How Did I Get This “Muffi n Top”!
by Amanda M. Swan, APRN
arl and Cindy have always lived active lives. Married 30 years, they still enjoy biking and golfi ng, and they pride themselves in their healthy lifestyles. They eat a nutri- tious diet and their friends have always envied their fi t bodies and loads of energy. But recently, things have changed. Carl has had to loosen his favorite belt a notch. Cindy has noticed a little “muf- fi n top” when she puts on her best pair of jeans. Neither Carl nor Cindy has changed anything - they are just as active and healthy as they’ve always been. Sure, Carl has more stress at work and Cindy is quite sure she’s going through menopause, but what’s happening? Where’s the belly fat coming from, and more importantly - how can they make it disappear?
C Carl and Cindy’s stories probably sound familiar. Most Ameri-
cans have a little (or a lot) of extra weight they’d like to lose, and much of it lies around our middles. Belly-fat busting fad diets and cleanses are everywhere. For some, poor diet and lack of exercise contribute to added pounds in the belly and beyond, but something else plays a major role in our expanding waistlines - our hormones. Hormones? Most people think of things like sex drive, puberty, mood swings, and pregnancy when they hear the word hormones. But as we’ll review here, our hormones have many other roles, and mastering them may be a key to staying slim and healthy.
Types of Fat
Belly fat comes in two fl avors, so to speak. The fi rst is subcuta- neous fat, the stuff you can pinch between your fi ngers along your waistline - often a dreaded consequence of poor lifestyle choices. Most people abhor this added layer of chub because it is physically unattractive, but the danger of belly fat goes much deeper than surface level. Often times, expanding waistlines are due to a second type of belly fat as well - visceral fat. This fat lies deep in our ab- dominal cavities, hugging many of our vital organs such as our liver, intestines, pancreas, and stomach. Visceral fat is even more danger- ous than subcutaneous fat because of its proximity to our organs and its ability to communicate with the rest of our body, typically in detrimental ways.
Visceral fat has a life of its own and acts like an angry, trouble- making organ in our bodies. Visceral fat cells, also called adi- pocytes, release chemical messengers called adipokines which contribute to chronic systemic infl ammation that can lead to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Studies have also linked visceral fat to an increased risk for dementia. Leptin, of- ten called the “satiety hormone”, is a hormone released by fat cells which tells our brains when we are full. Sounds like a good hor- mone to have around, right? Well, it is - until we produce so much of it that our brain turns off its ability to hear leptin’s message and we become leptin resistant. We no longer know when we are truly full, so we keep eating and
eating...and eating. Having excess vis-
24 Natural Nutmeg - January 2016
ceral fat increases the risk of leptin resistance, and leptin resistance increases the chance that you’ll overeat and gain more weight. This creates a vicious cycle which can be diffi cult to halt.
What Causes the Accumulation of Belly Fat? It should come as no surprise that making poor food choices contributes to fat everywhere, including within our abdominal cav- ity. But our hormones have a big role to play and their contribution can’t be overlooked when we are planning strategies to eliminate this dangerous extra layer.
Let’s go back to Carl and Cindy to examine how hormonal
havoc can pack on the pounds. We’ll start with Carl. He is active and eats a diet which is high in vegetables and lean animal proteins. He rarely drinks alcohol. But what we don’t know at fi rst glance is that his stress levels have recently topped the charts due to downsiz- ing at work and his fears of being laid off. He lays awake in bed at night worrying about what might happen if he loses his job. He’s averaging about 5 hours of sleep at night, much of it interrupted.
Carl’s crazy stress load and lack of sleep are cranking up his cortisol - his internal stress hormone. Cortisol is a crucial hormone made by our adrenal glands which serves many important functions in our bodies. A certain amount of stress is important for survival - it mobilizes us to avoid dangerous situations. Cortisol is what helps our bodies physically adapt to stress. When our ancestors in prehistoric times were in danger, like when faced by an approach- ing predator, a surge of cortisol would tell their bodies to get ready to either fi ght or fl ee (hence the term “fi ght or fl ight” response). Cortisol causes a rush of glucose into the bloodstream to use as fuel and raises blood pressure and heart rate - all important physiologic responses when running fast or fi ghting hard. Once danger has passed, cortisol levels return to normal, and bodily functions follow.
Our lives today, thankfully, do not include protecting our families from wild animals. But our bodies have not changed much when it comes to how we react to stress. The difference is the type and duration of stress we endure, and that’s where the trouble lies. The chronic stress we are under on a day-to-day basis (relationship struggles, fi nancial woes, concern about our children, workplace anxiety) contributes to chronic cortisol release. And with that comes excess glucose dumped into the bloodstream, the risk for insulin resistance, and subsequent weight gain. Studies have shown that vis- ceral fat cells have four times the receptors for cortisol than subcu- taneous fat cells, indicating a close relationship between stress and visceral fat. Further, the enzyme needed to turn inactive cortisol into active cortisol is found in much higher quantities in visceral fat com- pared to subcutaneous fat. High cortisol levels have been shown to trigger cravings for foods high in fat and sugar. So cortisol pours the gasoline and visceral fat cells light the match.
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