Real Life Wellness: Hormones–Why you hit the wall in food and fitness

By Bill Hemmer
Imagine having the peace of mind knowing your problems with hormones are common and have been worked through successfully by countless people all over the country. 

In my research and the study of hormones I find every person goes through the similar phases. First, they learn what to eat and they lose a couple of pounds. Then they discover an exercise program that works for them and they lose more weight. They are feeling better about themselves and they have more energy.

Then they hit the wall. Weight loss stops and their energy begins to fade. They get crabby and mad very easily. They get depressed and want to give up because it isn’t working anymore. Does this sound familiar? Haven’t you had the same thing happen to you in the past? I know I have!

It has been my life’s work to crack this code. This code is controlled by your hormone and neurotransmitter systems. Many different hormones and neurotransmitters have overlapping effects on your body. Is the problem your insulin or your estrogen? Could it be your adrenaline is out of balance with your cortisol? These questions can be very confusing and hard to answer. So, I continue to research the best and most effective way to answer these questions for people.

I have found hormone levels are messed up in almost every person I work with. Hormones are a factor in everybody’s wellness problems. Reasons include lack of sleep, altered body composition, stress and the toxic load in your body. Lack of sleep creates hormone problems because your body doesn’t have time to repair itself. Lack of sleep also affects your stress system. If you don’t get enough sleep your ability to handle stress is decreased. This makes you produce more of your stress hormone called cortisol. Extra cortisol leads to the next wellness problem, altered body composition.

Altered body compositions mean you have fat deposits where they shouldn’t be, and your lean muscle mass is decreased. This combination leads to more problems than any other imbalance I know. Recent studies link increased fat deposits to blood sugar problems. And if you can’t burn calories with muscle, your chances of staying at a healthy body composition are slim to none.

Finally, your toxic load has been shown to be a large factor in hormone imbalances. Most of your toxins have got there over a long period of time. Scientists can take a sample and analyze the amount of pesticides, industrial toxins, household toxins and chemicals of all kinds you have absorbed into your body throughout your lifetime. These toxins affect the same receptor sites that your hormones and neurotransmitters do. The more toxins you have the less your hormones and neurotransmitters can bind to your cells and do their work.