Dealing with anxiety, weight gain and insulin levelsWeight gain, stress and insulin
I am seeing more and more, clients coming in dealing with anxiety issues. In modern day society more and more people are stressed out and anxious. What many people don't connect together is their anxiety could be directly related to weight gain and high insulin levels. The foods that many of us are putting in our bodies are not only compounding our issues with dealing with anxiety, but our bodies are completely out of whack. Many individuals have no idea that insulin levels may be contributing to their anxiety and weight ills. Weight gain and InsulinMost of our bodies are out of balance with our natural biological systems because much of what we put in our bodies today are either full of sugar, toxic or processed. Which is leading to many of us feeling sick, tired, depressed, and dealing with anxiety issues. When our hormones are out of balance, either through too much insulin our blood (from sugar),or too much cortisol and adrenaline (from stress). When either or both of these areas are out of balance, it can lead to depression, dementia, anxiety and attention deficit disorder, obesity and inflammation.Insulin Resistanceore than 100 million Americans suffer from insulin resistance for one simple reason, we have stopped eating foods and living a lifestyle that are in harmony with our bodies. Back when we were hunters and gatherers we ate very close to the land; meats, nuts, beans, vegetables and minimal fruits. At that time people consumed 20 teaspoons of sugar a year, today we eat over double that amount of sugar in one day! (Hormones and Inflammation. (2009, July/August). Experience Life Magazine)How has this change happened? Our bodies normally produce insulin in response to food in our stomach, particularly sugar. But when we eat too many sugar and carbs, it throws your body sugar out of whack, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, cancer, brain aging, dementia and more. Sugar and Processed FoodsOur bodies were designed for significantly lower levels of sugar than what the typical American consumes today. With the innovation of society and living, we have become a society of convenience. Fast, refined, sugary and processed foods now make up over 80% of the typical American diet and our bodies are fighting these foods by pumping out insulin in our blood which is a pro-inflammatory substance.Eventually our bodies become resistant to all this excess insulin in our blood, which leads to inflammation and our metabolisms becoming out of balance. It gets worse, insulin are messengers to the rest of our bodies, when insulin is high it is telling our bodies that we are starving. Which then leads us to crave foods with a high sugar content, the very foods that are the root of the cause. Information Overload
In addition, our lifestyles have become more and more sedentary and stressful. We are in a time of information overload. The daily New York Times in 1987 contained more information that the 17th century man or woman would have encountered in a lifetime. (Wurman, S.A. (1987) Information Anxiety. New York: Doubleday, 32.) Our brains and bodies cannot process the vast amount of information that we are exposed to on a daily basis. It is our job to slow the pace of our own life down to a speed where we have plenty of down time to manage our day to day lives. With that time comes a deeper awareness of the foods that we are putting into our bodies. Time to make foods that nurture our bodies rather than throw them out of balance. SolutionsThe positive news is that insulin levels can be brought into balance naturally. With that it brings greater health, energy levels, slimmer body, and less need in dealing with anxiety and depression issues. Click here to read about the solutions to insulin resistance.Return to the top of weight, stress and insulin
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