Fight fat after 40

Women over 40, we know the drill. Despite our best efforts, middle-aged ladies gain weight in perimenopause —  especially around the waist — even while dieting.

While the dreaded middle-age fat migration tends to hit in the forties and fifties, the slide starts in the thirties when half a pound of lean muscle is lost each year. This causes a five-percent slowed rate of metabolism every decade. As estrogen levels naturally begin to drop, the body turns to secondary production sites. Other than the ovaries, the fat cells, especially around the stomach, are capable of producing estrogen. As the ovaries slow down, the belly fat cells try to pick up the slack and as a result, swell and multiply. Weight gain in the abdomen is one of the most common complaints of perimenopausal women. Despite best attempts to diet and exercise, methods of weight management that worked for years are suddenly ineffective. In fact, the stress of trying so hard to eliminate the fat is actually making eliminating the fat harder to accomplish. When women want to lose weight and fat, the natural instinct is to eat less and exercise more, which may cause metabolic stress and raise cortisol levels. Uptown/Downtown spoke with The Biggest Loser and Sexy Solutions’ nutritionist Nadine Tengco on how to fight middle-age weight gain.

What is cortisol?

In its normal function, cortisol converts fats and proteins into energy, keeping us alert, balancing electrolytes, calibrating heartbeat and pressure. In the short run, that’s great — even protective and restorative. But paradoxically, sustained high levels of cortisol will gradually tear the body down.

Sustained high cortisol levels: a.) Raise blood sugar and cause insulin resistance, which leads to diabetes and obesity; b.) Destroy healthy muscle and bone; c.) Slow down healing and normal cell regeneration; d.) Co-opt parent molecules needed to make other vital hormones; e.) Impair digestion, metabolism and mental function; f.) Interfere with healthy endocrine function; and g.) Weaken your immune system.

Any physical activity can create stress on the body, resulting in the production of cortisol. The problem is,  when women train too hard (and sometimes too often), the body does not have enough time to rest and recover. This burden can easily overwhelm the body’s ability to balance its hormones. Starting in the forties, the part of the brain (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) that helps regulate the hormone stops performing at its peak. Yale researchers found that women with high cortisol levels had more abdominal fat even if they were slender elsewhere. Therefore, when it comes to exercise, the solution is somewhat counterintuitive — the trick isn’t always to push harder…sometimes it could be doing less. Physical activities should be intense enough to burn fat but not excessive that cortisol levels spiral upward. (Perhaps we can ask trainers to design programs that kept our heart rates only up to a certain level or routines that are not too wicked at tearing muscles). It’s about working smarter, not harder. (Nadine personally creates her program using full-body toning and cardio bursts that is challenging enough to burn belly fat but not so difficult it sends my stress response into overdrive. She chooses dance-based routines and use body weight for strength and toning)

Inflammation and obesity

One of the more overlooked symptoms of a taxed metabolism is inflammation. Inflammation is one of the major causes of obesity. Under the influence of chronic inflammation, hormones that should function to protect health are thrown into disarray. As their levels increase, they begin to encourage weight gain and more inflammation. Chronic inflammation makes the brain and body resistant to insulin. This condition prevents the breakdown of fat because every calorie is stored as fat — even when dieting. As inflammation increases, the brain sends a signal to the adrenal glands to produce more of the hormone cortisol.

A common cause of inflammation is a stressed digestive tract. Many enzymes and peptides are involved in triggering hunger signals and initiating healthy absorption of nutrients. Good digestion improves your body’s ability to store food as energy instead of fat. Allergies, food insensitivities, parasites, yeast overgrowth and emotional stress can all inflame the gastrointestinal (GI) system. It’s common knowledge that a diet high in sugar and “bad” fats can feed inflammation and cause obesity. What is not commonly known is that food sensitivities to common allergens like gluten, dairy, wheat, soy, etc. is an important contributing factor to weight gain and obesity. The removal of an offending food will often result in a rapid weight loss of five to 10 lbs. Following the initial loss, losing weight on a healthy diet and exercise regimen becomes less of an uphill battle.

Detoxification

Healthy leanness results from a well-functioning metabolism that can eliminate toxins; convert food into usable energy; store glucose as glycogen, and excess calories as fat. Our ability to cope with “toxic load” is highly individual, but weight gain is always a sign that demands outweigh support. Detoxification assists in restoring hormonal balance and fosters our body’s ability to handle its own hormones. Rebalancing our chemistry allows the brain to switch our metabolism from a fat-storing mode, to a fat-losing mode. When the body feels threatened (due to stress), it gets into survival mode and often resists weight loss. To lose weight, you need to quiet hormonal chatter, coax the body out of survival mode, and let the brain switch from a fat-storing, to a fat-burning mode.

Here are some powerful fat-fighting anti-oxidants:

Omega-3 — these are healthy fats that reduce inflammation, slow the rate of digestion and improve insulin resistance. “New science published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that women who ate a balanced diet including omega-3s lost 1 1/2 more pounds of torso fat than women on the same exact diet but minus the omega-3s.”³

Vitamin D — low levels of Vitamin D increase a person’s risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes by as much as 46 percent. Vitamin D quells cellular inflammation that contributes to obesity and high blood sugar. The body also needs Vitamin D to absorb calcium and together, can help fight fat.

Luya and tanglad — local herbs and spices such as turmeric (luyang dilaw), ginger (luya) and lemongrass (tanglad) have tremendous anti-inflammatory properties.

Turmeric is the spice that gives curry and mustard their bright yellow color. It contains curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory properties that are comparable to potent and over-the-counter drugs.

Ginger contains gingerols, which suppress inflammation and prevent free radical damage by minimizing the depletion of glutathione, one of the body’s most vital anti-oxidant.

Lemongrass has polyphenols that impair and inhibit inflammation. Taken as a tea concoction, it effectively reduces swelling and water retention.

Eat the right food, at the right time, in the right amount

There are three important elements to a diet that prevents fat storage: Quality, frequency and quantity. The synergy between the type of food ingredients, nutrient density and balance, food preparation and cooking methods, time intervals between meals, and portion sizes must all be considered for effective and lasting weight loss.

Quality of food is the most important component of a fat-busting diet. Choose whole foods that are closest to their natural state without added sugars, fats, or artificial ingredients. Whole foods are also the best sources of nutrient dense functional foods that quell inflammation and control blood sugar to minimize fat storage and increase metabolism.

³http://www.prevention.com/food/food-remedies/outsmart-diabetes-diet-meet-fat-fighting-4/fat-fighter-3--omega-3s