By Lisa Marshall | Photo by Joe Lavine THE balance
Make wise food choices to reset your metabolism and lose weight
Y
ou know the drill: Eat less. Exercise more. Lose weight. For decades, this simple equation
has been the cornerstone of most weight loss plans. But for the 60 million Americans considered obese, and with four out of five dieters relapsing within a year, that calories-in-calories-out formula doesn’t seem to add up. Some experts are rethinking traditional rules and focusing on another weight loss factor: imbalanced hormones. “Te conventional wisdom has been that
there are no good foods or bad foods—that counting calories and eating everything in moderation is the answer. Tat’s a myth,” says Frank Hu, MD, PhD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health. “Food can heavily influence the hormones and biological pathways that influence hunger, satiety, and fat accumulation, so you have to make wise choices.” Toronto-based naturopath Natasha Turner,
ND, author of Te Hormone Diet (Rodale, 2009), explains that in a person with a healthy metabolism, hormones work in a complex symphony to assure you get enough to eat and use the fuel efficiently. Te hormone ghrelin tells the brain that you’re hungry; its alter-ego leptin alerts you to put the fork down. When you eat carbohydrates, insulin floods the bloodstream, ushering glucose into muscle cells for fuel and locking any extra glucose into fat cells for later use. When you’re stressed, cortisol temporarily ignites a survival response, prompting you to crave high-calorie foods. Tyroid hormones influence your metabolism and how much energy you have, testosterone builds muscle, and glucagon burns fat. ➻
january 2012 | deliciousliving 37
hormone plan
FOOD STYLIST, BETH HAWKINS; STYLIST, JAMIE BARKLEY
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