Optimize Your Weight Control Hormones For Maximum Weight Loss


by Michael A - Date: 2010-09-28 - Word Count: 413 Share This!

It is now becoming exceedingly clear from modern nutritional science that being over weight or obese is a direct result of hormonal imbalance. The 2 big metabolic hormones that play the important role in this balance are insulin and glucagon. These are released by the pancreas and have the job of regulating glucose levels in the blood stream. When there is too little glucose, one hormone reacts to tap into fat stores. When there is too much glucose, the other reacts to store away any excess.

So what is glucose?

Glucose is our primary energy source and is essential for the basic functioning of the body. Too much or too little this can be harmful. Therefore when glucose levels rise or fall outside the optimal level, a hormone is released in order to return things to normal. When glucose levels rise, the body reacts and stores the excess as glycogen in the liver and muscles and also as fat. Therefore whatever causes a rise in glucose levels in the blood will cause you to become overweight. The 2 metabolic hormones help to keep the balance required for optimum health and weight control.

The 2 weight control hormones

1. Insulin

Although it serves a large amount of purposes, in terms of weight managment, insulin is effectively the fat storing hormone. It is released into the blood stream in order to normalize high blood sugar levels. Now the greatest influence on blood sugar is carbohydrates. This is why carbs are now seen as the real culpurate for the current health crisis. A fast releasing carbohydrate source such as refined sugar causes a huge rush in glucose and a spike in your blood sugar. To deal with this your body releases large amounts of insulin to normalize the imbalance by storing away excess glucose. This process occurs within a couple of hours of eating a carbohydrate rich meal and the result, weight gain!

2. Glucagon

Glucagon has the opposite effect to insulin, it is released when blood sugar level is low. Now glucagon release is not effected at all by fat or carbohydrate consumption. Instead it is released when protein is consumed. It is also released as a result of physical exercise and basically whenever extra energy is required. Glycogen stores are converted into glucose and used first. This causes an early surge in weight loss as a lot of water is lost during this stage. However once the glycogen stores are used up, fat starts being burnt and the process slows down.

Related Tags: health, weight loss, nutrition, diet, dieting, fat loss, lose weight, lose fat, weight management, weight issues

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: