"The insulin's connected to the glucagon, the glucagon's connected to the cortisol..."

So, I'm singing my title this week.

It's been a month since I last posted, and to remind you, I promised I would be writing about hormones this time. Well, that has turned out to be a big promise to fulfill. I'm sort of going to half-ditch it, because there is just no way to cover all the things that are happening in you right now on a cellular level when it comes to hormone production, secretion, triggering, timing, receptors, balancing, etc. That's why I started out singing, to distract you in case you're disappointed that I won't be giving you the full rush of hormones you distracted.

Maybe it will be difficult to find out exactly what you can do about the care and keeping of your hormonal health, too. Sure, try to stay healthy, get regular check ups, and report any unusual body system changes you experience to your doctor. Because if your endocrine system is compromised, it’s not good news, you should catch it and take care of it asap. But beyond that, I'm not sure. Research is happening as I write. Along with the song-singing.

Pick One Thing: Your Hormones
Go ahead and try. If you can pick just one, let me know. They are so all intricately involved. It's quite beautiful if you can get past all the science-talk you find when you try to research them. Miraculous, really, to learn the sympony of processes taking place this very second within every cell in your body, as you just sit there and read my blog and hum along.

I think the easiest way to approach this topic is to identify those processes that you can have the most influence over, as well as those hormones that produce effects you can easily identify, and hopefully balance or control. Like insulin, for example. Insulin and its partner in all things blood sugar, glucagon, have a lot to do with your daily wellness and your overall health.

Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels are not well-controlled. And many fitness aficionados know that glucagon has to do with glucose (sugar) and then glycogen, which is used as energy by your body during exercise. If insulin and glucagon are not in good balance, you can not only become ill, you can burn energy inefficiently to the point where your body is fueling itself with its own muscle.

Ewww. Nobody wants that. But how to avoid it? If it’s not Type I Diabetes, which is a genetic condition that usually appears in childhood, then it’s Type II Diabetes, and that’s the one you can try to do something about. Stay in a healthy body weight. Eat a balanced diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and avoid all simple carbohydrates such as things made with white flour and sugar. Exercise. That seems sensible enough.

If you get regular physicals, your doctor is likely to spot onset of Diabetes symptoms via your blood work and your consult. Do what your doctor says as soon as your doctor says it, especially if it involves advice on how you can often avoid taking medications by managing Diabetes naturally with lifestyle changes.

Here’s another hormone worth noting: adrenalin. You know it as the fight or flight, prepare you for an emergency, hormone. It courses through your body as a result of threat or stress. Good, to a certain degree. Bad, to another. A constant low level of stress is found in many a modern life. This can mess up the body’s ability to regulate and process all the changes the hormone triggers. Things like increased pulse, heavy breathing, muscle tension, blood flow… sometimes you really do need to relax.

Your body has trouble dealing with all that speed you’re manufacturing but not fully working out (let’s face it, you won't go running from your desk at work the way your ancestors had to go running from the big tiger). Some other chemical/gland wizardry takes place on a cellular level and stressors end up turning into cortisol.

Cortisol is another chemical bad guy from the health, wellness and fitness perspective. It’s produced at the end of the process above, and is stored in fat cells, most commonly, in your belly. This is the reason why the belly measurement in contrast to your hips is such an important one. You might not think you have an issue with stress, cortisol, and waist-to-hip ratio, but if you carry excess fat in your midsection, you’re certainly at risk for more health problems as you age. Some people are shaped in this way, owing to DNA. If that is you, you need to work harder than your pear-shaped neighbor at balancing your stress, diet, exercise and outlook on life, to reduce your belly fat storage.

Once again, the solutions to so many of our potential problems can be found in prevention. So many of the things that are good for your heart are good for your brain, and then we learn they are good for your digestive system, and immune system, and now look here, they are good for your endocrine system, too.

Can you avoid most sweets, especially sugary drinks, pastries and cakes? Can you take at least 30 minutes for yourself every single day, to work off stress and help your body burn fat, not muscle? How about an hour then, three days a week? Lift things, move that body, hold those abs. Stretch and release muscle tension. Get fresh air, let your thoughts go.

Sleep.
Eat wholesome food.
Keep supportive people close in your life.
Enjoy recreation and hard work with equal vigor.

That kind of healthfulness doesn’t sound so bad for this week, now does it?

I’m quite happy now, that even from the complexity of hormones; we can still derive a basic, doable approach to the care and keeping of you. Because just like hormones, we all function best when we work together in balance... I do believe we're connected, through information, in our wellness and in this world.