6 Ways To Turn Off Your Weight Gain Hormones

There are 7 different hormones that have been associated with weight gain, and once you understand how they work in your body, you can turn off their power to make you overweight.
The reasons we gain weight often can seem to be due to what is happening in our lives that cause us stress. Sometimes, even though we watch what we eat and exercise, we feel like our weight gain is out of control.
Let’s look further at 7 ways to work with your body to turn off your weight gain hormones and rediscover the body you were meant to have.

6 Ways to Turn Off Your Weight Gain Hormones

1. Eat plenty of protein

Ghrelin is made in the digestive system, and it is called the hunger hormone because it increases your appetite when your body needs energy to use. Being able to suppress the effects of ghrelin would help us to turn off this weight gain hormone.
Research published in the American Diabetes Association found that ‘Ghrelin administration stimulates GH secretion but also causes weight gain by increasing food intake and reducing fat utilization in rodents.’ The researchers looked at lean and obese people’s levels of this weight hormone. They found that ghrelin was found in lower concentrations in obese people compared to lean people.
To turn off your ghrelin hormone so you won’t gain weight, eat a diet high in protein and avoid high fat foods. Protein helps suppress ghrelin production in the digestive system to keep you from eating more and gaining weight.

2. Remove sugar from your diet

Sugar is sneaky because it shows up in many forms in many foods. Getting rid of it entirely can be a challenge in label reading. However, it may be the best thing you can do to turn off your weight gain hormone insulin.
Insulin is most closely associated with the disease diabetes, which affects millions of people worldwide. The pancreas produces insulin to help digest sugars that you eat. High levels of insulin in your blood can affect your likelihood of weight gain.
Insulin helps glucose to be absorbed by the cells and stored as energy, which is why you can gain weight when you have more sugar in your diet. Storing energy in fat cells is not what you need when you want to turn off weight gain.

3. Eat less dairy

Hormone free dairy products aren’t necessarily a safe means of avoiding extra hormones that can cause weight gain. The dairy industry has been responding to public pressure to provide hormone-free dairy products to consumers, based on research that shows that eating animal hormones may trigger early development in teenage girls and boys.
Nutritional and medical experts have realized that the milk that cows and other animals provide is meant to grow and raise their own young, not humans. Avoid these non-human hormones that can mess with your own.

4. Avoid soy products

Women undergoing menopause experience a natural decrease in the estrogen that their body produces now that they are no longer able to bear children. As a result of the decreased estrogen, body fat increases. Soy products contain phytoestrogen, which can block the human normal estrogen in the body.
Estrogen has a role in the production of leptin. Leptin is one of the most important hormones to turn off weight gain because it regulates satiety. Satiety is how satisfied we feel when we eat. If we don’t feel satisfied or sated, we will continue to eat, even if we don’t actually need to eat.
Researchers studying the role that estrogen has on leptin levels found that ‘In humans, serum leptin concentration was higher in premenopausal women than in men, and in postmenopausal women it was lower than in premenopausal women, but still higher than in men.’
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The same researchers found that in premenopausal women, serum leptin levels were significantly higher in the luteal phase or the later part of their menstrual cycles. This research suggests that increasing estrogen levels through dietary changes could help increase the production of leptin, which can help turn off weight gain.

5. Reduce stress and caffeine intake

The stress hormone cortisol is released when we are frustrated, overwhelmed or feeling stuck. Stress eating is real and people who binge, especially on so called ‘comfort foods’ are likely to be engaging in a destructive pattern of behavior that will lead to weight gain.
Related article: How To Stop Emotional Eating In 3 Steps
Rather than allowing your stress to dictate when you eat, seek to reduce sources of stress in your life to reduce cortisol levels in your body. If work is overwhelming, delegate parts that someone else can handle. If your home life is stressful, sit outside in nature for 5 minutes while breathing deeply to relax and recharge.
Caffeine levels can also increase the level of cortisol that is being released in your body. Turn off the weight gain by reducing your caffeine intake and the hormone cortisol will be reduced as well.

6. Eliminate grains

Grain consumption has been linked to thyroid hormone production being slowed down. Reducing your intake of grains in your diet can help regulate your thyroid hormone levels and turn off weight gain.
The thyroid is one of the most important factors to consider when examining weight gain. Check with your medical professional to have your thyroid levels checked if you suspect that your weight gain is caused by a low-functioning thyroid gland.