The Cortisol Connection

Book excerpt: Why does stress make you fat? What can you ultimately do about it? Shawn Talbott answered these questions in THE CORTISOL CONNECTION. Cortisol is the body's main stress hormone, prompting our fight or flight mechanism when dealing with a highly stressful situation, like being chased by a lion. However, the human body was made to deal with short bursts of stress (like being chased by a lion), not prolonged, continuous levels of stress (like mortgage payments, project deadlines, and traffic jams). This kind of stress causes the body's cortisol levels to rise, and scientific research has shown that high cortisol levels are associated with obesity, diabetes, fatigue, and even Alzheimer's disease. This new edition describes the results of the latest research about the connection between cortisol and HSD, and cortisol and testosterone. If we keep cortisol and HSD and testosterone within normal ranges, we're able to maximize the metabolic effect of diet and exercise regimen – and improve weight loss. In the first edition, Talbott introduced his SENSE program, that teaches participants how to manage stress and reduce cortisol levels. The program has been refined in the second edition with the help of the new research and the results of Talbott's test of the SENSE program over the past 5 years – he know it works. For the past 5 years, he has been actively researching (and refining and tweaking) this popular program to make it more and more effective in helping people to lose weight. SENSE is a program that combines Stress management, Exercise, Nutrition, Supplementation, and Evaluation into a comprehensive and highly effective (yet easy to follow) program that delivers results. During these 5 years, Talbott has combined different dietary approaches with varied exercise regimens and myriad supplement combinations – until finding just the right combination that works best for the majority of people. This edition contains 25% new material and a revised program to help everyone manage cortisol, stress, and their weight.