Today we're going to talk

about stress, weight gain and

belly fat for women over 35.

tAfter the age of 35, I hear a

lot of women say to me, my body

changes and the things that used

to work do not work anymore.

And sadly that accelerates or that change

is more significant after the age of 40.

as we get into our forties,

we're more prone to.

Insulin resistance.

And this is, I'll explain more about

this, but basically it means that

we're more prone to weight gain.

We're more prone to belly fat due

to the hormonal changes that occur

as we enter our forties, right?

there are many things that we can do.

And I really want to discuss

this because this is completely

preventable and reversible.

So, insulin resistance makes us prone

to weight gain, and it occurs when

our cells become resistant to insulin.

And what that means is that when

we've had too many glucose spikes

from, say, a higher carbohydrate diet

and stress and I'll explain more.

Then the dose of insulin that our

cells need in order to move the

glucose into the cells is much higher.

So for example, a very arbitrary

number is say, you know, you would

eat some kind of carbohydrate food.

You would need about two mils of insulin

in order to move that glucose into

the cell with with insulin resistance.

You now need say 10 mils.

Okay, and so the cells have become

resistant to the effects of insulin.

We need more insulin and The more

insulin that we have, the more body

fat that we store and the less we're

able to utilize the Excess fuel

on our body, which is body fat.

Now, again, those numbers are

completely arbitrary, but I just

wanted to give you an example of kind

of what that looks like in the body.

So after the age of 40, so women

start noticing at 35 and then 40 and

onwards that we get changes to our

body shape and we can get the belly

fat, but we also get the saggy arms.

It's the flat butt or the

sagging anything, right?

And this is because insulin resistance

is linked with muscle loss or age

related muscle loss known as sarcopenia.

So this is where you start to see that,

Hey, the things that I was doing before

in my twenties and thirties is not really

working anymore in terms of exercise, in

terms of diet, you're losing more muscle,

things are losing tone and perhaps the

exercise you've been doing for such a

long time isn't having the same effect.

Now besides just an aesthetics thing

right, it's always nice to look toned

and fit into your clothes nicely

and not have anything overhanging

and too many soft spots but insulin

resistance and psychopenia mean that

there's too much inflammatory fat.

When we have muscle loss, muscle

loss or muscle is an indicator of

health and longevity so we do not

Want to lose this as we get older.

We really want to retain it.

We even grow some more

muscle and it is possible.

Okay.

So we don't need to be

getting psychopenia.

There are things that we

can do to offset this.

So what causes insulin resistance?

Well, there's two big factors.

Number one is stress, long

term recurring stress.

So when there's been an impact to the

HPA axis, Uh, which is basically a

part of the stress response system.

If you've been in a long term period

of stress or burnt out or adrenal

fatigue, that those periods of high

cortisol, the high stress hormone,

when our body is in fight or flight

mode, our body is flooded with glucose.

And when there's high glucose, there's

going to be high insulin as well.

And so we're going to start

laying down more fat and our cells

become more insulin resistant.

So I had a client that, When we were

tracking her glucose through glucose

monitors, she found that when she

was in a meeting, she hadn't eaten

anything for hours prior to that

meeting, but her glucose levels were

going up in that meeting because

she was quite stressed, right?

And she was really surprised to see

how her body was responding to stress.

So it's really like I say that when our

cortisol increases, it's really like

we're eating some kind of processed food.

Carbs or sugar because the body

is having that surge in glucose.

The other thing with stress is

that long-term stress or stress

causes us to self-soothe with food.

So we look for the sugar,

the carbohydrates, the

alcohol, whatever it is.

to, you know, help us to relax and

help us to get over a bad day and

help us to deal with our stress.

And that also increases

glucose and insulin spikes.

And then weight gain.

So weight gain and insulin

resistance kind of go hand in hand.

But if you've gained weight due to

whatever reason, if your measurements,

generally if your measurements are

over 88 centimeters or 34 inches, it

is an indicator of insulin resistance.

As determined by studies.

Okay.

I have some women who kind of

throw back and go, well, that

can't be true for every woman.

This is what the studies show.

So if there is an increase in belly fat,

over 88 inches, there's a predisposition

there to insulin resistance.

So the good news is.

This is completely reversible.

You can prevent it and you can do

it without being so restrictive

or feeling hungry or cutting

out so much from your diet.

And the benefit of reversing this is that

you'll have so much more energy, right?

Because Right now, if you've got excess

fat, your body, that's excess fuel

that your body can tap into for energy.

And body fat gives us a high source

of energy that lasts all day long.

So we want to tap into that, right?

And so you'll have so much more

energy, you'll have less weight,

and you'll improve your muscle tone.

Again, that all looks great, feels

great, but you will be much healthier For

years to come and for women offsetting

things like high cholesterol, fatty

liver, which is really common that

I see with women and non alcoholic

fatty liver, and this is all coming

from the diet and from stress.

And the other major factor is reducing

the risk of cardiovascular disease.

and.

We're looking at dementia, right?

They say dementia is type 3 diabetes.

So, you know, insulin resistance

is a, is a marker before diabetes.

So we want to make sure that we're,

if we're there, we want to pull back.

We want to make sure we improve all

of our health markers, reduce insulin

resistance, burn the belly fat, get

more energy, improve our muscle mass

in order to have long term health.

Okay, the first thing that you want

to do to reduce the insulin spike.

So this is what we, how

you want to look at it.

You want to reduce glucose.

Okay.

Spikes.

So the big increase in

your glucose levels.

So sometimes you can have a carbohydrate

food and the glucose rises very steadily,

and then it comes down very steadily.

But some foods will cause

your glucose levels.

Once I had a glucose monitor on and

I drank a bubble tea, and uh, my

glucose went boop, and then boom.

Right?

And so that is a very sudden shock

of glucose to the system, which

requires a lot more insulin, right?

So it's a, it's a safety

mechanism for the body when they.

Glucose is rising too high.

The body will release a lot of insulin

to pull that back down to normal levels.

So we want to make sure that

we're reducing the glucose spike.

So regular meals do not go too long

in between meals to begin with.

As that can cause sugars

levels to plummet.

And then we crave, or our body

goes through this process where

it breaks down muscle tissue

to convert that into glucose.

And then it goes back up, right?

So we want to make sure we keep

a nice routine with our meals.

Not going too long,

not missing breakfast.

Not going too long before having

breakfast and having this nice rhythm

and regular meals to begin with.

And you want to make sure

that you balance your meals.

Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats.

And you want to eat the

protein portion first.

The proteins and the fats first, right?

So, the reason for this is that if you

had a nice balanced meal and you ate all

the carbohydrates first, that can cause

a spike in the glucose levels, right?

So you want to go for the protein

and then have the carbohydrates

to create that nice balanced meal.

Smooth glucose curve.

The second thing that you want to

do is reduce the mental stress.

So as I told you about my client,

it wasn't even food related for her.

It was definitely stress.

And so I did an episode, episode

five, where I talked about

escaping the overwhelmed trap,

how to reduce stress and anxiety.

So it's really the mental game because

most of our stress, 80 percent of our

stress is mental and emotional stress.

So this is where we can make the

biggest difference to our health.

If we can get a handle on this.

And it also means we won't be going

for processed foods to kind of self

soothe, right, to get us over a bad day.

And then other routines, like making

sure you get, you know, good amounts

of sleep, getting to bed by 9.

30, 10pm.

Like having a good sleep routine

really reduces the stress hormones.

Exercising helps to remove the

stress hormones in the body

once they've been released.

So instead of just sitting down

at your desk, getting up, going

for a walk, or going for a run, or

whatever it is that you do, to get

rid of the excess stress hormones.

So that's number one.

That's reducing the glucose and

insulin spikes by reducing stress.

And secondly, and equally as big

factor, is reducing processed foods.

Okay, so we know that processed

foods, It causes that really sharp

rise in the glucose levels, which

then floods the body with insulin.

And so the other thing to note is

that when our glucose levels rise

very, very high and very quickly,

it causes a sudden drop later on.

And this is where we're going

to crave more carbohydrates.

It's, we may feel

hangry, we'll feel tired.

And it's very hard to resist the

carbohydrate or the sugar cravings

because the glucose levels is very low.

And so it ends up meaning that

you can be on this kind of highs

and lows rollercoaster all day,

affecting your energy and affecting

your mood and affecting the way

that your body uses fat for fuel.

So removing processed foods is huge

and it can, and for some it can

be a big endeavor if your diet is.

So the first thing that I say is cut

out the obvious sugars first, Any,

you know, chocolates or confectionery

desserts, biscuits or cakes or ice cream

or soft drink or Any of those things,

the obvious sugars cut them out first.

And if you are a sugar

addict, I do understand.

I used to be a sugar addict very badly

and I know that giving up sugar can be

hard, but it's absolutely doable, okay?

I want you to remember that because

once you start to have regular meals

and you have balanced meals with good

sources of protein, eating the protein

first, you're going to have less of

these highs and lows and less cravings.

It makes it so much easier

to cut out sugar, right?

So we find that women in our program,

once they come in, they're used to

kind of having breakfast late and

then they might have lunch late

or they might skip lunch, right?

Lunch might not even happen.

And then come the afternoon, they

have huge cravings for sugar, right?

And it's hard to resist

that because it's all about

biochemistry at the end of the day.

I always say biochemistry always wins.

Okay.

So we want to work with it.

So if we have regular meals

throughout the day, okay.

you're going to offset

the triggers for cravings.

Okay.

And making sure that you have

the good quality protein.

So the other thing I want to mention,

like when we're looking at reducing

insulin resistance, at some point, it's

going to be important to create some

fasting windows throughout the day.

But if you're perimenopause or been

through a period or you're currently

in this kind of high stress state,

that's not going to be possible, right?

Because we need the carbohydrates

for one, or mainly for this.

adrenal or stress response system.

So when we're stressed,

we rely on the adrenals.

They produce all the

stress hormones, right?

And in perimenopause, they are also

the glands that help to produce the

hormones that transition into menopause.

So if we take those away right

now, the carbohydrates completely,

that is going to crash you, right?

It's going to make it very hard for

your body to do what it needs to do.

Or if we completely put you

on a fasting schedule, right?

So we don't want to do that, right?

The first thing that you want to do is

reduce your obvious sugars, create some

fasting blocks later on down the track.

When you're feeling better in

terms of energy, in terms of the

belly fat reducing, you can create

the fasting blocks of windows.

And what that does, it creates like,

so you have your breakfast, you don't

have any snacks in between you have

your lunch, nothing to eat in between.

And then you have your dinner and then

nothing until breakfast the next morning.

So you're almost creating this like.

12 hour fast window, overnight.

The reason why that's important is

because there's no glucose or insulin

in those fasting blocks, right?

So it's really again going to lower

insulin resistance and increase

insulin sensitivity in the cells.

And as I said, Carbohydrates is

still important if you're stressed or

perimenopause because we need to support

the system that's going to help with

the functions that you need right now.

And that is Carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates switches off

the stress response, okay?

But we want to choose our Carbohydrates

wisely, not processed foods, not obvious

sugars, but like your starchy vegetables

and your veggies, they help to give

you a better source of Carbohydrates.

So, with all of that said,

right, it can seem like a lot.

This is where I would start.

If you're right at the beginning and

you're like, Oh my goodness, that

sounded like a lot that I needed to do.

This is where I would start.

Start with regular meals,

breakfast, snack, lunch,

mid afternoon snack, dinner.

And make sure that you're eating protein

carbs and fats with each of those, right?

And eat the protein portion first,

if you can, for like your main

meal, That's where I would start.

I would reduce mental stress.

So listen to that episode that I did,

episode five on the overwhelm trap.

I really talked about the mental

game, the mental aspect of stress

and then remove obvious sugars.

They would be the three

places that I would start.

If you're at the beginning, and that

sounds overwhelming to bring your insulin

levels down, improve insulin sensitivity,

and start to lose weight, right?

Start to reduce that belly fat.

Start to tap into that excess

fuel that you have on your body.

So you have energy that

lasts all day long.

I would love to hear your comments below

on one, what you're going to start first,

or kind of where you are at with what

have you tried before in terms of insulin

resistance and reducing belly fat?

Let me know in the comments below.