7 Strategies to Reduce Belly Fat and Brain Fog

Brain fog and belly fat are complaints I hear often in my practice.  In fact, I think they are almost epidemic.

In my experience, the most common cause of both is stress.  When you experience stressful situations, your adrenal glands take action to protect you and ready you to fight or get away.  After all, in the olden days, the biggest stress you might encounter was being chased by a hungry tiger.  Your adrenal glands secrete adrenaline, a neurotransmitter that creates a high level of stimulation to your system and causes your nervous system to operate from what’s known as a sympathetic dominant state.  It also secretes a hormone called cortisol.

Adrenaline is short lived.  As soon as the perceived stress dissipates, it decreases.  Cortisol lasts a lot longer.  Some of the effects of cortisol create the phenomenon of excess belly fat and brain fog.  Cortisol causes fat to be released from storage and turned into sugar…which is a very good thing if you’re running away from a tiger.  It also causes you to become more efficient at burning fat for energy – you’re not going to be able to refuel while in pursuit by a hungry animal.

However, most modern day stressors don’t require physical exertion.  Getting stuck in traffic, financial concerns, an over demanding boss, juggling children’s activities and needs and all of our modern day stressors are all non physical.  Thus when your fat stores are released and turned into sugar, the lack of physical exertion creates an increase in your blood sugar levels, which causes extra insulin to be released.  The extra sugar then gets converted back into fat.

The interesting thing is that while the fat may have been evenly removed from storage, under the influence of cortisol and insulin, most of it gets stored back around your belly.  This is a protective mechanism, to insulate your vital organs during times of threat.

YIKES!!!  Stress causes you to store more fat AND redistribute the fat you already have to right where you least want it…your belly! Stress is the ultimate weight gain drug!  Because cortisol stimulates fat it inhibits weight loss even if you’re doing everything else right.

Another action of cortisol is to shift off the function of your prefrontal cortex, the “wizard brain” that’s responsible for high level thinking and turn on your primitive brain, your limbic system, also known as your “lizard brain”.  The lizard brain is really good at survival and not so good at being “on” mentally -  thus the brain fog that comes from being stressed all the time.

Cortisol contributes to brain fog in yet another way.  There’s a part of your brain called the hippocampus that controls your short term memory.  Cortisol actually damages this part of your brain.  Did you ever walk into a room to get something only to forget why you were there?  That’s good old cortisol wrecking havoc on your hippocampus.

Excess cortisol isn’t the only cause of brain of and belly fat.  Other culprits include immune system dysregulation, food allergies, gluten intolerance, insufficient or poor quality sleep, hormone imbalance, sluggish thyroid, insufficient exercise and overburdened detoxification pathways.

Here are 7 of my favorite strategies for reducing brain fog and melting away your excess belly fat.

1. Get a handle on stress.
2. Balance Your Blood Sugar Levels
3. Burst exercise
4. Eat a Nutrient dense diet rich in whole, raw plant foods and test nutrient levels and function regularly
5. Balance  Your Immune system, avoid allergens and eat a Gluten Free Diet
6. Get sufficient high quality  Sleep
7. Incorporate regular Cleansing and Detoxification, like a 7 day green cleanse every quarter.

The next article in this series is Reduce Belly Fat  and Brain Fog: Adrenal Gland and Stress Connection

Watch for a series of blog posts over the next few days that go into detail about each of these strategies.

Getting Control of Emotional Eating: My Secret Strategies for Getting off the Out of Contol Roller Coaster

Have you ever felt like you’re on a roller coaster when it comes to your health habits?  You know what to do, but you don’t always seem to be able to follow through?

You’re not alone.  This is a problem shared by many.  So quit chastising yourself.

Comfort eating most likely started when you were very little. Some well meaning adult offered you a lollipop to soothe the hurt when you scraped your knee. You felt better and a neural pathway was created. The event was repeated and the pathway got reinforced. Now every time you feel a certain way, you reach for food to soothe the associated emotions.

I know it often feels like it’s out of control and you’ll never be able to stop the roller coaster long enough to get steady, but, in my two decades plus of clinical experience, I’ve noticed that many people do succeed at getting off the out of control ride and achieve the energy, strength and excellent health they desire.

Today I’m going to share a few tips from Chapter 5 the Vibrant Health Mindset Course I created witht eh help of Registered Dietitian and nutrition counselor Jane Harden, RD, LD, MS .   We have devoted a large part of a chapter to techniques you can use right away to tame the emotional eating demon and get your diet habits under control.  Ready?

Here’s a short-cut process to use when you’re caught unprepared for the situation at hand, and can be used to get you out of trouble.  It might take a few attempts to get this to work because the emotional eating response is burned into your brain.

Strategies for Overcoming Emotional Eating

The first step is to identify the emotion you’re feeling that has caused you to turn to food for comfort.

1- Are you tired? It’s very common for people to turn to food when feeling weary.  The problem is, the food usually makes the tiredness worse.  If you’ve identified that you’re tired, take a break.  Even sitting quietly and closing your eyes for just 5 minutes could offer the refreshment you need.

2- Are you lonely? Eating when lonely is a common reaction, yet once the food is gone, the loneliness returns.  If  you discover that you’re lonely, call a friend, go for a walk and talk to a neighbor or go to a health food store and strike up a conversation in the produce aisle.  You never know when a new best friend is ready to appear in your life.  If loneliness is a common situation, join a meetup group in an area of interest.  There are hundreds of groups on all interests -  art , music, hobbies, health…you name it.

3- Are you angry? Many of my clients and patients reach for food to stuff their anger.  Instead, work trough the anger.  If you are unable to confront the target of your anger directly, write a letter.  Even if you never send it, you’ll experience relief.

Work through the list…there are really only 4 emotions…all others fall into one of these categories.  Here’s an easy way to remember them – they rhyme:  scared, mad, glad, sad.   What causes you to eat emotionally?  Once you create new behaviors in response to the emotional triggers, you’ll create new neural pathways and the emotional eating  pathway will shrivel from disuse.

Outsmart Your  Cravings

Here’s an example of a worksheet we’ll be sharing during the live teleclass training portion of the Vibrant Health Mindset process.  Complete this in advance so when emotional eating strikes, you’re prepared.

1. Make a list of the emotions  and the circumstances that trigger emotional eating. Is it visiting your mother, going to restaurants with friends, fights with your partner? What situations (and feelings they illicit) are most likely to trigger you to soothe yourself with food?
2. Once you’ve identified the emotions, make a list of the foods that you’d typically turn to to soothe your pain.
3. Describe how you feel after eating the food(s).
4. Describe what, if any, physical or emotional symptoms eating these foods causes in the short term.
5. Make a list of what continuing to eat these foods may keep you from achieving in the long term?  (ie vibrant health, strength, stamina, clean arteries, exotic vacations, enjoying your grandchildren, etc
6. List at least 3 things you can do instead to soothe the bad feelings?

Here’s where you can use the fun list activity we teach in an earlier chapter .

Using this technique alone can help a lot.

To deepen the process and learn much more about the steps to creating a mindset that results in vibrant health, join us for the Vibrant health Mindset e-course and teleseminar series.  It’s a life changing process.

www.VibrantHealthMindset.com

The Video below will give you an idea about the class.

Question of the Day:  what do you do to handle strong and uncomfortable emotions?

Answer below.

Love, health and Joy

Dr. Ritamarie

30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: The Importance of Managing Your Stress

Sleep is important.  Fun is important.  Diet is important.  What’s as or  more important than all of these in creating vibrant health?  Giving your adrenals a rest!

Adrenal exhaustion has become an epidemic and it contributes to so many chronic health challenges.

There are lots of techniques for transforming stress and rebuilding your adrenals.  Nothing is as profound as the power of appreciation.  One of my favorites is to start and end each day by thinking about 3 things that I appreciate.  Try it.  Another favorite is to take a few deep breaths before each meal and tune into what I appreciate about the food I am about to consume.

My friend and Book Doula, Dr. Liz Alexander, wrote a fascinating article about walking meditation using labyrinths as a method of transforming stress and supporting your adrenals.

Tune into where you feel stress in your body, and learn to notice early warning signs.  Support yourself, nurture yourself, have fun and eat green.  You’ll soon find yourself with more energy than you know what to do with.

My report card for Monday:

1- bed by midnight.  Yikes – I really Blew it Sunday night…better Monday.  I had a lot of catch up to do and I took time for fun and exercise, so I made the choice to stay up later than I should have ( 3AM /12:30 AM ) .  I could feel the difference Monday morning, although my energy came back pretty quickly

2- finish writing a few projects that are close to completion – Success here!

3- fun time with kids, who are off school for spring break – Spend some time with my 11 year old

4- running in the sun – yeah.  It was warm again today! I love running when it’s warm.

My commitments for Tuesday:

1- bed by midnight.

2- running in the sun

3- 15 minute fun break

4- 2 quarts green smoothie

Commitment for at least one day this week:  Get to bed by 10 PM and see if it is really as good as it’s cracked up to be!

What about you?  What are you committed to?

Post below in the comments section.

This week we’re having a contest.  I’m offering a prize to whoever posts the most this week…genuine commitments and report cards.  The prize for the winner is an e-book and audio recording.

Wishing you lots of Love, Health and Joy (and sleep, too)

Dr. Ritamarie

Emotional Stress and Your Health

I’m sharing this announcement with you because the Heart Math techniques have transformed my life.  I’ve been using them for the past 5 years or so myself, and I’ve taught them to hundreds of patients and clients.  I became a certified Heart Math Coach about 5 years ago.  I have a product called Transforming Stress which guides you step by step through a couple of the techniques I find most helpful.  It has changed my life for the better.  If you can fit this teleseminar into your schedule, I highly recommend it.  I’ve already put it on my calendar.

A special HeartMath MicroTraining in May to benefit the nation’s service men and women will feature HeartMath medical director and author, Dr. Bruce Wilson, a prominent Wisconsin cardiologist. Dr. Wilson’s presentation is especially timely. Emotional Stress and Your Health, a one-hour Teleseminar presented by Wilson and psychologist Dr. Deborah Rozman, takes on added importance in light of a recent Gallup Poll. Representing 95% of the world’s population from 140 countries, the poll shows that positive emotions were a reliable predictor of better health and negative emotions were a reliable predictor of worse health, even when basic needs of food, shelter and safety were met.

Dr. Wilson, author of The HeartMath Approach to Managing Hypertension, has lectured about and taught HeartMath’s emotion refocusing and self-management tools for over a decade in hospitals, companies, school systems and with his own patients. He will share his story of why he got involved with HeartMath and address the beneficial effects that HeartMath methods and emotional management tools have on people with chronic diseases. Dr. Rozman, author of HeartMath’s Transforming Series books, will discuss practical ways you can reduce stress, anxiety, anger and other negative emotions in these difficult times.

Among those most in need of HeartMath’s scientifically developed tools and technology are returning combat troops and the nation’s veterans, and the Institute of HeartMath is offering this MicroTraining in their behalf.

HeartMath already has assisted a great number of military personnel and hopes to expand access to its tools to thousands more, especially those coping with the personal impact of war. All donations from those attending this May 30 Teleseminar will go directly toward the Military Appreciation Service Fund. (So we ask that if you find value in this event, please consider a contribution of $10, $25 or $35 to this fund.)