Is stress making you fat?

Do you experience stress on a daily basis? Do you feel unable to lose weight? Do you feel like you gain weight the more you stress out?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then KEEP READING!

Compliments of New Line Cinema

While Michael Myers is wearing a fat suit in this picture, it still makes you wonder how people can live like this on a daily basis. Imagine that extra weight on your joints and how much degeneration is occurring not only in those joints but also in your spine! Take a look at the picture below for a comparison MRI of an average and overweight female and check out those joint spaces!!!

Let's do a short anatomy lesson. Your adrenal glands are located on top of your kidneys and are responsible for secretion of many hormones essential to every day function like epinephrine, cortisol, progesterone, DHEA, estrogen, and testosterone. In fact, in women going through menopause the adrenal glands are a major source of the estrogen and progesterone needed to prevent bone loss and menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, and even depression! In andropause, (YES that's right men go through a change too!), the adrenals are relied on for another source of testosterone to prevent excess weight, lose of confidence, and the familiar "low T" syndrome that is advertised everywhere now.

So how does stress play a part into being fat or weight loss in general?  Well let's dig a little deeper. Cortisol is released from your adrenal glands when you are stressed out  (It's called a "fight or flight" response). This stress doesn't just have to be at work under a pile of paperwork because your body views stress as a perceived threat whether its physical such as running a marathon, emotional during a tear-eyed movie, or even environmental such as extreme temperature changes. When you are under "stress" your adrenal glands release cortisol which will signal your liver to release amino acids from muscle surrounding the liver in order for the body to make more glucose (blood sugar) for your body to be able to spring into action to deal with this stress.

When we are under stress long term and our adrenal glands are constantly producing cortisol at high levels, our body will start to store that excess blood sugar as fat. That fat usually gets deposited right around our middle which can lead to that big pouch that is hard to get rid of with diet and exercise. This is due to the fact that our cortisol levels are too high and our blood sugar never gets the chance to lower to normal levels!

So how do we get around this problem? Well we have to relieve some of the stress in our lives and focus on supporting our adrenal gland function so that they are still able to support us later on (such as during menopause or andropause!). In addition, we need to incorporate some healthy diet changes that seek to keep a consistent blood sugar rather than spiking our sugar levels up and down.

A balanced wellness program can be designed to reduce stress levels and support or even restore the adrenal glands if they've started to decline their function. Talk to your doctor and they will be able to give you a better picture of where your body is at and what kind of support you are going to need.

Get your feet in shape and ready for a run!

Here at AlignLife in Peoria we've been focusing on exercising together during lunch hour with stretching and jogging . Which is a great way to boost our metabolism and energy levels, but also a great way to get some sun and fresh air in the middle of the day.

So what's so important about prepping your feet for running season? Well everything!!! Your feet are the foundation of your body and as such have the job of supporting your body weight, your joint alignment, and your posture. Did you know that your feet take the brute force of about four to seven times your body weight when your forefoot contacts the ground while jogging? Now for a 150 pound runner that is equivalent to 600-1000 lbs! 

The intrinsic muscles of the feet and the posterior musculature of your legs must have the proper strength and be the proper length in order to support healthy joint function and to keep the arches in the bottom of your feet ready to support the extra weight associated with movement. Due to modern footwear restrictions on foot movement especially at the individual joints, most of our feet aren't conditioned enough to walk barefoot while supporting the rest of our joints let alone take part in the Barefoot Movement that is all the rage! Click here to learn more. To top that off, most of our posterior leg musculature is actually shortened from its proper length due to elevated heels at the back of our shoes that causes our feet to be put in extension with our weight shifted forward on our feet rather than in a neutral position with our weight centered over the hefty bones of our ankle and heels. Learn more about footwear positioning in my previous blog post.

In fact, most modern footwear restricts movement of our forefoot in general and puts all the demand for flexibility at our ankles (which is wear our shoes usually stop). This demand at our ankles is against our body design as these ankle ligaments are supposed to be strong and virtually unyielding to support the bones of our heels and ankles rather than stretched out and pliable to allow to flexible movement. This increased flexibility at the ankle can lead to increased risk of injury to the ankle while the forward weight shift can lead to degeneration of the joints in our feet (think bunions and deformed feet) as well as flare ups of plantar fasciitis.

So what can you do to reduce your risk of injury and get your feet in shape? Great question and I'd be happy to share a bit more.

** Remember to consult with your doctor about starting an exercise program, especially if you have issues with bone density or balance.

1.)           Stretch your legs and feet daily. Some helpful tools to help include a 1/2 dome that you can pick up in the craft section of your local craft store or Walmart or even a rolled up towel. In fact, below find some great stretches you can do on your own to help support your soon to be healthy feet.

This one is great because it stretches your posterior legs as well as your feet. Thanks for the great pose Katy!

Check out this great video from Katy Bowman for some more great foot exercises!

2.)       Get out of your shoes for at least 2 hours every day. Just slip them off when you get home and do some of the foot exercises I showed you above.

3.)        Stretch your toes. Toe spacers are a cheap and effective way to get those muscles in their proper position and  in the proper length, but you can also get these great socks as well. 

4.)        Get walking! Increased movement helps keep your muscles working, your joints moving, and your blood pumping which can not only help you lose weight but also reinforce proper movement into your joints.

5.)        Pamper your feet. A foot soak can be relaxing and beneficial for stress relief and healthy bacterial growth (this can also prevent athelete's foot too). Moisturizing your feet can also help support good foot hygiene and can be as simple as putting some coconut oil on your tootsies before a pair of cotton socks.

So get moving and get your feet in shape for running season!!!

Your Body is Amazing!

Did you know that your body is amazing? There are millions of processes going on in your body right this second that you don't even have to think about and yet they are being performed each and every second of every day. 

For instance, right now the muscles of your chest and the small muscles between your ribs are contracting and expanding as you take a deep breath in without even thinking about it and your diaphragm ( a thin sheath of muscle) is moving upward and downward inside of your chest to help draw air in and push it out of your lungs for more efficient breathing. In the meantime the alveoli of your lungs are expanding to twice their normal size so that the millions of blood vessels that line them (about 1500 miles worth) can absorb enough oxygen to supply every cell in your body. WOW, right?

Let me wow you some more. Here's a few amazing facts about your body.
1) A block of bone the size of a matchbox can support 9 tons which is 4 times as much as concrete!
2) When you sleep you grow 8mm by nutrient and water absorption in the discs of your spine, but you shrink back down after gravity forces press that hydration back out of your discs in the morning.
3) The focusing muscles of your eye move 100,000 times a day, if you worked your legs that much you'd have walked 50 miles.
4) The human body puts off enough heat in 30 minutes to boil a half gallon of water.
5) Female ovaries contain half a million egg cells but only about 400 ever mature to be able to create new life.
6) Male testicles produce 10 million sperm cells each day, which is enough to repopulate the planet in 6 months.

So how does your body know how to do all those things? Innate intelligence, that's how! Your body has an innate intelligence that conducts every process in your body every second of the day and also knows how to react and adapt to the changing environment around you. That is what makes us amazing and why scientists all over the world spend their lives trying to understand the body and its complex processes every day!

Innate intelligence is the driving force behind your body's ability to regulate your body temperature, blood sugar, the amount of nutrients you need to absorb from your food, the amount of oxygen your muscles need to survive without dying, the speed of blood being circulated through your body depending on what you're doing at that moment, and even the amount of sleep you need each night. It's also the force that directs your bones how to remodel to support your weight and directs your skin how to heal after you get a paper cut.

Want to hear some more weird and amazing facts about that body? Click here.

Vitamin D Do-Daa!

Let's talk about the infamous sunshine vitamin, Vitamin D! Vitamin D is an important and powerful nutrient in our bodies. It's cool because not only can we get it from the foods we eat but our body can make it with adequate exposure to sunlight. WOW, right?
   
*Note: Sunlight must be in a specific wavelength range in order for our bodies to be able to use it to make    Vitamin D. This range occurs daily in the tropics, however only during the spring and summer months in most of the United States. So during the winter if you don't have a UV light to sit in front of, you must consume Vitamin D to get it in adequate amounts.

So where can you get Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat soluable vitamin, so most of the time it is found in certain fatty foods such as milk, fish, egg, beef liver, cod liver oil, and for vegans in irradiated mushrooms and yeast. There are also many products available in stores that have Vitamin D fortification such as milk or orange juice. However, there are also supplements on the market that come in a variety of amounts, flavors, and even forms. I personally think the D3 liquid drops are the easiest to use, but have heard that many people like the flavored forms as well.
Another way to get some (but not all of your daily intake) Vitamin D is from sunlight exposure, however during the winter months sun exposure isn't in the correct range for Vitamin D benefits. Most people only need 10-30 minutes of sun exposure 2-3 times per week for adequate sun exposure for Vitamin D benefits, however this is with skin exposure with NO sun screen. Alternately, UV lights can be used indoors during the winter months to get your daily intake. If you have a family history or increased risk of skin cancer, you should talk to your doctor first before using sunlight or UV lights as a Vitamin D method.

How much is enough? 
There is a lot of controversy on how much your daily value of Vitamin D should be, due to new research that is showing that Vitamin D has protective effects against cancer and other health conditions and in deficient amounts can exacerbate conditions such as obesity, glucose/insulin dysfunction, and even cause diabetes. The best way to determine if you are getting enough Vitamin D is to have your doctor do a serum blood test for 25- hydroxyvitamin D or 25(OH)D. Levels of 50 ng/mL or 125nmol/L or higher reveal beneficial effects, however current thresholds are outdated with levels at 30ng/mL being adequate. If the standard threshold was raised today, 90% of Americans would be Vitamin D deficient!

Currently the United States Institute of Health (by dietary intake only) recommends the values in the tables below, however many health care and nutritional advocates recommend double to triple that amount for real benefits. Generally speaking, Vitamin D intake needs to increase based on body mass and thus a better guideline might be obtained by using the daily maximum (Tolerable Upper Intake Levels) as an amount not to exceed for your age group. I usually recommend 1000 to 2000 IU/day for most of my patients, however you need to consult your doctor before beginning a regiment.

**The below values were obtained from the Institute of Health, but some medications can cause interactions so consult your doctor before taking any new supplements.

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Vitamin D 

Age	Male	Female	Pregnancy	Lactation
0–12 months*	400 IU (10 mcg)	400 IU (10 mcg)
1–13 years	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)
14–18 years	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)
19–50 years	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)
51–70 years	600 IU (15 mcg)	600 IU (15 mcg)
>70 years	800 IU (20 mcg)	800 IU (20 mcg)

* Adequate Intake (AI)

Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs) for Vitamin D 

Age	Male	Female	Pregnancy	Lactation
0–6 months	1,000 IU (25 mcg)	1,000 IU (25 mcg)
7–12 months	1,500 IU (38 mcg)	1,500 IU (38 mcg)
1–3 years	2,500 IU (63 mcg)	2,500 IU (63 mcg)
4–8 years	3,000 IU (75 mcg)	3,000 IU (75 mcg)
≥9 years	4,000 IU (100 mcg)	4,000 IU (100 mcg)	4,000 IU (100 mcg)	4,000 IU (100 mcg)

Why do I need Vitamin D?
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked with higher mortality rates, increased incidence of low bone mass and falls, immune system dysfunction, higher rates of multiple sclerosis, higher rates of certain cancers,  higher rates of vascular disease, higher rates of autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's Disease, and many other health conditions.
Vitamin D is responsible for calcium absorption from the intestine, maintenance of calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood, maintenance of bone health and bone cell support, adrenal function and health, cell function and differentiation, immune system support, and many other actions that aren't fully understood by scientists yet. As you can tell, Vitamin D is important to maintain your body's health and function but also to help prevent many health conditions and aging processes.