Top Three Foods That Increase Cortisol Levels
Hey there welcome to A Healthy Conversation where John and I talk about the stuff we talk about all the time, and that’s health. Whether it’s for one another or whether it’s for the people we serve, our family. And he used to be the one that really dug into the health information and I was more the one that dug into weight loss and fitness, and anti-aging and just self-improvement all together. Now we’re both finding ourselves constantly digging more into the physical health aspect of things.
So to recap, a couple of weeks ago we talked about a way to lose 20 pounds in 30 day, and how it is centered around a ketogenic way of eating you won’t be hungry when you lose that weight. Last week we talked about a ketogenic way of eating and how it can and has defeated cancer cells in some folks. Not that we can claim it will because we can’t.
John: Several different types of cancers.
Donna: But we can tell stories of people who have eaten this way and…
John: Have gotten great results.
Donna: …gotten great results regarding cancer. So today I’m going to talk about the ketogenic way of eating again only when I started doing this research I wasn’t looking for ketogenic way of eating. When we talk about our 20 pounds in 30 days plan we talk about addressing six different hormones in your body, and those six different hormones being all out of whack are what prevent people from being able to lose weight, especially if they’re over 35-years-old, and can even cause unexplained weight gain.
Those six hormones are estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid, insulin and cortisol. So I started to start digging in all of them. I have a pretty high stress life.
John: Do you think?
Donna: As do everyone. So I went after cortisol first and started researching cortisol. And we were sitting having dinner after church and I was telling John what I had found out about the Top 3 food that will increase your cortisol levels.
John: What was the first one you said?
Donna: First Trans fat. So what’s a Trans fat?
John: A Trans fat is a processed fat. Trans fats, hydrogenated fats, those are all saturated fats that we have changed the whole molecular structure to them. We’ve made them solid at room temperature. So basically the whole food industry can handle them a little bit better.
Donna: So it stays longer. The bottom line again in layman’s terms anything processed.
John: Yes.
Donna: Anything processed has got, say the word I can never say the word.
John: Hydrogenated.
Donna: Hydrogenated. I don’t know why I can’t say that until he says it. When he says it I can say it, so hydrogenated oils. Anything processed is going to increase cortisol. It’s very simple when you put something processed into your body your body has got to work harder.
John: It makes a lot of inflammation also.
Donna: Because it’s not going to go through the system just normally like a good healthy food would. So, you’ve got everything working harder, everything. I mean your adrenals are producing cortisol, but you’ve got cholesterol issues, you’ve got inflammation issues, you’ve got insulin issues, blood sugar, your pancreas. I mean you could…
John: Heart issues blocks up the artery for the heart.
Donna: Yes heart issues, digestive issues. So Number 1 way to beat cortisol regarding food is get away from the processed stuff. And it’s not that tough. Again back to the ketogenic way of eating, after we talked about these three foods I said “Well that’s ketogenic way of eating again. If you want to feel good, lose weight easily, have high energy, be healthier, not have inflammation, etc, etc.
John: Simple eating.
Donna: Right. So Number 2 guess, what it was?
John: What was it?
Donna: Do you remember? No.
John: No.
Donna: Refined sugar.
John: Refined sugar I knew that.
Donna: Ah so now it comes back to the cancer thing again, ketogenic way of eating.
John: It’s all tied together.
Donna: Right. So we’re not saying anything sweet is bad, fruits not bad. We’re not saying anything sweet is bad, we’re saying refined sugar, stay away from refined sugar. Again now this is simple, you put refined sugar into your body, blood sugar levels go up. When blood sugar levels go up insulin goes up. Now two things are going to happen. First of all it’s going to go high and there is no doubt unequivocally what will always happen after it spikes high.
John: It goes down.
Donna: It drops and when it drops you’re hungry, you’re shaky, you don’t feel good. And it’s kind of like a drug addiction very simply your body goes, I got to have it again, I got to have it again.
John: More carbohydrates.
Donna: I need it again. I need it again. Now if you will stay away from that sugar you start balancing out and you don’t feel like I need it again anymore, you’ve beat the drug addiction. Now the other thing that happens is that you put sugar into your body and your blood sugar goes up, your insulin goes up, your body goes into automatic fat storage. So now you’ve got to explain weight gain, and it’s hard to lose weight than it ever was before. The Number 3 food is excess caffeine.
John: Excess Caffeine.
Donna: And that doesn’t mean that you can’t have coffee it means pay attention when you’re putting caffeine into your body because the minute you start noticing you feel something different that’s your peak. That’s your level. And that’s where you shouldn’t go past. You found a lot of information on the two cups a day is okay.
John: Yes a little bit of the older I live the m ore moderation is the key to everything I think, a couple of cups of coffee. Now let’s qualify that. To some people one cup of coffee can throw them…
Donna: Jitters, jitters, jitters.
John: …off balance. Exactly.
Donna: They’re anxious.
John: Normally a couple of cups of coffee is not going to hurt anybody.
Donna: And that’s really what this says. It says Trans fat, so that’s your processed foods, it says Number 2 is refined sugars.
John: Sugar.
Donna: The ketogenic way of eating, this is even going to help beat cancer, it’s going to help lose weight, you’re not going to be hungry.
John: Nothing but positive.
Donna: I mean and it’s all the same truth we’re finding no matter what research. And then the Number 3 one was excess caffeine. That doesn’t mean you can’t have caffeine it means don’t have excess caffeine.
John: Right.
Donna: Pay attention. Listen to your body. That’s what we’ve started saying all the time just listening to your body with regard to digestion, inflammation.
John: Inflammation.
Donna: Pain, headaches, sleep patterns, what goes on in the night, that’s one that I really watch. So the bottom line is the ketogenic way of eating it’s looking like the solutions…
John: You’re eating nothing but good foods, simple foods.
Donna: Excellent things.
John: Yes.
Donna: So we’ll talk more about ketogenic, the ketogenic way of eating, and the best supplements to use regarding a multivitamin. And it’s not even access supplements because if you’re eating ketogenically you’re going to begin to get a lot of that health improvement from the way you’re eating. And you’re not going to need supplementation…
John: Sure.
Donna: …to eliminate things that were caused by a non-ketogenic way of eating. It’s all centered around this same truth.
John: What goes around comes around?
Donna: You know God made life simple right.
John: Absolutely.
Donna: We complicate everything. We’ll talk to you next time. Thanks for watching.
