When you eat refined sugar, pastries, and sweets, the sugar quickly enters your bloodstream.

Your pancreas senses this spike in blood sugar and produces insulin. Insulin helps your cells absorb the sugar.

The problem is that the spike in insulin is so intense it can make your energy crash just a little while later.
In response, your body releases cortisol and adrenaline. This is also when most people start reaching for coffee, tea, or other stimulants to compensate.

But this actually makes the problem worse––especially if it a regular occurance as cortisol both raises blood sugar and suppresses insulin. This means even though there is plenty of sugar in the blood, your cells can’t absorb it. Your cells are then “hungry” so they send hunger signals back to the brain. That’s when you get cravings for more sugary sweets and carbs.

And the rollercoaster goes on and on and on… but it doesn’t stop there.  Cortisol also shifts where your body stores fat, from “healthy” fat cells to the bigger toxic fat cells in your midsection. And the more fat you hold around your middle, the more cortisol you will produce. It makes the rollercoaster even stronger.

Not to mention how cortisol can affect your thyroid gland, which controls your metabolism, create female hormone problems, and cause digestive problems and immune suppression.

It’s a vicious cycle that can keep the weight stuck to your middle no matter what you do.

So, try to limit white sugary foods and base your diet around wholegrains, lean protein and lots of fruit and vegetables.