Chapter 2: How Growth Hormone Keeps You Lean
If you’re like me, and I think a lot of women are, you would love to be told the one thing that could make weight loss easy, apply that one thing, and move on, never to look back. Who wouldn’t? When it comes to hormones, however, sometimes it just all seems complicated and frustrating. So, I’m really hoping Dr. Gottfried can shed some light on these crazy hormones and give me some real advice.
Come to find out, (as if I didn’t know this already, when I was dripping sweat, speaking to my class tonight) apparently, “hormones influence just about everything: Mood, behavior, muscle mass, energy and metabolism.” (pp44) No kidding! And I would add to that, hormones can affect quality of life especially for those women like me who are suffering from hot flashes that leave me drenched in sweat.
The first hormone, Dr. Gottfried addresses is the growth hormone. As she puts it, growth hormone “plays a key role in building muscle and keeping bones strong, while simultaneously breaking down fat. And it’s central to weight loss (pp45-46)
Dr. Sara believes that for some women the growth hormone switch gets stuck in the store fat position because the body perceives too much stress due to deadlines, restricted calories or other famine signals, overexercise, insufficient sleep, or toxins.
Some symptoms of low growth hormone that are mentioned are: reduced lean body mass, increased abdominal obesity, increased insulin resistance, decreased muscle mass, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, anxiety and depression, fibromyalgia and decreased bone density.
To fix the growth hormone deficit, Sara recommends first, eating healthy protein especially grass-fed beef, SMASH Fish (and acronym for salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring), whey protein shakes, and pastured eggs and chicken. Second, eating Omega 3’s which she says have been shown to raise growth hormone in animal studies. Third, Fast…but do it in a 14/10 window. No extreme fasting. Fourth, Exercise raises growth hormone and the more strenuous the greater the effect. One example would be HIIT exercises. Fifth, use sauna. Sixth, put down wine and other alcoholic beverages which is like liquid sugar. It goes directly to the liver and is converted into fat. Seventh, Consider Supplements like Vitamin D and Creatine.
Personally, I don’t find myself relating all that much to the growth hormone deficit symptoms. I already eat the way that Dr. Sara recommends in her list of ways to fix the growth hormone deficit. That way of eating is good whether you need to fix hormones or not. If you’re reading this blog and you aren’t eating this way, it would be a good idea to start no matter what your symptoms. In addition, I’m adding in and focusing on many liver cleansing and detoxifying foods this month such as cruciferous vegetables. Here’s what I ate today:
Detox Cabbage Soup – Lunch
Detox Salad – Supper
Eggs – Snack
Fresh dandelion and fennel juice
Clean Protein Bar
For Exercise, I ran 3 miles and lifted for 30 minutes.
Deep Roots Wellness 