cortisol levels, limit your caffeine to 200mg a
day, avoid simple carbs, processed foods and refined grains.
6. Growth hormone
a. Sometimes called HGH, this is one of those hormones we all want more of.
It builds muscle, burns fat, and increases your overall health.
Supplementation, however, is controversial and risky, and may cause insulin
resistance.
b. It is produced in the pituitary gland. It increases muscle growth by helping
your body to absorb amino acids and helps them be synthesised into muscle,
and then prevents the muscle from breaking down. Fat cells have growth
hormone receptors which trigger them to break down. HGH also
discourages your fat cells from absorbing or holding onto any fat in your
bloodstream. HGH also counters insulins ability to shuttle glucose into cells,
nudging it into the liver instead. Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons that
supplementation is dangerous and can lead to insulin resistance.
c. HGH is released in an average of 5 pulses per day. The largest of these
pulses happens during our deepest stage 4 sleep, about 1 hour after we first
drop off. When people are deprived of this stage of sleep, their HGH levels
fell by 23%.
d. Another way we suppress our HGH levels is by eating too many low-quality
carbs which keep our insulin levels high. Protein can help release higher
levels of HGH. Pesticides and other contaminants can also interfere.
e. Intense exercise increases HGH. Especially during intervals. HGH
encourages the body to use fat as its fuel. Not only does this burn more fat
while you exercise, but it also keeps your blood sugar levels steady.
7. Leptin
a. Fat is actually an enormous endocrine gland, actively producing and reacting
to hormones. Leptin is produced in fat cells. It works with other hormones -
thyroid, cortisol and insulin - to help your body figure out how hungry it is,
how fast it will burn off the food you eat, and whether you will hang on to fat.
b. You have leptin receptors scattered everywhere, but your brain is where the
hormone is most active. Leptin acts on the hypothalymus, where appetite is
regulated, and bonds with receptors there. These receptors control the
production of neuropeptides that control appetite.
c. Neuropeptide Y is the most well known of these. This turns on the appetite
and turns down metabolic rate. Leptin turns off NPY and switches on
appetite suppressing signals so the body sotps being hungry and starts
burning more calories.
d. Leptin also helps the body tap into longer-term fat stores and reduce them.
e. When leptin signalling doesnt work, you keep eating because you never feel
like youve had enough food.
f. Leptin surges after eating and also overnight while you sleep. This leptin
surge boosts your levels of thyroid stimulating hormone, which helps the
thyroid release thyroxine
g. Leptin can go wrong in several ways. Many people who are overweight
actually have high levels of leptin. The more fat you have, the more leptin
you produce, and the receptors for leptin start to get worn out and no longer
recognize it. People will leptin resistance have high levels of leptin but their
 receptors never accept it, meaning NPY never gets shut off, so they remain
hungry. If you lose a bit of weight, you body will start to become more
sensitive to leptin,
8. Ghrelin
a. Leptin tells the brain to turn off hunger - ghrelin tells the brain youre
famished. It is produced by the stomach and intestine. When youre hungry,
about to eat, or even just thinking about food, our gut releases ghrelin.
Ghrelin turns of neuropeptide Y which increases appetite and decreases
metabolic burn.
b. Usually, ghrelin goes up when the stomach is empty. This is the reason you
feel hungry at the same times each day - your body clock gets used to
releaseing ghrelin at certain times. They will stay up until you eat enough to
satisfy your bodys needs. Those signals take a few minutes to kick in, so
eating slowly helps you eat less overall.
c. Its not ghrelin itself that makes you feel hungry, its the neuropeptide Y.
d. Your body needs ghrelin to move effectively through all the phases of sleep.
Without the proper progression, you wont get to stage 4, when HGH is
released, or to REM sleep which protects leptin levels. For the rest of the
day though, the object is to keep ghrelin levels low!
e. Binge-eating messes it up, as doe less that 8 hours sleep a night, lack of
carbs, skipping meals, devere dieting and stress.
f. Ghrelin triggers reward centres I the brain to make food look more
appetizing. These areas of the brain have been linked to drug addiction for
many years.
g. Constant calorie restriction keeps ghrelin levels high.
h. A reduction in ghrelin levels might be one of the ways in which gastric
bypass surgery reduces peoples weight, as it removes the cells that produce
ghrelin.
9. Other hormones
a. Adinopectin - created by the fat throughout your body. It improves liver
function, lowers your blood sugar and guard against insulin and leptin
resistance. Low levels are associated with metabolic syndrome.
b. Cholecystokinin (CCK) - a natural appetite suppressant. It is released after
you eat a meal, especially one high in fibre, fat or protein. It has a half-life of
1-2 minutes, and then resets for the next meal.
c. Glucagonlike peptide (GLP-1) - released when you eat carbs and fat.
Stimulates pancreas to stop producing glucagon and start producing insulin.
It slows digestion and keeps appetite low
d. Neuropeptide Y - NPY - activated by ghrelin, it stimulates appetite and fat
storage. Both extreme dieting and overeating/weight gain tend to increase
NPY activity. It also stimulates the birth of new fat cells
e. Obestatin - Tells your brain you are not hunry
f. Peptide tyrosine PYY - released when your belly expands after a meal and
decreases appetite by blocking the action of NPY. Fat and protein raise
levels the most, but fasting for 2-3 days can cut it by 50%.
g. Resistin - thie evil hormone plays a big role in insulin resistance, blocking the
ability of muscles to respond to insulin. Produced by your belly fat.
The Diet

Step 1: Remove

Interesting point about artificial sweeteners:

When animals were fed yoghurt with saccharin, they later consumed more calories,
gained more weight and put on more bodyfat that animals that were fed yoghurt
sweetened with glucose. Normally when we eat sugar our body registers sweetness and
comes to understand that very sweet things mean lots of calories. However, when we
repeatedly eat artificial sweeteners that understanding breaks down. In fact, your body
starts to think that sweetness means not a lot of calories, so you need to eat a lot of sweet
things to get the needed calories. As the animals continued to eat artificial sweeteners,
their metabolism also started to forget that sweet things have a lot of calories. So when
you finally break down and eat that chocolate, your body doesnt react by burning up the
calories because sweetness doesnt mean anything.
Aspartame may cause permanent damage to our brains appetite centre.

Coffee
When caffeine is abused, it damages your metabolism and hormone balance. Your
liver releases blood sugar for quick energy, your pancreas releases insulin to counteract
the sugar, and your blood sugar dips because of the insulin. Also, your blood vessels
constrict, making you feel like your blood sugar is dipping even further.
The acids in one cup of coffee will elevate your cortisol for up to 14 hours. It also
interferes with your calcium absorption.
Caffeine overstimulates and eventually wears down your adrenals. It also inflicts
the long-term effects of real stress in your body. Ocygen flow to your brain slows, your
immune system is suppressed, the excess cortisol increases your appetite and
encourages fat to pack on your belly.
Green tea, however, has been shown to promote fat oxidation at rest and is
believed to prevent obesity.

Step 2: Restore

The master 10 foods

1. Legumes - best choice is red beans. Have the best kinds of carbs and fibre.
2. Alliums - best choice is garlic. Others are onions, leeks, chives and shallots. They
stimulate the body to produce gluthathione, an antioxidant that is in every cell but
especially important I the liver.
3. Berries
4. Meat and eggs
5. Colourful fruit/veg
6. Cruciferous veg - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower
7. Dark green leafy veg
8. Nuts and seeds
9. Organic dairy
10. Wholegrains