How a Lack of Sufficient Sleep Makes You Fat

The subject is SLEEP:  how lack of sufficient sleep disrupts your hormones, your immune system, and your ability to think clearly. The average person in our modern world gets between 5 and 6 hours of sleep each night.  And that’s just not enough.

Ever wonder why you can’t diet or exercise your weight down to where you’d like it? Or, have you ever thought about why you have a spare tire around your midline, even though the scale says you’re not overweight?

Resistant weight loss and belly fat are intimately related to your hormones, and your hormone balance can be severely disrupted by chronic sleep disruption.

Did you know that your sleep habits are just as important as what you put on your fork when it comes to releasing weight? (especially the extra padding around your middle!) Research shows that shift workers are, on average, heavier than those who work day jobs! And it has to do with disruption to the hormone dance that happens while you sleep.

The hormones affected by sleep control your appetite, the growth of lean muscle and your fat, and carbohydrate metabolism.

How Insufficient Sleep Affects Your Weight:

1. Decreased serotonin and dopamine production, which leads to cravings for sugary foods to bring the levels back up.
2. Increased ghrelin (a hormone that makes you feel hungry even if your body has enough food) and decreased leptin (makes you feel full and satisfied after eating) – the result means sugar cravings and continued hunger even after you’ve eaten a full meal.
3. Decreased growth hormone, leading to decreased ability to burn fat and lay down lean muscle.
4. Increased cortisol, “the stress hormone” which triggers the breakdown of muscle stores, increased blood sugar, and increased insulin. This leads to the deposition of fat, mainly around your waist.

Module 3 of my new program, B4 Be Gone, is called The Hormone Dance. In it, I outline the exact steps to take to determine how much sleep you need and what to do to get your hormones in balance so you burn rather than store fat at night.

Sleep Your Way Slim

My video, The NOT-So-Sexy Hormone Imbalances That Keep You Flabby, Foggy and Fatigued goes into a lot more detail more about the hormone imbalances and offers you a couple of steps to take right away to turn your bed into a super charged fat burning monster. On that video, I bust the myth of eating small frequent meals, which plays havoc on your hormone balance.

It’s not just important for your appearance that you get a good night’s sleep. These same hormone imbalances can have long term, dangerous consequences on your heart, increase inflammation and pain put you at a higher risk for cancer.

The loss of my parents, then my sister, a couple of friends and cousins, and most recently my brother-in-law and father-in-law has made me fiercely determined to stop the madness. I know their deaths could have been prevented had they just known what to do and had a guide to take them through every step of the way.

Turning Loss into Life

I created the B4 Be Gone Program to offer just that step by step guidance that so many need. Within 30 days, most people have lost their cravings and reset much of the faulty metabolism by bringing into balance five key elements: diet, stress, exercise, sleep and TIMING.

All the sleep research has me really taking a look at my own choices. I push the envelope with sleep because I feel fine even when I don’t sleep. But that’s on the outside. I know enough to realize that what’s going on inside as a result of my lack of sleep could come back and bite me in the you-know-what. Indeed, I have noticed that I’ve been extra hungry during the day these past few sleep-deprived weeks.

I am looking forward to doing the 30-day metabolic reset with the group and committing to getting enough sleep.

It’s All About Balance.

Balance is the key. It’s not enough to just drink green smoothies or just exercise daily or just get lots of sleep. The balance among stress, sleep, exercise and diet are key.

And on top of that, Timing is EVERYTHING.

You can do all the right things, but if it’s out of sync with your bio-rhythms, your belly will stay flabby — no matter how many sit-ups you do or green drinks you drink.

If you’re feeling flabby and frustrated, my advice to you is to sleep on it and then join us in the next B4 Be Gone Journey.

Fear, Anxiety, and Thanklessness – A Sure-fire Prescription for a FAT Midsection

Most people consider me an expert in restoring and maintaining health using diet and lifestyle approaches. My “claims to fame” are my in-depth knowledge of nutrition and biochemistry, and my program effectiveness for restoring balance to achieve vibrant health and energy.

Countless people come to me for advice, wondering why they are still overweight and ill, in spite of eating a healthy diet.

How Stress May Supersize You

While I can usually find things to tweak in clients’ diets, and I can recommend herbs or natural nutrition supplements to restore balance, we’re fighting an uphill battle if we ignore the role of stress, negative emotions, and worry; your health, energy level, AND weight are all affected.

On a past radio show, Your Muscles May be Making You Fat, I explored in detail the mechanism by which stress and worry contribute to belly bulge, and I encourage you to listen for details.

In summary, fear, worry, stressful thoughts and situations, and negative emotions trigger the release of cortisol and adrenaline from your adrenal glands. This hormone release triggers a series of fight or flight mechanisms that cause your liver and muscles to release sugar into your blood. Normally, this release would ready you for your “chase” or “escape”.

But what also happens, and this is the troubling part when it happens frequently, is that your insulin is also triggered to rise, so the sugar in the blood can be absorbed by your cells and fuel them to flight or fight. Keep in mind, that extra sugar in your blood would normally get used. Unfortunately, when your stresses are mental, you can’t burn all the released sugar. Insulin, in following through with its job of maintaining healthy blood sugar levels, causes the sugar to be put back into storage… as white adipose tissues, whose main receptors are – you guessed it – right around your belly.

I discuss more details concerning insulin, its role, and insulin resistance in Video 1, of the 5-part Bye-Bye Belly Fat, Brain Fog, and Burnout video series.

When you get stressed over situations that are beyond your control – like fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, traffic, other people’s attitudes – you are creating the perfect environment not only for “turning your muscles into fat” but for injuring your insides and setting yourself up for diseases. The three most serious and very common sequelae [secondary conditions] to chronic stress are the BIG 3: Heart disease, Cancer and Diabetes.

If achieving a slim trim body and keeping yourself safe from “the Big 3″ aren’t enough motivation to get a handle on stress, there’s more.

A Change of Heart Can Mean a Change in Dress Size

Your thoughts and emotions impact others around you, both those in close proximity and those far away.

Let me explain.

Research at the Institute of HeartMath has confirmed that your thoughts and emotions affect your heart rate variability (HRV). When you’re calm, HRV, when graphed, looks like a nice even sine wave and when you’re frustrated or angry, worried or anxious, it’s erratic and spikey. Notice the difference in the graphs to the right.

The smooth wave pattern is associated with ideal blood pressure, clear thinking, proper metabolic function and overall well being. The other pattern hallmarks disease, dysfunction, resistant weight loss and a host of other serious metabolic disruptions.

This article on the HeartMath website gives all the details, and it also takes you step-by-step through a couple of their techniques for restoring balance:

http://www.alternativeworldwidehealth.com/files/Heartmath_Stress_chapter.pdf

According to HeartMath:

In my Mend Your Metabolism & Maximize Your Vitality webinar, I will take you step-by-step through one of the HeartMath processes for Transforming Stress so you can feel for yourself the effects of being in a state they refer to as “coherence”.

It’s an amazing feeling and you too can learn it. In my 30-day B4 Be Gone program, I guide my patients and students through daily practice of this technique, and send them daily reminders and a recording of me guiding them through the process.

Join us on the webinar to get yourself started.

Get Slim, Stress-free, and Save the World

So now for the really amazing, almost unbelievable finding.

YOU have more power than you think over the state of the world, the energy in the room, and the stressful feelings of others.

Hear me out on this one…

When two people with different HRV patterns come into each other’s energy fields, the HRV’s tend to synchronize, and the strongest field prevails. This has been measured by the institute of HeartMath researchers on medical equipment!

By practicing the HeartMath technique called Quick Coherence several times a day, with as little a time investment as 5 minutes a day, you’ll become proficient at changing your emotional state and the HRV’s of others with whom you come into contact.

How cool is that?

And when you practice their more advanced technique, called Heart Lock-in, you actually practice deliberately projecting your energy out into the room. To master Heart Lock-in takes a bit more time, 15 minutes about 3-4 times a week!

When natural disasters like fire and flood strike, the natural tendency is to feel victimized. That puts you into the “triple P emotional state” that has been shown to be the most damaging of all… powerlessness, pessimism, and pervasive worry.

It’s times like these that we need to band together energetically and send positive thoughts, prayers, and uplifting energy to those whose lives are affected. Imagine the effect of thousands of people all over the world projecting their positive energy field! According to the above aforementioned article from the Institute of HeartMath (which I highly recommend you read in its entirety), “positive thinking” without accompanying positive feelings usually only provides temporary relief from emotional distress. Whereas the activation of positive emotions is more likely to transform the stress at its source.

According to Joe Vitale, author of The Attractor Factor, “there are over 25 scientific studies that prove when a group of people meditate together, they can change their surroundings — just by getting settled inside.”

Dr. Vitale lives not too far from where I live, just outside of Austin, and he sent out a plea for help with getting the fires under control through the power of positive emotion.

I’ve printed his entire letter on my blog, where Joe tells of his experience with this process when Hurricane Rita threatened Austin a few years back.

Whether you believe Dr. Vitale’s account of changing the course of natural events or not, there’s no disputing the positive effect of appreciation and love on your own chemistry and that of those around you. Lots of studies at www.heartmath.org support this.

So, what do you have to lose?

Even if you think it’s goofy, it can’t hurt and it will change your own emotions and your internal well-being.

So take a deep breath… find that place of peace inside yourself where you know all is well. Access that area of inner calm…and then just feel the fires going out; imagine the hurricanes heading out to sea; envision the earth’s core relaxing; and perceive that all the people affected are safe, sound, and protected.

Stop, breathe, focus, pray, or in some positive way send out an energy that will help dissolve the fear.
It’s your way of making a difference in the face of disaster, even if you can’t send lots of money or travel to the scene to help.

Check out the book Unconditional Bliss by Howard Cushnir. He says you can find happiness in the face of hardship.

And in the words of Joe Vitale, “… be happy, right now. Smile. Send that loving energy out, in the direction of Texas.

Intend for all to be well, for, in reality, all is well.”

Joe Vitale: Let Your Thoughts and Love Rain on Austin

- by Joe Vitale
- reprinted from http://www.attractmiracles.com/

Years ago I wrote an e-mail asking people to help me stop Rita, the hurricane that geared up right after Katrina.  I advised people to stop and send love and prayers to the hurricane; to dilute their own fear, find faith, and be a source of peace.  Rita did in fact drop from a category 5 hurricane to a category 2. When it finally blew through my area, it didn’t even rain.

Well, I’m asking for your help with the fires burning around the Austin area. I know it may seem goofy to some, but there are over 25 scientific studies that prove when a group of people meditate together, they can change their surroundings — just by getting settled inside.

I’m asking you and everyone else reading this to send love, light, prayer, positive thoughts and maybe even rain.  I am asking for the most benevolent outcome in this situation.  I’m asking you to sit, get quiet, and in whatever way you can imagine it, see the fires going out, and see people safe, sound, happy and healthy.  I’m asking you to help me clean on this outer reality representing an inner imbalance.

Together, we can do this.

Obviously, real people need to do real things to help control and extinguish these fires, but we can help them by being a source of calm.

I’m not asking for money or muscle; just your concentrated focus so we can attract a preferred outcome.

Will you help me?

Just take a deep breath… find that place of peace inside yourself… that place where you know all is well… the center of the essence of you… the Witness behind it all…the power source that is all love…

Get to that area of inner calm…

…and then just feel the fires going out… and people safe… and all is well….

That’s all I’m asking you to do.

Love,

Joe Vitale

PS – Excerpts for the original e-mail about hurricane Rita

I’m not saying ignore the storm warnings. I’m saying don’t get caught up in the fear that the warnings often trigger.

Look. If you think the storm will get you, then it’s already gotten you. You’re living in fear. Your life is dark, gloomy and in a cage. The media is flawless at whipping us into fear. So I suggest ignoring the media. It’s not information, it’s propaganda. It gets large groups of people to think negative, which of course then becomes reality.

Why can’t we do the opposite?

Why can’t we get large groups of people to think positive? At this very moment, as I type this and you read this, all is well. Isn’t it? Aren’t you ok? Aren’t you feeling fine right now? Yes, be sure to have batteries and water and supplies.

But also check the storehouse in your mind. Are you living in fear, or living in trust? Are you focused on the negative, or are you doing something to create a positive?

We are all, always, at choice. Happiness is a choice.

http://www.attractmiracles.com/

Belly Fat Breakthrough: How Your Muscles May Be Adding to Your Midline

- by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

Have you noticed that excess belly fat appears to be almost epidemic these days, even amongst the very slender and the very young?

I’ m so tired of all the websites and programs that promise the answer to getting rid of those stubborn inches once and for all, while you still eat your favorite foods. They always flaunt someone with 6-pack abs to prove their point. The average person has tried at least 3 of these programs, only to find themselves back where they started, plus a few more inches in many cases, just a few months later.

Why are most waist-targeted diets simply a waste?

Most belly fat targeted programs fail to help you to change the habits that lead to your expanding waistline. Small and occasional “favorite food” indulgences could possibly be just fine and not sabotage your progress, but the truth is those foods are so addicting that small and occasional portions soon become small and regular portions, then larger portions regularly, and in many cases soon become all-out binges.

When the “favorite foods” include bread, chips, crackers and muffins, it becomes very challenging for most people to keep the portions small. These foods not only are deficient in nutrients, they generally also cause a spike in insulin, a hormone that’ s responsible for keeping your blood sugar at its optimal level. Too much insulin creates all sorts of problems, which we explain in detail in our Taming Your Midline Program.

If you want a smaller waistline you need a bigger understanding of insulin

In summary, when you eat high carbohydrate comfort foods regularly, your insulin levels become dangerously high and your cells become resistant to insulin. This means you can’t get enough sugar into your cells and you feel tired, unfocused, and hungry after meals.

To get control of your belly fat, you need to break the viscous cycle.

How your muscles may be adding to your midline

On top of the difficulty and stress people experience due to insulin resistance, worry and fear trigger increased cortisol, an adrenal hormone.

Here’s the kicker that keeps the belly fat from burning…

Cortisol mobilizes muscles to raise blood sugar quickly to prepare you to run or fight. When you’re sitting around worrying about something that may or may not occur, there is no way to burn all that extra blood sugar. So insulin comes to the rescue and stores it as fat.

And cortisol’s favorite place to store the fat is around your belly.

So how do you keep your thigh muscles from turning to belly fat?

One way is to stop worrying.  As a society, we do it all the time. Huge real estate in the local paper is devoted to gloom and doom predictions and stories of catastrophie. The goal is to induce fear. Fear sells.

Listen in on the conversations that surround you. You’ll repeatedly hear people say, “I’m so worried about… .”

When you worry over an event that has not happened and may not happen, the response in your body is identical to the reaction you’d have if the event was really happening. If the event does in fact transpire, you’ve paid twice! The wear and tear of worry on your body is huge, and constant worry over the years just may be a contributing factor to your expanding midline, especially if you’ve been exercising and eating well and don’t seem to be making progress.

One of the strategies presented in my free e-course and e-book, 7 Simple Strategies to Jumpstart Your Energy Practically Overnight, is to take a news fast. Try it for a week.

You just may find yourself being flatter around the middle, and as an extra bonus you’ ll be more focused and get a lot more done.

This is just one of the strategies I will be sharing in my hot new free video series called Belly Fat , Brain Fog and Burnout Breakthroughs.

Subscribe now to Jumpstart Your Energy and then watch your inbox later this week for the Belly Fat Breakthrough signup link!

Adrenal Exhaustion and Fatigue: Symptoms and Strategies

Are Your Adrenal Glands Over Worked and Under paid?

Lately I’ve been writing a lot about belly fat and brain fog. Adrenal stress and exhaustion is a very common cause.   Watch this video and learn what causes adrenal fatigue, how you can tell if you have it, what you can do to prevent it and strategies for restoring yourself to vibrant, energetic and happy.

Adrenal exhaustion is a common cause of many health issues experienced in our modern day world.

Comment below and let me know how you if you know or think you’re suffering from adrenal fatigue and what 1 step you can take to start to heal.

Love, health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie