Low Vitamin D Correlated to Weight Gain

Is Low Vitamin D Making You Fat?

by Digestive SystemEndocrine SystemHormonesMetabolism

Is Low Vitamin D Making You Fat?

A low vitamin D level is correlated to weight gain, increased fat storage, high blood sugar and more cravings.

About 1 billion people have low vitamin D levels and this is found in all ethnicities and age groups. In the USA, it is estimated that 42% of adults are vitamin D deficient.

Vitamin D is both a nutrient we eat and a hormone our bodies make. Virtually every cell in our body has a vitamin D receptor, which, when bound to vitamin D, can influence the expression of more than 200 genes. 

Vitamin D Functions

Vitamin D has multiple roles in the body, including:

  • promotes healthy bones and teeth
  • supports immune, brain, and nervous system health
  • influences the expression of genes involved in cancer development
  • supports lung function and cardiovascular health
  • regulates some hormones, particularly insulin and leptin

Low Levels Vitamin D and Weight Gain

Research shows that low Vitamin D levels are connected to insulin and leptin resistance.

Insulin is responsible for allowing glucose in the blood to enter cells, and is the main fat storage hormone in the body. It tells fat cells to store fat, and prevents stored fat from being broken down. 

Leptin is a hormone that is produced in fat cells and reduces appetite. Leptin signals the brain to stop eating when you’re full, and signals the brain to burn fat when there is enough fat storage.

When Vitamin D levels were low, insulin and leptin hormones become less sensitive or functional, causing the body to store more fat, burning less.  Low vitamin D also leads insulin resistance, a process where the cells become unresponsive to insulin and store glucose as fat.  Low vitamin D thus causes weight gain and weight loss resistance.  

Healthy Vitamin D Levels

The most common way to measure your levels of vitamin D is the 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test. Results can be interpreted as follows:

  • Deficient: Less than 30ng/ml
  • Insufficient: between 30-50ng/ml
  • Optimal: 50-80 ng/ml

Ways to Increase Vitamin D

We can increase levels of vitamin D through diet, sun exposure and supplements.

  • Eat whole. Eat a clean, healthy, whole food diet, in order to maximize vitamin and mineral absorption. Avoid environmental and chemical toxins as well as pesticides and herbicides. Reduce trans and hydrogenated fats and increase healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, olives, farm raised butter, nuts, seeds, avocados, etc. Avoid all processed and refined foods and sugars and ensure that morning pre-breakfast blood sugar levels stay under 100 mg/dl.
  • Get adequate sunlight. Spend at least 30 minutes a day with sunlight directly on most of your skin, without sunscreen.
  • Eat Vitamin D rich foods, including like sardines, salmon, herring, mackerel, grass fed beefs, liver, cod liver oil, egg yolks, wild mushrooms, fortified foods, etc.
  • Supplements. Vitamin D3 supplements should always be taken with fat and at the largest meal of the day.

The health of your gut microbiome  affects how well you absorb vitamin D from food or supplements.  Probiotics, prebiotics and fermented foods can improve gut microbiome.

Intermittent Fasting for Women

Intermittent Fasting for Women

by Anti-AgingDigestive SystemHormonesMetabolismReproductive System

Intermittent Fasting for Women

Intermittent fasting is a lifestyle habit that limits eating to a specific time window.  

Women can safely intermittent fast and derive significant health benefits, as long as we listen to our bodies and modify the practice accordingly.  When intermittent fasting, we need to honour our cycle and acknowledge that our needs are very different to men's.  We are not weaker or more fragile, just different.

Women who are trying to conceive, pregnant or breastfeeding should not  intermittent fast. Similarly, women with eating disorders, body image or other health issues should not intermittent fast unless working with appropriate qualified medical professionals.

Intermittent Fasting for Women and Stress

For us women, Intermittent fasting's effectiveness  depends on our specific hormone health and our stress levels.  

Stress strongly affects our hormones and thus our ability to successfully intermittent fast.  Women who mange their stress well, usually derive health benefits from intermittent fasting.  Women who are over-stressed may not be able to handle any additional stressors, and will likely not see any benefits from this practice.

Every woman is different. Some of us do great with intermittent fasting, but others are more sensitive to the stress it puts on our body.

How Women Should Intermittent Fast

Women should not aim for the longest fast that they can tolerate, but rather for the shortest fast that gives results.

For us  women, it is especially important to monitor our symptoms, such as hunger, fatigue, mood swings, headaches, lack of concentration and loss of menstrual cycle.  It is important not to be rigid about intermittent fasting, vary our fasting window, and most importantly, to listen to our body.

Women who are considering intermittent fasting should make sure that their adrenal glands are strong and working optimally.

Intermittent Fasting for Women Who Have a Cycle

There are three main phases to your menstrual cycle. The follicular phase occurs during the first 10-14 days of your cycle (with day 1 being the first day you start bleeding). The ovulation generally happens over the course of 3-5 days in the middle of your cycle. The luteal phase is the time period after ovulation and before the start of your next period. It is generally a 7-10 day window.

During perimenopause, hormones levels fluctuate as a result of fewer ovulations, and less progesterone is produced.

  • Day 1-10: Can intermittent fast. Body is trying to make estrogen. If desired, conducive to limiting carbohydrates.
  • Day 11-15: Can intermittent fast, preferably no more than 13 hours. Women typically ovulating. Estrogen and testosterone at their highest; progesterone starting. Focus on creating a strong microbiome with a varied Mediterranean diet, adequate sleep and movement.
  • Day 16+: No intermittent fasting until the day you menstruate or know you have conceived. Support body with hormone producing foods (listed below). Progesterone is at highest level, and estrogen also rises.

Intermittent Fasting for Women Who Don't Have a Cycle

After menopause, ovaries in women shut down, and sex hormones are made mainly by the adrenal glands and fat tissue. Estrogen is still produced, but in much lower quantities.  Very little progesterone is made.  

It is important to manage stress effectively, and to ensure the adrenal glands are working optimally.  It is very important to ensure adequate progesterone because research shows it may influence brain and cognitive health.

  • 5 days a week of intermittent fasting, preferably 13 hours.
  • 1 day a week of longer intermittent fasting (14-16 hours)
  • 1 day a week of healthy feasting

Symptoms of Low Progesterone

In women who have a cycle, progesterone is mainly produced in the ovaries and fluctuates around a women’s menstrual cycle.  In women who do not have a cycle, progesterone is mainly produced in the adrenal glands.

  • Irregular menstrual cycle
  • Infertility
  • Headaches or migraines
  • Mood changes, including anxiety, depression or agitation
  • Weight gain
  • Hair loss
  • Fibroids

Foods that Boost Progesterone

  • Beans
  • Peas
  • Pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes and yams
  • Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, etc.
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Citrus and tropical fruits, and berries
  • Wild salmon and grass-fed meats

Other Ways to Boost Progesterone

  • Manage stress effectively
  • Mild exercise. Avoid over-exercising
  • Supplements such as magnesium. B vitamins, zinc, vitamin C
  • Seed cycling. Seeds contain phytoestrogens, minerals, vitamins, and healthy fats which help balance hormone levels. Consuming certain seeds at specific times during your cycle can help regulate hormones. In seed cycling, you eat 1 tablespoon each of ground flax and pumpkin seeds during the first half of your cycle (day 1 until ovulation) and 1 tablespoon each of sunflower and sesame seeds in the second half. 

Intermittent fasting can bring extraordinary health benefits to us, if we listen to our body and adapt accordingly.  If you need help to start an intermittent fasting program, please contact me.  I would be delighted to help you reap the health benefits.
Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting

by Digestive SystemEndocrine SystemHormonesMetabolism

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is a timed approach to eating, and involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting.

Women who decide to intermittent fast need to do so differently. 

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is a lifestyle habit that limits eating to a specific time window.  

It is not a diet and does not specify what foods a person should eat or avoid.  

Intermittent Fasting vs Calorie Restriction

Intermittent Fasting limits how often you eat and includes periods of not eating at all.  Calorie restriction reduces your average calorie intake below what is normal for a long period of time.  

Calorie restriction slows down your metabolism and puts your body into starvation and deprivation mode.

Intermittent fasting has many health benefits including weight loss, but is not suitable for everyone.

How Do You Intermittent Fast?

There are several ways to do intermittent fasting. Some of the most popular include:

  • 13:11 - 16:8 - Fasting for 13/16 hours and eating during a 11/8 hour window every 24 hours
  • 5:2 - Eating normally for five days and eating less for two days
  • Complete 24 hour fasts on certain days of the week
  • and others

Some approaches are easier than others.  The 13:11 (or 16:8) approach whereby eating is restricted to a  11 (or 8) hour window seems to work best for most of my clients, as it seems to be the easiest to implement and the most sustainable.

Intermittent Fasting Benefits

  • Improvements in thinking and memory
  • Improvements in blood pressure, resting heart rate, and other cardiovascular metrics
  • Better endurance
  • Prevention of diabetes
  • Reduced tissue damage during surgery
  • Changes the expression of certain genes, which helps the body protect itself from disease as well as promoting longevity
  • Increases human growth hormone, or HGH, which helps the body utilize body fat and grow muscle
  • Activates autophagy, a healing process whereby the body digests or recycles old and damaged cell components

Fasting: The Physician Within

Humans have been fasting for medical reasons for centuries, long before there were any studies to support its benefits. Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, believed fasting enabled the body to heal itself. Paracelsus, another great healer in the Western tradition, wrote 500 years ago that “fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within. “ Ayurvedic medicine, has long advocated fasting as a major treatment. Today fasting is studied as a potential treatment for many diseases and dysfunctions, including asthma, chronic pain, metabolic syndrome, obesity, autoimmune diseases, heart disease and cancer.

Most religious and spiritual practices incorporate fasting.  In a religious context, fasting is a way to gain clarity, show sacrifice and help one connect to higher powers.

Ancient humans often went hours or days between meals as obtaining food was difficult. The human body adapted to this style of eating, allowing extended periods to pass between food intake times. Intermittent fasting recreates this forced-fasting.

Intermittent Fasting and Metabolic Flexibility

Intermittent fasting promotes metabolic flexibility.

Metabolic flexibility is the body’s ability to adapt and use whatever fuel is available to it.  Your body is metabolically flexible when its mitochondria can use sugar or fat as their fuel and thus maintain consistent energy levels.  Ways to increase metabolic fasting include exercise and fasting.

Metabolic flexibility is essential to good health.

For Better Health

  • Avoid sugars and refined grains.
  • Avoid hydrogenated and trans fats.
  • Avoid snacks and nighttime eating. Let your body burn fat between meals.
  • Consider a simple form of intermittent fasting. Start with 12:12 and work towards 14:10 or 16:8.
  • Consider a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables, healthy fats, nuts, seeds and wild-caught fish.

Who Should Not Intermittent Fast?

  • Children and teens under age 18
  • Women who are trying to conceive, pregnant or breastfeeding
  • People with diabetes or blood sugar problems unless under the supervision of a nutritionist
  • People with a history of eating disorders or body image struggles
  • People undergoing treatment for a diagnosed medical condition unless under the supervision of a nutritionist
Metabolic Flexibility - How to Achieve Metabolic Flexibility

Metabolic Flexibility

by Anti-AgingDigestive SystemHormonesMetabolism

Metabolic Flexibility

Metabolic flexibility is the body’s ability to adapt and use whatever fuel is available to it (sugar or fat).  If you’ve eaten recently, that fuel is the sugar in your blood (glucose). If you have not eaten recently or if all your blood glucose has been used up, that fuel is stored fat.  Although sugar is ideal for quick energy, fat is a more efficient fuel source for your metabolism.

Metabolic flexibility is important to good health.  A lack of metabolic flexibility leads to fatigue, cravings, irritability and other chronic diseases. 

Metabolism

Metabolism is a term that is used to describe all chemical reactions involved in maintaining the living state of the cells and organism. Metabolism is closely linked to nutrition, and energy production is one of its vital components. 

Metabolism and Your Liver

Roman scholars viewed the liver as the most important organ in the body and the Mesopotamian culture believed it to be the seat of our soul and emotions.   The liver sits at the centre of the metabolic system, which involves the production of energy and its delivery to each cell in the body.  The liver is fundamental to our well-being and improving liver function is the one of the most powerful ways to improve overall health.

Metabolism and Metabolic Flexibility

Every cell requires energy.   The food we eat is digested and broken down into its components, which will either be used immediately or stored.  Inside our bodies, carbohydrates are found as glucose or glycogen, and fats as fatty acids or ketones.   The liver converts deconstructed food into glycogen or fatty acids, and distributes them to tissues to be used for energy.  When there is excess energy, the liver will store the excess either as glycogen or as fat.  Most organs and muscles also have a limited supply of stored glycogen.

Our bodies can thus use energy as glycogen or fat.  Each has different energetic properties and appropriate for different situations. Glycogen is burned quickly for bursts of energy, while fats is more of a sustainable endurance fuel with lower peak power.  When a tissue requires energy, it will select a particular balance of glycogen and fat appropriate for that need.   The ability of our metabolic system to appropriately select fuels is at the core of metabolic health and flexibility.

Insulin Sensitive and Fat Adapted

Insulin is a hormone that is responsible for allowing glucose in the blood to enter cells, providing them with the energy to function.  Insulin sensitivity refers to how sensitive the body's cells are in response to insulin. High insulin sensitivity allows the cells of the body to use blood glucose more effectively, reducing blood sugar.   You’re insulin sensitive if your cells respond effectively to insulin.

Fat-adapted refers  to the ability of the body to burn both fat (through lipolysis) and glucose (through glycolysis).  You’re fat adapted if you engage appropriately in fat-burning lipolysis.   To become fat adapted, avoid refined carbohydrates, sugars and unhealthy fats, and increase healthy fats.

Being metabolically flexible, means you’re insulin sensitive and fat adapted.   Metabolic flexibility is thus the ability of the body to utilize the correct available fuels appropriately.

Metabolic Flexibility and Disease

Poor metabolic flexibility is implicated is many modern diseases including insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and neurodegenerative diseases. 

Insulin resistance occurs when cells don’t respond effectively to insulin, and cannot use the glucose in the blood.  To compensate, your pancreas produces more insulin, which further desensitizes cells. Over time, blood sugar goes up and the insulin producing cells in the pancreas are damaged, leading to type 2 diabetes as well as obesity, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer.

How to Achieve Metabolic Flexibility

  • Exercise
  • Intermittent Fasting
  • Fasting
  • Get Fat Adapted
  • Eliminate snacking
  • Add supplements that promote metabolic flexibility, including magnesium, polyphenols, omega 3, etc.