Did you know that if you want to get rid of belly fat, the place to start is with stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, exercise and deep breathing…and not dieting?

As cited by http://www.elite-wellness-coaching.com/cortisol-belly-fat.html:

Cortisol is a stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. It is very useful in the short term when you need to respond to a life-threatening situation. But long-term high levels of cortisol have these negative effects on your body:

• sluggish immune system
• high blood pressure
• insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes
• fatigue
• headaches
• increase in belly fat

What is the connection between cortisol and belly fat?

Fat in the abdominal area has a greater blood supply as well as more receptors for cortisol. When you are under constant stress, the amount of cortisol you produce remains elevated. With constant stress and, consequently, high cortisol levels, more fat is deposited in the abdominal area since there are more cortisol receptors located there.

This belly or abdominal fat is what researchers call “central obesity.” Central obesity has long been associated with higher rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and several types of cancer.

An interesting phenomenon is that dieting or even just thinking about dieting can elevate your cortisol levels. RealAge in their recent post, “Flatten Your Belly with This Eating Habit,” cited a new study in which the tension levels of 121 female dieters were tracked for three weeks. Those who followed a strict low-cal eating plan — consisting of prepackaged meals totaling 1,200 calories a day — experienced a significant rise in their levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Researchers also discovered that the women who kept super-detailed food diaries felt far more stressed than the people who were inclined to wing it. “So while it’s good to think about what you’re putting in your mouth, don’t obsess about it. Watch portion sizes, choose healthy foods, be aware of how many times you visit the snack cupboard, but don’t make things too difficult.”

How to shave off belly fat? The most effective technique is to get plenty of rest and engage in whatever activities work for you to decrease your everyday stress.

Want to hear some good news? You yourself can do most of what is necessary to recover and regain your adrenal health.

Per Dr. Wilson in Adrenal Fatigue:

“Healing from adrenal fatigue requires a combination of things: first and foremost, your recovery depends upon your lifestyle. How you spend your energy, how you conserve your energy, and how you create energy are all extremely important.

Your recovery is also contingent on what you eat and drink, as well as on the thoughts you feed your mind and the beliefs you base your life on.”

Want to restore your adrenal health and feel good again? Watch what you feed your body and your mind.

A friend recently introduced me to a great book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy. Knowing I want the information right now, but not having time to read the book, I ordered the CD by the same title.

The CD is an abridged version, but does it ever pack a punch. I can’t imagine what could be missing. If we only followed the instructions on the CD, what a wonderful life we would live. So far, I have listened to the CD, start to finish, three times – on my way to thirty-three. Time to build new pathways in the brain.

Joseph Murphy’s work is an exquisite piece detailing the miracle working power of your subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind never takes a break. It never goes to sleep. It stays alert working for you 24/7. It works on what you feed it. No thought goes unnoticed by your subconscious mind. There is no job too big or too small for your subconscious mind.

One of the very smartest things you can do for your health is to follow Grandma’s instruction. . . “Mind your mind.”

Why not eavesdrop and see what food you are serving your subconscious mind?

As Joseph Murphy states, “This book is designed to teach you that your habitual thinking and imagery mold, fashion, and create your destiny. For as a person thinketh in his subconscious mind, so is he.”

Yesterday I referenced Dr. Wilson’s twenty-eight “Do These Things,” p. 225 in Adrenal Fatigue. See

http://rosiebrownrn.com/twelve-steps-to-simplify-your-life/.

Does that count on the day Apple releases the new 4g iPhone?

#1: Be in bed before 10:00 PM, and #2: Sleep in until 9:00 AM whenever possible. People started lining up outside the ATT store at 6:00 pm the evening prior to the 7:00 am release. Does that count?

#3: Look for things that make you laugh, and #4: Eliminate the energy robbers (things in your life that drain your energy).  Which one does this count for: The kid in the stroller who has thrown that infernal rubber ball at me 100 times?

#5: Make your lifestyle a healing one. Breathe deep, oxygenating the far corners of the lungs. In a few hours, I’ll never see that kid in the stroller again.

#6: Do something pleasurable every day. I will, just as soon as I get my hands on that new phone.

#7: Whenever you are not enjoying your life, go back to the “Three Things You Can Do” section and take action: There are three things that you can do when you are in a difficult situation.

1) You can change the situation. (Short of a bulldozer, there’s no way to move these 100 people in front of me.)

2)      You can change yourself to fit (adapt to) the situation. (Grateful now I brought that book!)

3) You can leave the situation. (Are you kidding? I have been here for hours. I’m not leaving now!)

#8: Notice at least one small, everyday thing that you are grateful for each day. At least it’s not raining.

#9 Take your dietary supplements daily. Supplements? Forget the supplements. Where’s a bathroom? Why did I drink that big cup of coffee on the way here?

#10: Move your body and breathe deeply. See #5. PS, if I turn slightly, maybe the guy behind me will get the kid’s rubber ball.

#11: Believe in your ability to recover. I just know they won’t run out of phones. . .and this will all have been worth it.

#12: Use your mind as a powerful healing tool. Why have I had to start my positive affirmations over 47 times?

#13: Keep a journal – jot down your experiences each day. Not today. I just want to forget this experience.

#14: Eat the food your body needs. Why didn’t I think about packing a lunch?

#15: Learn which foods make you feel bad (keep a list of them). There is no such thing as a bad food when you’re starving.

#16: Re-read this book as often as you need. Apple, why have you caused me to stress my adrenals so? I don’t have time to re-read.

#17: Try having a glass of water in the morning containing ½ to 1 tsp of salt stirred in until dissolved. #18: Salt your food; salt your water. #19: If you are to have fruit, have something with salt before or after the fruit and chew very well. #20: Combine starchy carbohydrates, protein and fats at every meal. #21: Eat an abundance of whole food – those foods which are eaten like nature grows them. #22: Eat lots of colored foods. #23: Chew your food well. What part of “No food on the premises” do you not understand?

#24: Take the power and responsibility of your health into your own hands. If that guy behind me doesn’t shut up, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

#25: Make whatever lifestyle changes you need to make to regain your health. #26: Laugh several times per day. If I start laughing hysterically, you think the guy behind me will shut up?

#27: Enjoy your recovery. Oh my gosh, I am finally at the counter, and there is still one phone left for me. Where did I put my car keys?

#28: Take 1,000 mg. of Vitamin C complex with 200 mg. magnesium and pantothenic acid at approximately 2:00 PM every day along with a small snack in order to help avoid the 3:00 – 4:00 PM low. I’ll promise to consume darn near anything if they’d only get these phones turned on!

Apple, just kidding!  We love you! You are making our lives so much more enjoyable. Keep up the good work!

“Do You Have Adrenal Fatigue?” jumps out at you in bright bold yellow letters on the back of Dr. James Wilson’s book, Adrenal Fatigue.

Here are the bullet points that follow beneath it:

• Tired for “no reason”?
• Having trouble getting up in the morning?
• Need coffee or colas to keep you going?
• Feeling run down and stressed?
• Crave salty or sweet snacks?
• Struggling to keep up with life’s daily demands?
• Can’t bounce back from stress or illness?
• Not having fun anymore?
• Decreased sex drive?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you need this book!

Here it is, Monday once again. How did you do with the questions?

It has been a while since I read the book. I flipped through my tabbed pages. On p. 228 there is a bullet point listing of twenty-eight “Do These Things.” I was intrigued by the bullet that said, “Whenever you are not enjoying your life, go back to the “Three Things You Can Do” section and take action.”

Well, now I was on a mission to scout out that section. There it is, on p. 108:

The most valuable thing I learned in Psychology 101 is that there are three things that you can do when you are in a difficult situation.

1) You can change the situation.

2) You can change yourself to fit (adapt to) the situation.

3) You can leave the situation

An important preliminary step to healing your adrenals is to take a close look at your life with the purpose of identifying what is draining you and to pinpoint which factors worsen the problem and which relieve it.

I cannot emphasize enough how important your decision to act is.

Remember that stresses are additive and cumulative. Removing or neutralizing your largest source of stress will make a very significant difference to your adrenal glands and to your health and well being. Most of the time, if you take care of the big ones, the smaller ones will take care of themselves.

Would it be helpful to clear out some stress from your life so that you can begin to focus on the “big ones”? The following list that I received from a friend last evening may be of help:

TWELVE STEPS TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE by Dr. Wayne Dyer

1. Unclutter your life
2. Clear your calendar of unnecessary activities.
3. Keep your free time free.
4. Take time to meditate.
5. Return to the simplicity of nature.
6. Put some distance between you and your critics.
7. Take some time for your health.
8. PLAY.
9. Slow down.
10. Remove debt from your life.
11. Don’t worry about how much it costs.
12. Remember your spirit.

It’s the beginning of the week. What one or two steps might you take this week to help relieve some stress and simplify your life?

“This stress is killing me.” Actually, when you review the devastating effects of elevated cortisol, you realize that this statement is the absolute truth.

After you review page after page, book after book, of recommendations for supplements to take and supplements to avoid, why not just cut to the chase and simplify the whole thing?

Just do what Grandma said to do in the first place:

1)      Eat right

2)      Sleep

3)      Exercise

The problem is, when faced with stress, we do the exact opposite of what we should do. We grab fast food and nibble on junk non-food. Our cortisol rises, making us crave sweet and salty things. We stay up working late /we get up early and, consequently, suffer from fatigue and insomnia. Then of course we are too busy or too tired to carve out time to exercise.

Maybe it’s best to listen to what Napoleon Hill had to say. . . “Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you’re ready or not, to put it into action.”

Ready or not, here we come. If you want to get a handle on that elevated cortisol, start today to put a plan in place to 1) get enough sleep, 2) eat right, and 3) exercise.

Dr. Talbott in The Cortisol Connection gives the following advice:

For the vast majority of people, these three simple steps will provide the biggest bang for the time they are prepared to devote to the specific practice of stress management (which is not a great deal of time).

1) Avoid stress

2) Manage stress

3) Get enough sleep

Avoid stress: the most effective technique is to avoid as many stressful situations as you can in the first place. If you do not have exposure, you do not have to deal with the ramifications of the stressful situation. What situations, people, circumstances can you let go of? Starting today. Starting within the next hour.

Manage stress: There are almost as many ways to deal with stress as there are things that cause stress. Managing stress is a very individualized concept. What reduces stress for one person might cause stress in another. What do you like to do? What gives you pleasure? What activities can you get lost in?

Get enough sleep: getting eight hours of uninterrupted sleep at night is one of the very best things you can do to keep stress, elevated cortisol, and illness at bay. What can you do, starting tonight, to get to bed earlier? What relaxing activity sounds fun to do just before bedtime? What thoughts can you fill your head with? What is on your list to be grateful for on this day?

Create a plan of action that goes back to the basics. . . and that evil villain stress won’t stand a chance. Isn’t it about time to put an end to it before it kills you?

Go ahead, create a plan today, whether you’re ready or not.

What do you think about this statement?

“What you may not know is that as little as a night or two of good, sound, restful sleep may do more for controlling your cortisol levels and reducing your long-term risk for many chronic diseases than a whole lifetime of stress-management classes.”

In yesterday’s article, http://rosiebrownrn.com/the-cortisol-connection/, I cited the SENSE method outlined by Dr. Talbott in The Cortisol Connection. But before digging deeper into the SENSE program, the strong comments the author makes about the importance of a good night’s sleep stops me in my tracks.

Dr. Talbott stresses that sleep is one of the most effective ways to “manage” stress. Well, if that is the most effective method, why not start there?

The research clearly shows than an inadequate quality or quantity of sleep results in elevated cortisol levels, but here’s the really bad news: High cortisol in turn limits your ability to fall asleep and high cortisol limits the amount of time that your mind spends in the most restful stages of deep sleep.

A double whammy.

You would think if you are exhausted from chronic insomnia that you would fall asleep and stay asleep. Not so. High levels of cortisol prevent that from happening.

Here’s another scenario. Can you relate?

I have a friend who likes to call late in the evening and discuss all the woes of the world. It would take a jackhammer to interrupt this person’s flow of doom and gloom. But, ohhh. . .when I read the following information, I want to run, not walk, to the yellow pages to rent a jackhammer:

“Cortisol levels are elevated in response to stress – so any stressful events encountered in the late afternoon to early evening will hamper a person’s ability to relax and fall asleep that night.

If you’ll recall, one of the many effects of cortisol is to increase a person’s level of alertness – which is exactly what you want to avoid right before bedtime.”

Next time that person calls, I think I will borrow my son Aaron’s vernacular: “Keep it cute and keep it moving.”

In fact, I probably will need to add that action step to my previously published list of insomnia remedies. See http://rosiebrownrn.com/how-to-feel-better/ and http://rosiebrownrn.com/how-to-feel-better-continued/

The research is pretty unanimous: obtain 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night – not 4, 5, 6, or 7 as you may have grown accustomed.

You may think you are pulling a fast one on your body, but your body knows differently. You may see some obvious signs of inadequate rest, such as fatigue and lack of ability to concentrate. However, the greater damage might be told if you were to look at your body organs to see the effects of the high cortisol, paving the way for a life of chronic illness.

Insomnia? You are out of here. We’re keeping it cute and keeping it moving.

Got Stress? Of course you do! That’s strike one.

How about sleep – do you get at least eight solid hours of restful sleep every night? No? Strike two.

What about your diet – are you among the millions of people who are actively dieting or concerned about what you eat? Yes? Strike three.

With three strikes, you are hereby officially welcomed as a card-carrying member of the Cortisol Club – and it’s killing you.

And this is how the book The Cortisol Connection by Shawn Talbott, Ph.D. starts out.

Yesterday’s article (see http://rosiebrownrn.com/high-morning-cortisol/) addressed the reasons behind high morning cortisol.

The body’s stress response was built in to protect us when we need to flee from the danger. The problem is, many forms of modern stress that we experience on a daily basis, such as jobs, kids, traffic, bills, etc., cause the very same elevation in our cortisol levels.

“As a result, these chronic stressors cause our cortisol levels to stay high and lead us down the road to poor health.”

According to Dr. Talbott, chronically elevated cortisol takes a toll on our body:

• Makes us fat
• Thins our bones
• Shrinks our brains (contributes to Alzheimer’s Disease)
• Suppresses our immune system
• Saps our energy levels
• Kills our sex drive

The good news is that you can do something about it. The Cortisol Connection outlines a program for controlling cortisol levels – called the SENSE program:

Stress Management

Exercise

Nutrition

Supplements

Evaluation

Stay tuned for upcoming information on how you can make the SENSE program work for you.

What do you do when you just received your results back from the lab, and your morning cortisol is elevated? The explanation on the ZRT Laboratory report read as follows:

“Morning cortisol is high, but levels drop to normal the remainder of the day. The high morning cortisol seen in these test results may indicate a situational stressor (emotional, physical) or low blood sugar level (hypoglycemia), which often occurs in the morning after overnight fasting.

Acute situational stressors (e.g., anxiety over unresolved situations, travel, work-related problems, wedding, holiday season, etc.) can raise cortisol levels, which is a normal response to the stressor.

Symptoms commonly associated with high cortisol include sugar craving, fatigue, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression.

If cortisol remains elevated throughout the day (usually associated with high night cortisol) and over a prolonged period of time (months/years), excessive breakdown of normal tissues (muscle wasting, thinning of skin, bone loss) and immune suppression can eventually result.

For additional information about strategies for supporting adrenal health and reducing stress(ors), the following books are worth reading: Adrenal Fatigue by James L. Wilson, N.D., D.C., Ph.D.; The Cortisol Connection by Shawn Talbott, Ph.D.; The End of Stress As We Know It by Bruce McEwen; and Awakening Athena by Kenna Stephenson. M.D.”

Who today cannot relate to “Acute situational stressors (e.g., anxiety over unresolved situations, travel, work-related problems, wedding, holiday season, etc.)”?

Perhaps a series of articles summarizing strategies to support adrenal health and decrease stressors would be of benefit. If you have any tips to share, please feel free to do so. Together we can help each other!

Today (so that I preserve my own adrenals in the throws of all my book release deadlines <grin>), I’d like to spotlight a web site that addresses adrenal health. The author, Rosanna Commisso, made me aware of her site in response to one of my blog articles – http://www.chiyolife.com.au.

 From personal experience, Rosanna states:

“If you, like me, have been diagnosed with severe adrenal fatigue, you need to really start taking care of yourself and become aware of every decision you make.

Everything you do affects your adrenal health and, therefore, your overall health in either a positive or negative way so it’s important to know what impact your lifestyle is having on your health.”

 According to Rosanna, the most important things affecting your adrenal health are:

•  The amount and quality of sleep that you get
• The food that you eat
• The physical activities that you participate in
• The amount of stress – both positive and negative in your life

Rosanna developed an Adrenal Care Daily Checklist and Diary to help keep her on track…“As it is so easy when you are having a good day to forget that you have a serious health condition and to go back to your normal way of living which unfortunately means that when you relapse you will feel worse than ever before.”

Rosanna uses her Adrenal Care Daily Checklist and Diary to remind herself what she needs to do each day to take care of her adrenals.

“It also allows you to record what you have and haven’t done and then rate your overall well-being based on your behavior. By keeping track of what you do on a daily basis and rating your overall energy,  you can pinpoint what factors affect your adrenal health the most.”

 In summary, her diary “ helps give you a picture of what is happening with your adrenal health and how the choices you make regarding food, exercise and sleep affect you.”

Over and over we hear the same message: sleep, food, exercise, and stress. At the end of the day, it is those four basic factors that make such a huge impact on our health.

Thank you, Rosanna for sharing your site and your information with us!  :  )

It was exciting to watch Peyton Manning at the Colts’ game yesterday, but Peyton gave the lingering crowd an added bonus as he walked off the field at the game’s end.

Peyton was the last player to leave the field. A crowd had gathered on the bleachers near the exit off the field. As Peyton looked up to the crowd, he waved his hand, his face radiating sincere appreciation and warmth for his lingering fans.

Suddenly a young boy somehow broke out of the stands and ran onto the field to encircle his small arms around Peyton’s leg. Peyton reached down, tossled his hair, and hugged him back. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Peyton must have caught a glimpse of someone (probably his stunned mother or father) trying to snap a quick picture.  

Peyton paused to pose. Picture taken, Peyton’s eye caught something else, and the next thing we saw was Peyton motioning as if to say, “Come on, quickly. It’s OK.” Now another little boy ran to Peyton to hug his other leg, and Peyton patiently posed with the two boys while another camera flash ensued. Then, with a turn, he exited the field.

As we ascended the stairs to exit Lucas Oil Stadium, I’m pretty certain we weren’t the only ones commenting about Peyton’s kindness to those two little boys, or the genuine glowing warmth that radiated from his eyes as he acknowledged the crowd. Every single person seemed to be engaged in a similar discussion. We had just received an important lesson about gratitude and kindness.

Grandma used to say, “What goes around, comes around.” The sincerity and kindness expressed to the crowd and those two little boys makes it easy to understand why his fans love him and support him. Gratitude and kindness extended to others is surely to find its way back to the sender.

Research has demonstrated that when someone merely witnesses a kindness extended to another person, the observer equally benefits physiologically. In that one minute of Peyton’s kindness, the benefits rippled out to every single person in the crowd.

Kindness has a way of melting away stress, slowing the breathing, relaxing the body…and the adrenals get a breath of fresh air.

When you find yourself stressed, two wonderful techniques for adrenal health include:

1)      Stop what you are doing. Make yourself pause and express gratitude for the situation you find yourself in, or for other parts of your life for which you are most grateful.

2)      Stop what you are doing. Take a quick break to do something nice for someone else. Make a phone call, send an email, or just walk around to someone’s cubicle and say something nice.

Gratitude and kindness are two tools for adrenal health that have a reciprocal benefit to the sender as well as the receiver. Thanks, Peyton, for reminding us of that lesson.