Insulin Hormone Is a Key to Unlock Cells

Part 2 of a two part series on Hormonal Imbalance and Weight Loss

The common metabolic weight-loss equation of burning more calories than you consume only applies when you body has good hormonal balance. Just like the nervous system, the endocrine system helps your body cope with many different situations or stresses. Have you been experiencing weight gain or difficulty losing weight? It may be due to hormonal imbalances. A hormone like insulin can be thought of as a key and will only act on a cell when the key fits the locks on the cell walls of organ, glands and tissue. When your hormones are in balance, your metabolism is responsible for maintaining how many calories your body burns when active and at rest.

Low thyroid affects one in five women

Among its special functions, the very complicated little gland known as your thyroid controls your body's metabolic rate. There is more to weight loss resistance than just bad eating habits and lifestyle issues. Low thyroid hormone levels and overall hormonal imbalances can hinder your best efforts to lose weight. Research shows hypothyroidism, or low-thyroid function, affects one in five women and one in ten men. Balanced thyroid hormone secretion plays a vital role in helping your body maintains a healthy weight and thyroid hormone imbalance plays an even bigger role in weight-loss resistance.

Leptin promotes feelings of satisfaction

Your body generally relies on hormonal balance to avoid changes in body weight by regulating your appetite and hunger signals (leptin and ghrelin). Leptin and ghrelin function interdependently in healthy humans. Leptin gives us a feeling of satisfaction, and ghrelin enhances appetite and influences the metabolism of fat tissue by promoting its storage during hard times. With regards to maintaining hormonal balance, having more body fat can screw up your appetite signals causing you to feel hungry when your body doesn't need you to eat.

Eating too many carbs can lead to hunger

Insulin is a hormone that regulates the absorption of blood sugar from the foods you eat (glucose) by specific cells to produce fuel for your body. If you eat sugary foods and/or consume a lot of sugary drinks, you keep your insulin working overtime to lower blood sugar by storing it as fat. For those who consume a relatively large amount of calories in a short period, glucose levels rise above what is needed and a portion is stored as body fat for later use. Due to hormonal imbalances, eating too many carbs can lead to a vicious cycle of eating, fat synthesis, hunger and eating again; and the bad news doesn't end there.