Hormonal balance and weight loss: What you need to know

You might know someone who eats a lot and never exercises but doesn’t seem to have an ounce of fat on him. While you, on the other hand, exert a lot of effort at the gym every day, but can’t seem to lose weight. It may not be a problem of self-discipline, but rather, it may be due to imbalanced hormones that can affect your metabolism.

According to Dr. Rami Cohen, an international specialist renowned for his study on the hormones involved in obesity and weight loss, obesity is a disease, a medical condition arising from hormonal imbalance.

“According to Dr. Cohen, there are three specific hormones in your body that, when imbalanced, may cause your weight gain,” said Barbara Young, Cohen’s Lifestyle Centre CEO and a certified life coach. “If those hormones are at the right level, the body will just switch on the fat-burning mechanism.”

Maintaining a healthy body weight can be achieved through the delicate balance of these three main hormones:

Human Growth Hormone (HGH). This hormone is responsible for stimulating growth, cell reproduction and the regeneration of cells in our body. It also burns fat by breaking it down rapidly and making it a source of energy. HGH peaks during the teenage years and slowly declines with age. However, there are ways to naturally increase HGH production. Avoiding processed food which are loaded with simple carbs and sugars and getting good quality sleep for 8 hours a day are some of the important factors in maintaining healthy production of Human Growth Hormone.

Serotonin. Also known as the “feel good” or “happy hormone,” serotonin is released in the brain to tell the body when it is full or satisfied. It is nature’s own appetite suppressant. Successful weight loss depends on the power of serotonin to control food intake. You can balance the serotonin level in your body by eating low-fat or fat-free food and healthy amounts of protein and carbohydrates. When serotonin’s ability to increase satiety is enhanced, you will eat less, feel more satisfied and lose weight.

Insulin. This hormone regulates blood-glucose levels in our body and is responsible for moving sugar from the blood into the cells where it is used as energy. When you eat,

your blood sugar increases. However, when your insulin level is normal – not too low or too high – it steadily distributes sugar to the different parts of your body equally. You can control the amount of insulin your body produces and how well your cells respond to it by cutting back on high-calorie food that can lead to spikes in blood sugar levels.

Eating healthy is the best, most natural and safest way to balance these three hormones and maintain a healthy weight. There is no need to overexert yourself with extreme exercise or use unsafe pills or injections that may be unsafe or have side effects. Cohen’s Lifestyle Program, a rapid weight loss and wellness program through nutrition, provides personalized prescription of tested foods and their combination that allows the body to do what it is naturally designed to do, and that is to burn fat effectively.

To know more about Cohen’s Lifestyle Program, visit www.CohenLifestyle.com.ph, or visit http://www.facebook.com/CohenLifestylePhil on Facebook and http://instagram.com/cohenlifestyleph on Instagram.