The Osctober challenge was one of self commitment, learning, reflecting, and self improvement, guidance on how to do challenge was given but the commitment was all yours, wow,that sounds like real life!! Now what I didn't tell you at the start was the changes you should achieve if the challenge was adhered too. Yes you will see physical changes but the main result I was wanting for everyone was their hormone responses in the body. What I am going to go over is how many of you would have felt during a typical day when food intake was not spot on, then I will show the way you feel if you eat right.
Before the challenge this would be maybe a typical day:
- Your alarm goes off early morning and you reach for the snooze button, maybe not just once but 2, even 3 times.
- once up you go straight to the kitchen for a coffee as your not feeling to bright or perky (caused by low cortisol (hormone) levels which has been contributed from your unhealthy eating).
- For breakfast you grab a low fat muffin, or some cereal, have a glass of juice, and then head out the door. In a few minutes you have energy, your breakfast that has been exclusively fast digesting carbohydrates (sugar) and you feel ok, good enough to workout or start your daily routine.
- Around 10am the insulin (hormone) spike caused by breakfast which gave you energy has started to crash, this instant crash causes a cortisol response which in turn uses glucagon (hormone) to get your blood sugar to normal. Your brain now thinks "I need energy now" so you start getting cravings, some may have another coffee, some reach for a piece of cake etc. (it's going to be something loaded with sugar), but in actual fact your liver and muscles are still full of glucose from this morning. Oh no, this coffee, piece of cake only has 2 places to go. Its stored as fat or it remains circulating around in your blood once again increasing an insulin spike.
- We have made it through to lunch and you think that you would like to try and eat something "healthy". You head to subway or the local bakery and grab a sandwich (sub) with chicken, some low fat chees and some salads on wholemeal bread. To was this meal down you grab a sugar free diet drink. You've done well right? No not exactly. Once again your carbohydrate dense food causes another insulin spike, the caffeine in your drink elevates cortisol (stress). This has all been done and to be honest you aren't even full. Once again like with breakfast you get a energy lift but around about 3pm the sugar spike plummets and you all that insulin that was released now has driven blood sugar levels low. It is likely that you now have what is called the trifecta - you're tired, hungry and mentally foggy.
- Although your tired, and need a sleep its ok as you can reach for another coffee and grab that snack you packed this morning, a low fat health bar, or some yogurt covered sultanas. Once again the sugar rich food has picked your energy levels up as you have increased cortisol and insulin and for now your appetite is satisfied.
- You get home and you feel a bit stressed and have an urge for takeaway food, or something that is calorie dense (i.e. large serving of creamy pasta). Due to the stress of the day you also feel like a glass of wine. In the end you end up eating more than you should and drinking a bit more than you should too as your leptin resistance has gone haywire and your body no longer has the ability to tell itself its full. Oh no, now the hormones in your body have responded again and even though you just had dinner as you are sitting watching television and you get urges for something sweet, you go to the freezer and find a sweet, you sit down and love every spoonful, You deserve it right, you are so exhausted from the day.
- Finally you try and go to bed but your cortisol levels are high and you can't wind down, you toss and turn, and generally don't sleep well. During the night your cortisol drops (it should be at its highest early morning) and suddenly your alarm goes off and you reach for the snooze. Your ready for another day of hormonal rollercoaster due to mainly your food intake.
Now if you followed the challenge as you were asked to, or you eat clean and unprocessed foods this is more like your day will be:
- Around 5:30am your cortisol levels rise helping you wake up before your alarm goes off. Due to also eating well you will wake up hungry. You will probably sit down to a simple meal that takes a little prep, something like 2-3 scrambled eggs, with some vegies scrambled in, some blueberries and a cup of coffee.
- Due to a balanced macronutrient level (protein - carbs - fats) your blood sugar rises moderately and the liver and muscles are able to deal with the energy and it is stored as glycogen to be used as energy as required. Because you also have been exercising there is room for the energy to be efficiently transported into cells to do their respective jobs.
- Over the next few hours your blood glucose slowly decreases which triggers the release of glucagon which tells the liver to release a bit more glucose into the blood so your blood sugar is in a healthy normal range continuing to give you energy required for life. (along with good mental focus too)
- At lunch time all of your stored energy declines and your reminded its time to eat. For lunch you grab a hearty salad (mixed greens, beetroot, apple, walnuts etc.) with chicken breast strips and olive oil/balsamic dressing. You relax and chew your food properly, enjoying your meal. Again your meal has a good macronutrient content and the same response hormonally happens as it did at breakfast time. Your hormones are in balance and operating how they were designed too operate.
- As the day goes on things start to get busy and you haven't eaten for a while your blood sugar again declines, but thanks to a balanced hormonal system the brain signals cortisol to use glucagon to release some stored energy (dietary fats and stored fat) keeping blood sugar and energy levels constant.
- You finally arrive home, you are hungry yes, but not exhausted or cranky, you dig into a meal with comprising of meats and vegetables etc. This meal leaves you full and satisfied after dinner. The protein you had at dinner ensures stable energy levels and balanced hormones over the coming hours.
- You continue to enjoy the evening, you may even grab 1 glass of wine or a cup of tea, maybe even a herbal tea. You don't suffer from any cravings and you slowly wind down and cortisol drops meaning a good nights sleep will be the result. Around 5:30am your cortisol again will rise and you will wake and think, wow I must be a morning person.
If you have done the challenge as it was asked to be done then you should be feeling good throughout the day, your hormones have returned to normal function and if you continue the good eating and eliminate grains and processed foods the response will continue to get better leaving you feeling better. The other great thing is that if you feel good on the inside then that correlates to look well on the outside.
The info in this blog on hormonal repsonses from food comes from "It Starts With Food" - Dallas and Melissa Hartwig (2012)