The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health - And What You Can Do About It, 2nd Edition

339 Pages·2016·1.78 MB·English

by  Ph.D. Shawn Talbott Ph.D. FACSM

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HEALTH / STRESS/ WEIGHT LOSS 2n on THE ABCs OF CORTISOL CONTROL ...
“Proper diet and regular exercise are still important pieces of the weight-loss puzzle, TA Editi IT’S A HEALTH REVOLUTION!
but they are not the only considerations. We also need to consider the brain (sleep, L
stress, mood) and hormone levels (cortisol and testosterone) for the most complete B
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of cortisol and the breakdown of the body’s health reserves. In
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his carefully designed SENSEProgram (Chapter 9),Dr. Shawn
Talbott presented simple guidelines for reducing stress, lowering r ▲ explains howcortisol, the
cortisol levels, improving long-term health and reaching and main- t major stress hormone,
taining desired weight. SHAWN TALBOTT, PH.D., i WHY STRESS contributes to weight gain,
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Research in the last five years has shown that there is more, FACSM,is trained in depression, osteoporosis and
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and this new edition contains 25 percent new material, including
management and nutri- MAKES YOU FAT hypertension
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➺ new biochemistry research, an updated stress self-test and tional biochemistry. He
oversees educational
a wei ght-reduction plan efforts related to exer- C ▲ includesnew research on the
AND RUINS YOUR
➺ two new chapters about the relationships between cortisol cise, nutrition and die- connections between cortisol
and testosterone and cortisol and HSD, the body’s fat-storage tary supplements in his o and HSD (the body’s fat-storage
capacity as President of
enzyme, that show the big part they play in stress response SupplementWatch, Inc. n HEALTH — AND enzyme), and cortisol and
and weight gain He is a Fellow of both
testosterone
➺ refinements of the SENSE program based on controlled studies the American College n
of Sports Medicine WHAT YOU CAN
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(ACSM) and the American ▲ describesthe author’s
Institute of Stress. He
Dr. Talbott has long maintained that lowering cortisol is as impor- c effective (yet easy-to-follow)
maintains an active
DO ABOUT IT
tant to health and longevity as lowering cholesterol. This book nutrition counseling and t SENSE cortisol-reduction
explains why. With the information in this book, you can start lifestyle research center, N i plan: Stress management—
NOWto reduce stress, lower cortisol levels, avoid weight gain t(FhYe IF),untueraer YSoault ILnasktiet uCtiety. DESIG o Exercise—Nutrition—
and take more control of your health. He lives in Draper, Utah. HIC n
AP Supplementation—Evaluation
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ISBN-10: 0-89793-492-X US $15.95 TM
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The Cortisol Connection
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Testimonials from SENSE Program Users
(all names have been changed to protect privacy)
“I started SENSE during a very stressful time for me—and I ex-
pected to gain weight as usual because of the stress.… But SENSE
was so simple to follow that it actually made things easier to han-
dle (instead of harder to follow, as is the case with many other
diets I have tried).… The program has taught me so much about
nutrition and metabolism and how important it is to do several
small things at one time to control weight.” — Sandy
“M y results have been terrific, with a loss of 8 percent body fat and
almost twenty pounds. But the best part is that the balance in the
plan between exercise and diet and supplements is something I
can continue to follow forever.” — Dennise
“ Dr. Talbott’s SENSE program has helped me to lose more than
fifty-f ive pounds of body weight and at least six inches off my
waist.… Before starting on SENSE, my stress level was through
the roof, I had just bought a bigger belt and I was starting to eye
the 46-inch–waist pants (up from my then size 44 and my usual
38).… I can’t say enough about how beneficial the program was
for me. Aside from the loss of weight and inches, I feel a whole lot
better. My mood is up and my stress is way down from where it was
at the start of the program.” — Mitch
Testimonials (cont’d.)
“B y using Dr. Talbott’s ‘Helping-Hand’ approach to eating, I was
never hungry, I had no cravings, and I never felt like I was on a
‘diet’ of any kind. By following this program, I have made a com-
plete 180-degree turn with my eating habits—and these changes
have benefited my family as well as me.” — Stephanie
“ I was diagnosed with diabetes a few months before trying SENSE,
and my main interest was finding something that would help me
control my diabetes. The fact that the program focused partly on
controlling blood sugar made it seem like a good thing to try—but
I never expected all the wonderful benefits in how I look and feel.
By following SENSE, I lost more than five inches off my waist and
have gone from a size 22 to a size 16.” — Laura
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Ordering
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WHY STRESS MAKES YOU FAT
AND RUINS YOUR HEALTH —
AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
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Shawn Talbott, PH.D.
Foreword by William J. Kraemer, Ph.D.
SECOND EDITION
Copyright © 2007, 2002 by Shawn Talbott
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
and recording, or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system
without the written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of
this book. Brief quotations may be used in reviews prepared for inclusion in a
magazine, newspaper, or for broadcast. For further information please contact:
Hunter House Inc., Publishers
PO Box 2914
Alameda CA 94501-0914
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Talbott, Shawn M.
The cortisol connection : why stress makes you fat and ruins your health -
and what you can do about it / Shawn Talbott. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-89793-492-3 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-89793-492-X (pbk.)
1. Stress management. 2. Stress (Physiology) 3. Hydrocortisone—
Physiological effect. 4. Health. 5. Obesity. I. Title.
RA785.T35 2007
155.9'042—dc22 2007015592
Project Credits
Cover Design Brian Dittmar Graphic Design
Book Production John McKercher
Developmental and Copy Editor Kelley Blewster
Proofreader John David Marion
Indexer Nancy D. Peterson
Acquisitions Editor Jeanne Brondino
Editor Alexandra Mummery
Senior Marketing Associate Reina Santana
Rights Coordinator Candace Groskreutz
Customer Service Manager Christina Sverdrup
Order Fulfillment Washul Lakdhon
Administrator Theresa Nelson
Computer Support Peter Eichelberger
Publisher Kiran S. Rana
Printed and Bound by Bang Printing, Brainerd, Minnesota
Manufactured in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Second Edition 07 08 09 10 11
Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Are You a Type C? Gauging Your Exposure to Stress . . . . . 6
1 Stress and Your Health: The Type C Personality. . . . . . . . 10
Are You Happy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The “Normal” Stress Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
What Is Stress?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Humans Are Not Zebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Stress, Cortisol, and Metabolism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Stress and Disease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Cortisol: Too Much or Too Little? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Counteracting the Effects of Chronic Stress. . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Why Supplements?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2 The Science of Stress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Stressed Versus Stressed Out: What’s the Difference?. . . 30
Stages of Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Acute Versus Chronic Stress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Individual Responses to Stress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Is There a “Weaker Sex” When It Comes to Stress?. . . . . . 37
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3 All About Cortisol, the Master Stress Hormone. . . . . . . . 39
The Endocrine System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Adrenal Glands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
What Is Cortisol?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
What Does Cortisol Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Cortisol Metabolism. . 43
The Catabolic Effects of Chronically Elevated Cortisol. . . . 47
v
vi THE CORTISOL CONNECTION
Cortisol Is Only One Piece of the Puzzle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4 HSD: The Body’s “Fat Storage” Enzyme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
What Is HSD and What Does It Have to Do with Cortisol? . 51
The Effects of HSD on Obesity and Diabetes. . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Pharmaceutical Rush to Block HSD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Controlling HSD Activity Naturally. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5 Testosterone: Cortisol’s Alter Ego. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
What Is Testosterone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Not Just for Men. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Maintaining Balance: The Cortisol-to-Testosterone Ratio. . 69
Testosterone and Aging: Menopause and Andropause. . . 70
Testosterone and Weight Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Maintaining Testosterone Levels Naturally. . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6 The Relationship Between Stress and Disease . . . . . . . . . 79
Metabolic Consequences of Elevated Stress Levels . . . . . 80
How Stress Makes Us Fat: Cortisol, Diabetes, and Obesity 82
Cortisol and Syndrome X. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Cortisol, Fatigue, and Insomnia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Cortisol and Sex Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Cortisol, Suppressed Immune Function, and Cancer. . . . . 104
Cortisol and Cardiovascular Disease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Your Brain on Cortisol: Anxiety, Depression,
and Alzheimer’s Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Cortisol and Your Gut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Cortisol, Connective Tissue, Osteoporosis, and Arthritis. . 122
Cortisol and Aging. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
7 Counteracting the Effects of Chronic Stress . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Adrenal Stress Testing Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Controlling the Stress Response: The SENSE
Lifestyle Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Contents vii
Stress Management and Avoidance
(or Where Did Our Vacations Go?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Exercise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Supplements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Guidelines for Choosing and Using Dietary Supplements . 157
Choosing Supplements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Using Supplements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
8 Dietary Supplements for Stress Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Supplements Versus Prescription Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Supplements to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Vitamins and Minerals for Stress Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Cortisol-Control Supplements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
HSD-Balancing Supplements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Testosterone-Control Supplements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Adaptogens (General Antistress Supplements) . . . . . . . . . 218
Relaxation and Calming Supplements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
9 Putting It All Together: The SENSE Lifestyle Program. . . 242
Be the Balloon: The “3S” Approach to Managing
Metabolic Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Stress Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Exercise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Supplementation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Concluding Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Appendix: Putting the SENSE Lifestyle Program
to the Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Important Note
The material in this book is intended to provide a review of
information regarding the effects of stress and cortisol levels
on health. Every effort has been made to provide accurate
and dependable information. The contents of this book have
been compiled through professional research and in consul-
tation with medical professionals. However, health-care pro-
fessionals have differing opinions, and advances in medical
and scientific research are made very quickly, so some of the
information may become outdated.
Therefore, the publisher, authors, and editors, as well as
the professionals quoted in the book, cannot be held respon-
sible for any error, omission, or dated material. The authors
and publisher assume no responsibility for any outcome of
applying the information in this book in a program of self-
care or under the care of a licensed practitioner. If you have
questions concerning your nutrition or diet, or about the ap-
plication of the information described in this book, consult a
qualified health-care professional.