First, let’s understand something…
There is no such thing as a “bad” hormone.
Every hormone in our body was put there to serve some function.
Even the one particular hormone that’s directly responsible for adding unwanted fat around your flabby belly gut…
CORTISOL.
Your body releases cortisol when you’re under stress. It’s part of the whole “fight or flight”response.
But cortisol itself isn’t inherently “bad” like it’s labelled to be in the media and the mainstream fitness industry.
Cortisol is what wakes us up in the morning and helps get started with our day.
Cortisol is what motors us to be alert when danger calls.
It worked great for our caveman ancestors when they were being chased by a lion, because they had time after being chased to rest and recover.
Their cortisol spikes occured in spurts – once in the morning as the sun rose to get them out of bed, staying normal throughout the day and then spiking only when danger (ie stress) was about.
The rest of the time they spent in a normal cortisol state where as the sun went down, so did their cortisol levels (allowing them to get a good night’s sleep).
Think about that for a minute…
Cortisol elevates to get us out of bed, stays at a normal level throughout the day and only spikes when something stressful happens, then decreases as the sun goes down to allow us to sleep.
Now, compare that to our lives today where we are constantly in a stressed out state (ie. when cortisol is abnormally elevated for extended periods – I’m talking days, weeks, months or even years).
Instead of having time to rest and digest, we are stressed at practically every waking hour…
- wake up late after hitting snooze 3 times
- get a “quick” breakfast ready for the family
- get the kids to school on time
- get stuck in traffic to try to get to work on time
- fight with our boss
- eat fast food for lunch
- fight with our husband or wife
- hit the gym and train until we’re about to throw up
- did I pay the gas bill this month?
- do I have $3000 for my 14 year old to get braces?
Not only that, but at night when we’re supposed to be resting and digesting, we fill our eyes (and brains) with artificial light by watching TV or surfing the internet making our bodies “think” that it’s still day time outside.
The result?
Chronically high cortisol.
And that’s when people get fat or worse, sick and injured.
Our bodies are meant to follow the rhythm of the sun where cortisol levels elevate as the sun rises and declines as the sun sets.
But because of this Western Lifestyle, we have elevated cortisol all day long.
Sleep, for most people, then becomes the only way for us to get into rest and digest mode, BUT, our sleep quality becomes significantly compromised because of all the artificial light that pollutes our eyes through TV and electronics.
And then we wake up and have low energy because of the poor sleep we get in the morning and then the cycle continues…
Poor sleep -> low energy -> artificial pick me up and bad food choices -> high stress -> high cortisol -> poor sleep
Think about whether or not you might be walking around with high cortisol levels right now.
Excess cortisol is affecting you every single day thanks to everyday stressors, like a fight with your spouse, a rough day at work, the wrong foods, improper exercise, etc…
And it’s increased and chronically high levels of cortisol that are putting inches around your waist.
Seriously, ever see someone who works out a lot, has really defined arms and looks lean from the top up? But when they take off their shirt, they’ve got one of those paunch bellies?
That, my friend, is cortisol.
And that’s the kind of fat (called visceral fat) that’s linked to diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Not to mention is just plain ugly!
So what can you do about it?
Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to totally erase stress from our lives.
And why would you want to? A little bit of stress is necessary for survival – like proper training…PROVIDED that you allot ample time to recover from stress.
It’s chronic stress that is severely affecting our health & vitality.
So why not learn some simple (and very powerful) strategies for easing stress, managing it and recovering from it?
Not only that, these same strategies will bring you back to life so you can look and feel amazing again.
For example, did you know that doing something as simple as taking 10 deep diphragmic breaths through your nose and into your belly can relieve any neck and shoulder tightness that most stressed out individuals experience.
Just settting a timer to go off every couple of hours to remind you to deep breathe can do wonders for getting you into “rest & recovery” mode.
For more strategies like this, I suggest you pick up this FREE book (seriously, it’s a hard copy book and it’s FREE)…
It’s by my friend, Yuri Elkaim, and I personally think he’s crazy but here’s what he’s doing…
He’s giving away a bunch of copies of his brand new hardcover book – “The All-Day Energy Diet”…
for FREE!
Get yours HERE> Get THE ALL-DAY ENERGY DIET
You’ll be hearing about this all over the place so I wouldn’t waste another second because Yuri only has a limited number of books that he can give away.
I suspect these will ALL be gone by later today.
If you really want to feel better, keep cortisol at bay, and avoid packing on needless belly fat, then this book is your answer.
In 7 days (or less), you can expect to sleep better, wake up more refreshed, hurdle over that afternoon slump, and still have energy at the end of a long day.
You’ll probably even lose a few pounds without even thinking about it.
Chris
