Dr. Alison shares how to naturally reduce belly fat without crazy diets or pills. What you need to know about your hormones, health, and blood sugar and how that affects the way you carry weight.
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Are you tired of dealing with fat around your belly? Today we are going to talk about why you might be carrying weight there and how to help your body feel its best!
I am hosting a free class on how to lose belly fat with nutrition and essential oils this month, you can join us in our Facebook group on October 19th live, and the class will be recorded, just follow the link in the description.
I was working with a woman, she was 55 at the time, post-menopausal, and found that each year she was gaining more weight and it was staying around her midsection. Her pants couldn’t button anymore, she was embarrassed, and no exercise routine was helping. She had tried keto and fasting but that wasn’t working either. After we did her blood work and consultation, we found that she was struggling with adrenal fatigue, which honestly, I hate to use that term but that is what she was going through, hormone imbalances, and pre-diabetes. It took a few weeks, but once we got her blood sugar balanced throughout the day, her hormones working correctly, meaning good bye menopause symptoms, her body started to release the weight.
1 What is belly fat: it is the fat that accumulates under your skin, around your organs, and can also be dangerous to your health. It is linked to increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and lung issues.
2 Women are more complicated and hold onto weight in their midsection for more reasons. This includes:
– Scar tissue from c-sections, abdominal surgery, endometriosis and gut issues like Crohns.
– Hormone issues: high levels of cortisol will cause the body to hold onto more belly and visceral weight. Stress, trauma, insomnia, and overexertion are the most common causes. Especially if you find that working out increases your belly circumference.
– Female hormone issues: When we go through menopause, the ovaries stop making hormones and the adrenals take over, meaning they have to do even more work. Adrenal fatigue, meaning the adrenals just can’t keep up with the work, means that cortisol will be disrupted, as well as estrogen and progesterone. This causes a lot of weight gain during menopause because the body doesn’t have the right levels of hormones.
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3 The main keys for focusing on reducing belly fat include
– Supporting hormones – making sure your adrenals are happy, ovaries are happy, get a blood test or saliva test and see where your levels are now.
– Reducing stress and getting more sleep and meditating.
– Stop overtraining or overexerting yourself. This includes work, exercising, and home life.
– Cut out alcohol and cigarettes – both of these are a sugar bomb in your body.
– Most likely you will benefit from a keto style eating with higher fat and lower carbs, I like to see people under 40g of carbs on this style of eating as they are changing their physiology. This might not mean that you have to do the diet forever, but just enough that your body reduces fat, improves your health, and reduces your risk of serious disease.
– Mild exercise is great, walking, weight lifting, something that gets your body moving for more than 20 minutes/day.
– My favorite supplements and herbal support include: berberine, cinnamon, and gymnema for blood sugar support. Adaptogens like rhodiola, ashwaghanda and omegas for adrenal support. And Essential oils like lavender, rosemary, and copaiba for reducing stress, balancing the adrenals, and supporting sleep.
– As a warning: there are no teas, drinks, or miracle cures that will ‘melt’ away belly fat. It is about being consistent every day with your food, nutrition, and caring for your body.
4 Belly fat in men is linked to alcohol intake, fatty liver disease, diabetes, and andropause. For men, it is much simpler to lose weight in the midsection. Your best strategies are going to be reducing your carbohydrate intake to under 100grams per day, no alcohol or smoking, and walking and weight lifting. Weight lifting will also increase testosterone and improve your overall health.
There are a lot of reasons why your body may be hanging on to belly weight and it is important to figure out why it is happening before you jump into any diet or nutritional protocol. You might focus on cutting calories, but the whole time you have a thyroid issue or diabetes. You can schedule a free health assessment call with me online so we can discuss how you are feeling, what your goals are and brainstorm on the best way to help you. And make sure to join us for the Reducing Belly Fat Class in a few weeks or catch the recording. And as always like and subscribe so you can stay tuned to all of my weekly podcasts!
