Could Using Diet Pills Help to Reduce Your Body Weight?

When it comes to losing weight, you may be finding that a low fat diet combined with fitness is not working for you as quickly as you would like it to, and your mind starts to turn towards diet pills. But how much do you really know about these diet pills, and could they be damaging for your wellness and wellbeing?

 

Drug companies have recently had to re-think the way that they make diet pills, as one of their main ingredients – ephedra – was removed from the market. They have been under pressure to come up with another natural supplement to help boost weight loss, and one of the things that they have come up with is a way to help weight loss by reducing the levels of cortisol in the body and balancing the blood sugar.

 

Cortisol is a hormone that is released by the adrenal glands during times of extreme stress. Many people in today’s fast-paced world find them releasing a great deal of this hormone! It is an important hormone for health, but too much of it can be bad for you. High levels of cortisol increase your appetite, and especially for carbohydrates and sugar (which go straight to your waist and set up camp there). It also contributes to bone loss, short term memory loss and can be damaging to your immune system.

 

A new generation of diet pills is now becoming available which help you to reduce these cortisol levels (something that you can also do by reducing your stress, exercising and getting plenty of sleep). These pills use the extract of magnolia bark, which is often used in Chinese medicine for a variety of purposes, including weight loss. The pills also contain other important vitamins to help you relax, and to balance your blood sugar.

Categories: Blood Sugar, cortisol, diet, diet pills, loss, Pills, weight, Weight Loss

Fight Stubborn Belly Fat with these Seven Ways!

No one loves belly fat from an aesthetic point of view, but this kind of fat is actually dangerous to your overall wellbeing. A portly midsection is a significant indicator of disease, signifying that your levels of the stress hormone cortisol are too high, and your wellness is at risk of deadly inflammation. However, a few simple changes can make you your very best from the inside out.

Firstly, start interval training. Sit-ups can help you gain that six-pack, but unless you shift the layers of fat above it you’re never going to see it! You need to work in some cardiovascular exercise between sit-ups, crunches, planks and other abdominal exercises in order to get the flat stomach you want and build a solid core. Between each abs-creating set, do 30 to 60 seconds of running on a treadmill, star jumps or use a skipping rope.

Next, don’t skip meals as this is actually counter productive. When you skip a meal, your body responds by storing fat, especially in your abdomen. To pacify cravings and rev up your metabolism (which you need to do to prevent fat storage) have small meals and snacks throughout the day. One thing you should skip, however, is sweet treats. Sugar causes unnecessary spikes and crashes in your blood and energy, and gets stored as fat when consumed in excess, so instead turn to sweet berries to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Fourth on this list is to boost your vitamin C intake, from foods like citrus fruits, broccoli, kale and bell peppers. Vitamin C keeps your cortisol levels under control and helps your body to produce carnitine, which converts fat into energy. Also, increase your intake of healthy fats. The high doses of omega-3 in avocados, walnuts and olive oil can improve satiety and boost your metabolism.

The last two belly fat busters go hand-in-hand; sleep and relax. Multiple studies have proven that too little or poor quality sleep leads to weight gain, as this depletes your energy levels, causing you to snack more throughout the day. Finally, you need to relax more as this can keep your cortisol levels under control, which, in turn, prevents weight gain. Try to make time every day, even if it’s just five minutes, to relax and meditate.

Fight Stubborn Belly Fat with these Seven Ways!

Categories: cortisol, cortisol levels, energy, gain, Interval Training, levels, relax, sit ups, sleep, vitamin c, weight gain

Diabetes And Heart Disease - Are They Linked?

High levels of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, have been linked to cardiovascular disease in some previous studies, but not all of them. This is thought to be connected to the fact that the measurements of cortisol in the blood or salvia at the time of testing may pick up acute stress, but they don’t account for long-term stress. Dutch researchers have analysed cortisol levels over several months by looking at scalp hair samples over a three month period, looking at 283 men and women of an average age of 75. Supporting data was gathered, which included data about coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, lung disease, stroke and cancer.

Those found to have the highest levels of cortisol had three times the risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Researchers didn’t find any connection between lung disease, osteoporosis and cancer and the levels of cortisol, though. The increased risk is comparable to the traditional risk factors, such as hypertension and abdominal obesity. Researchers noted that further studies would need to take place in order to determine if other risk factors influence the risks.

Diabetes and heart disease are both largely affected by lifestyle, so if you lead a sedentary lifestyle and eat a poor diet then your risk will be higher. If you want to improve your general wellbeing, it’s important that you increase the amount of exercise you do – this will not only help you to maintain a healthy weight, but it will also improve circulation, keep your body flexible and help reduce stress. A balanced diet is also important when it comes to fighting such conditions. You should keep your intake of fats, salt and sugar to a minimum as these can lead to obesity and heart problems. This, alongside getting plenty of vitamins and minerals through your diet, will help you to fight disease and stay healthy.

Diabetes And Heart Disease - Are They Linked?

Categories: cardiovascular disease, cortisol, Diabetes, Disease, heart, heart disease, lifestyle, lung disease, risk, risk factors, Stress