Women Over 40 - Can A Hormone Make You Fat?



Posted: Sunday, April 05, 2009

by Perry Permann
Lose Weight Permanently

Women over 40 go through a lot of hormone changes. If you are a woman over 40 and you want to lose weight permanently, an important hormone to look at is insulin. Insulin has a large effect on if you are able to lose weight permanently- and might make you fat instead. And that's the reason for this serious situation:

Insulin is released by the pancreas- an organ playing a major role in digestion and governing blood sugar. There are numerous hormones increasing your blood sugar, including glucagon, adrenalin and growth hormones. High blood sugar (hyperglycemia) is associated to health hazards, such as diabetes. So all of these hormones are capable to increase your blood sugar level what is not good for you.

But: There is just one hormone assisting you to decrease blood sugar, and that's insulin. So insulin is extremely important to balance your blood sugar level because it reduces your blood sugar.

By digesting food, peculiarly sugary and starchy food, your body produces sugar. This sugar goes directly into your blood. The cells of your body need this sugar to produce energy from it and to function. Insuline facilitates this process: Sugar goes from the blood into the cells where it can be burned.

Insulin has more tasks to do. It helps to get fatty acids from the blood into the fat cells where they are stored. In addition, it prevents burning fat. So, insulin is a major player in the old orchestra of players raising fat storage- very useful for our ancestors who were threatened by starving all the time, but inducing too much fat on our bodies today.

If your insulin level is too high, you are facing severe health risks: diabetes, fat metabolism disorders, heart attacks, strokes. And: you'll gain belly fat and have a high chance to being overweight.

The hormone system in women over 40 can get out of balance much easier than in women of younger age. You need to pay attention to your insulin level if you are a woman over 40. There are two major errors in nutrition contributing to a high insulin level:

  1. High glycemic index (GI). The insulin level rises higher and quicker if digested sugar can enter the blood fast. The gycemic index (GI) measures how easy sugar from digestion enters the blood. Some common foods with a high GI are most sweets, white bread, cakes or sweet fruits. In general, the more refined a food is, the higher it's GI is. Stay away from anything containing corn syrup, or containing ingredients ending in  -ose - especially fructose.
  2. Eating artificial sweeteners fools your brain into thinking  sugar has entered the blood stream. The pancreas secretes insulin, what will prevent burning fat. Diet sodas can not contribute to losing weight permanently because of this effect.
If you eat too much fat and have a high insulin level, the fat goes right into fat cells- what you want to avoid to lose weight permanently over 40. Are you a woman over 40? I've created a free, personalized program for women over 40 who want to lose weight permanently. How would you like to get excellent, lasting weight loss results- be attractive, healthy, energetic, youthful? This program adjusts to your specific situation and keeps you motivated while you enjoy healthy eating and exercise.
Sign up for your free, personalized "Lose Weight Permanently" program at http://www.loseweightpermanently.com/ForWomenOver40

Perry Permann

You can read another article from Perry at Woman Over 40? Lose Belly Fat Now - The Health and Beauty Hazard  

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