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_ Apotha-Blog® by
Susan Merenstein, RPh
Pharmacist/Owner
Murray Avenue Apothecary
A Compounding and Wellness Pharmacy

Happy Healthy New Year to all my friends and family of Murray Avenue Apothecary! 

Just go to the newsstand and on every cover you will see the latest and greatest quick fixes for weight loss, eating control, and exercise in the coming New Year.
People come into the apothecary in January and February and seriously want help in losing “toxic weight” and we provide the tools and education to help people detoxify and in the process lose this toxic weight and keep it off.

What is toxic weight?  Consider that most toxins find their way to and set up camp in our fat tissue. And aside from our recent accolades of most livable city and one of the top 50 most desirable destinations by National Geographic Travel Magazine and now that “Portland Oregon is out and the Burgh is in” by the Washington PostPittsburgh also holds the unfortunate status of “number 10 in The 10 Most Air-Polluted Cities in the U.S.” as ranked by the World Health Organization.*  *The World Health Organization has ranked cities around the world on their amount of particulate pollution in the air.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2095471_2095472_2095478,00.html
Here is a brief lesson on belly fat and our stress hormone cortisol.

Over the last 12 years information has been available about visceral or intra-abdominal fat and its link to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and cancer.
As they age, women can change from having a pear shape to an apple shape where the fat redistributes to the abdomen.  It is this dangerous fat under the abdominal muscle wall that causes the problems.
The primary factor involved in toxic weight is STRESS in addition to decreased activity and increased eating.
Also involved are hormonal changes of the sex steroids, adrenals, and thyroid.
Dr. Pamela Peeke (author of Fight Fat after Forty) describes toxic stress as being associated with feelings of insecurity, powerlessness, hopelessness, and defeat.  This is chemically and physically similar to depression.
Dr. Peeke studied fat cells from different body areas in the lab.  Fat cells deep in the abdomen are different from other parts of the body.  They have the most cortisol (our stress hormone) receptors (the lock for the hormone key) and so are sensitive to cortisol levels in the body.  They respond to stress (cortisol) by causing the cells to store fat.
Prior to the age of 30, a woman’s estrogen couples with cortisol and fat is distributed to thighs and hips to provide long term slowly released nutrition for a baby to develop.
After 30, cortisol takes over decreasing estrogen and progesterone levels and deposits fat in our middles.
This fat can be immediately converted by the body to glucose (our body’s main fuel) to provide readily available energy.
Remember the main culprit in Toxic Weight is Toxic Stress generated from excess cortisol.
Women are especially vulnerable due to our role as external caregivers-plus we are workaholics who give to jobs, businesses, never take time for ourselves and are susceptible to Toxic Stress.
When stress and cortisol levels increase, we reach for the wrong foods because cortisol that is chronically elevated stimulates the appetite for carbohydrates and fat.  No wonder that Snickers tastes so good perfect combo of fat and carbs!
The basic program for treating Toxic Stress and Weight is as follows:

• Change your thoughts about caregiving-try to meet your own needs as well as those around you.
• Move regularly and exercise, at least 30 minutes 3-5 days a week in addition to two 30-45 minutes of weight bearing exercise a week.  Exercise causes the body to secrete endorphins that neutralize cortisol-this can lift depression and maintain a stress resilient mindset.
• De-Stress your eating-recent data published in the America Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women on classic deprivation diets had chronically elevated cortisol levels.
• Avoid low-quality, high stress foods such as refined sugar either as white sugar or white flour products stress us physically by causing insulin levels to skyrocket.  This puts stress on the pancreas because it has to over produce insulin to cover these high sugar levels and creates a viscious cycle of metabolic havoc and poor blood sugar control in our bodies.
• Limit or eliminate wheat and gluten and read “Wheat Belly” by Dr. William Davis, Integrative Cardiologist who effectively debunks the myth of “heart Healthy grains”. The “new” wheat plants grown after 1962 have 46 chromosomes v. 14 chromosomes of the old wheat and these genetically modified gluten proteins have correlated with an explosion of obesity and diabetes after 1962!  Did you know that 2 slices of whole wheat bread raise your blood sugar (glycemic index) faster than 2 tablespoons of table sugar!!!
• Eat high quality (organic if possible and grass not grain fed) protein, carbohydrate and fat combinations.
• Instead of counting calories, choose Women Food Size Servings.  A good rule of thumb: after lunch your meals should become lighter and increasingly lower in carbohydrates.

Dr. Peeke points out that the more fatigued and less focused we are the more we tend to overeat      especially starches.  Women bloat from starches, men don’t.  That’s because our kidneys are efficient at water storage to maintain a blood volume for one or more when we are pregnant.
The bottom line is that if we women were to take care of ourselves with the same compassion, skill and persistence with which we care for others, we would minimize our risk for Toxic Stress and Toxic Weight.  As a result, our life expectancy and quality of life would increase considerably.

 
In Part II I will write about the MAA Detoxification and MAA Toxic Weight Loss Programs in detail.
See if you can incorporate some of the suggestions from this Apotha-Blog until next month and let us know how you are doing.  Stop in to the Apothecary for supplements to help you lower cortisol and help manage blood sugar as a start.

Wishing everyone wellness and peace in 2012,

Susan

 
P.S. Stop by the pharmacy the first Friday of each month for our free Blood Sugar and Blood Pressure screenings all day!

Verilux Light Kits are here at the Apothecary to help you fight the dreary Pittsburgh winter-stop by today to check them out!