Metabolic Resistance. High cortisol levels cause fat to be deposited in your abdomen, and insulin and cortisol rise and stay elevated. #StubbornFatFix

In the case of insulin, your muscle cells now don’t recognize its signal. Once your cells stop responding to insulin (called insulin resistance), your pancreas must produce 10 times as much of the hormone to shuttle sugar into cells. Your brain doesn’t recognize increases in insulin either, so it never responds by turning off your appetite. As a result, blood glucose is even more erratic than during metabolic overdrive, alternating from very high highs to very low lows, and you’re constantly hungry. High insulin levels tend to lower levels of other important hormones, too, which can erode health in many additional ways.

Your sleep is probably starting to become erratic. You may feel okay when you are at work and under stress, but you crash when you get home or go on vacation. Elevated levels of cortisol during the overspending stage have now taken a toll on various bodily tissues, slowing metabolism through a loss of muscle mass, impairing digestion, and weakening immunity. #CBHealthNY

Our consumption of omega-3s are low for a number of reasons. #StubbornFatFix

Few of us eat enough fatty fish, walnuts, flax, greens, and other foods that are rich in this type of fat. Commercial farming also reduces the natural omega-3 fats that would normally be present in animal meats, eggs, and vegetables. Eggs from hens that eat insects and green plants for example are richer in omega-3s than eggs from hens that are fed soy. Worse, most processed foods are loaded with omega-6 fats from corn or soybean oil.

This imbalance of omega-3s to omega-6s throws off our delicate metabolic balance, triggering the body to make more pro-inflammatory substances that raise blood pressure, irritate the GI tract, lower immunity, and even contribute to weight gain. This contributes to cancer, heart disease, poor immunity, liver damage, reproductive problems, GI distress, learning disabilities, and obesity. #CBHealthNY

So how do you determine if your symptoms are caused by ovarian hormonal changes, thyroid hormone changes or some other condition altogether? #hormonalchanges #thyroid #bcmhouston

Weight gain: Is your weight gain being misinterpreted as hypothyroidism when it is really linked to the slowing metabolism that affects all of us as we age? Menopausal women often find they need to work out differently or more frequently to achieve the same results as in younger years.

Sleep problems: If you’re having trouble sleeping, is it your thyroid? Or is it a normal part of your transition through midlife? A 2007 survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that nearly half of U.S. women at this stage of life – 46 percent of those ages 40 to 54, and 48 percent of those ages 55 to 64 – report sleep problems.

Depression: Some women may be experiencing depression due to empty nest syndrome, the challenge of caring for aging parents, or other events common at this phase of life, but they don’t recognize the symptoms. Sleeplessness, tiredness, and a lack of interest in activities you once enjoyed are common to both depression and an underactive thyroid. #CBHealthNY

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U.S. Heart Failure-Related Deaths Up Slightly #TIME #HeartDisease #Diabetes

For Adults age 45 and older, the researchers found that the underlying cause of heart failure-related deaths was less likely to be coronary heart disease in 2014 compared to 2000. It was likely to be caused by other types of heart disease or other diseases like #cancer and #diabetes. #CBHealthNY

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One hundred percent of #carbohydrates are converted into #glucose resulting in #highbloodsugar and high #insulin levels.

Controlling carbohydrate intake is the key to normalizing blood sugars and insulin levels. Type 2 diabetics who reduce carbohydrate intake can often decrease or eliminate the use of oral medications or insulin. Type 1 diabetics who lower carbohydrate intake can often help avoid large fluctuations in blood sugar. Because doses of insulin will need to be reduced, physician supervision is necessary. #CBHealthNY