There is currently a huge awakening in the ‘weight loss world’ around the idea that your hormonal state has FAR MORE pull on your weight and health than the food that you eat.

All I can say is, finally!  Someone is making some sense. For anyone who has ever worked with me, I am sure you already know this is always my first step for anything- soothing the proverbial beast.  

I always work from the framework of ‘if In doubt, take it back to the way nature intended’… and as a slight nuance on this, ‘if you want to find answers, look back to our most natural state’.  

Today I wanted to take a minute to unpack the reasons I always start with regulating cortisol- both for weightloss, metabolic health, immunity, and hormone balance (And please remember that literally every other disease or health concern is usually a spin-off of one or more of these things) 

Cortisol is our stress hormone. It is produced by our adrenal glands to wake us up, but when we are confronted with an emergency or perceived threat, our body increases its normal cortisol production in an effort to upregulate our response – fight, flight, freeze or fawn.  

Whilst it gets a lot of bad press, Cortisol is actually our biggest ally, and is capable of making us ‘numb’ to something like a severed limb, for long enough for us to get the hell away from the danger.  

mModern society has its definite perks and conveniences, but it has also pulled us away from the majority our natural-living cycles. Instead of living at a much slower pace with the odd ‘life or death’ situation, the majority of are living a fast-paced, convenience-based existence, which is 100% responsible for overstimulating our cortisol production.  

Constant artificial light, poor sleep routines, screentime, caffeine, social and work related stress, medications, and poor food choices, all have a huge impact on our adrenal hormones. 

So how does this factor in to weightloss? I hear you ask???  

Well.. because, in women in particular, when cortisol is in constantly upregulated, it prevents other hormones from being able to bind to receptors or act on or inside cells. Cortisol prevents things like your thyroid hormone from forming properly, so there goes normal metabolic function.  

Cortisol also re-routes our body to begin to lay down more fat in our abdominal area- this is to protect our reproductive organs and prepare for a potential famine. (Again, this is a perfect system that evolved from thousands of years of the need for the survival of mothers and their babies.  It is only a hinderance due to modern day lifestyle).  

The typical cortisol lady carries weight around her belly button. By the way, this is usually more obvious in your peri or post menopausal gals!  

In order to regain control over your weight, you need to start by reducing cortisol. Full stop. It is most definitely one of the catalysts either toward or away from a regulated, happy body.  

The Natural Body Method literally circumnavigates around this concept, which is why so many women have had long term health breakthroughs after following the concepts. The body speaks for itself, you just need to learn how to read her cues.