The Whole30 Review (Part 2 - The Hormonal Stuff)

Here is part 2 of the Whole30 review for those readers who have been paying close attention to it. For part 1, click here. This next part of the review focuses on more of a few of the important hormones of your body, as well as your digestive system. 

Since these posts are so information dense, I'm considering only going up to chapter 8ish. The reason behind this is because much of the rest of the book talks about HOW you should eat and WHAT you should eat and WHY you shouldn't eat certain things. I will briefly talk about these topics, but I wouldn't go in depth into it. It's not what I would represent, but if you are interested, do buy the book to read it's entirety. 

Chapter 5: Healthy Hormones, Healthy You 

• Hormones are chemical messengers that are usually transported in your bloodstream. They respond to external factors that tip the scale out of balance. 
• When you eat and digest food, food triggers multiple hormonal responses in the body. Hormonal responses control the use, storage, and availability of nutrients. 
• Hormone feedback loops influence the body as one big system. No specific one is good or bad, but when out of balance they can do harm to our body. 

Insulin

• Secreted by beta cells of the pancreas in response to ingestion of energy, most notably from carbohydrate 
• Facilitates the moving of macronutrients from bloodstream into the cells for immediate or future use 
• Coordinates the metabolic shift from predominantly burning one fuel source (carbs) to the other (fat). 
• Chronically elevated insulin levels are correlated with leptin resistance, and indirectly related to elevated cortisol levels. 
• Insulin “unlocks” a one-way door into cells to store nutrients, such as glucose. 
• Rise in blood sugar is sensed by beta cells, which then secrete insulin; this signals to pull glucose out of the bloodstream and move it into storage, bringing it back to homeostasis level. 
• Chronically elevated blood glucose levels are highly damaging to the body systems. 
• Primary place to store glucose in the the liver and muscle in the form of glycogen. In the liver, glycogen can be converted back to glucose and released into the bloodstream when needed. Glycogen in the muscle cell remains there to fuel the muscle cells. 

• Hormonal troubles start with “overcarbsumption”; chronic overconsumption of supernormally stimulating, nutrient-poor, carbohydrate-rich foods. 
• Constant excess supply of carbohydrate tilts metabolic preference for fuel - precedence for sugar over fat as a source of energy 
• Less fat burned for fuel results in higher level of body fat accumulation. 
• When the liver and muscle cells can hold no more glucose, the liver converts the extra glucose into palmitic acid, a type of saturated fat that can form triglycerides. 
• Both of those processes combined leads to increased body fat, and this pile up of excess sugar and triglycerides pushes another hormone, leptin, out of balance. 

Leptin

• An energy balance hormone, secreted primarily by fat cells, and is released in proportion to the amount of fat stored. 
• Often referred to as a ‘satiety hormone’ because higher leptin levels help to keep us full and satisfied. 
• Overconsumption of supernormally stimulating nutrient poor foods promotes leptin resistance and an increase in fat store, building an even greater insulin resistance. 
• Fat cells secrete leptin to communicate with the brain whether you are too fat, too lean, or just right. 
• very little body fat = leptin levels are low; brain tells you to eat more, move less, causing more damage to your metabolism, causing you to gain more fat. 
• Excess glucose and triglycerides in bloodstream impairs your brain’s ability to “hear” leptin’s message, causing leptin resistance. 
• Leptin resistance means you are gaining fat 
• Leptin’s message is hard to overcome (hard to fight the cravings) because your brain responds strongly to leptin’s primal signals. 
• Skinny fat: likely to be leptin resistant, enough accumulation of visceral fat (fat stored in and around your organs) to cause hormonal dysfunction (such as imbalance of thyroid and reproductive hormones). 

• When your body is metabolically reliant on sugar for energy, you continue to pour glucose into your blood stream. 
• To protect themselves, your cells become insulin resistant; they lose their sensitivity to insulin’s message to store nutrients, causing the blood sugar level to remain high. 
• This induces the pancreas to produce even MORE insulin, until the message is strong enough to FORCE glucose and nutrients into the already-full cells. 
• Ultimately causing oxidative stress and elevated fat levels in the blood 
• Oxidative stress means the production of reactive oxygen species by the cells, also known as free radicals. An accumulation of free radicals can lead to systemic inflammation. 
• The constant stress on the pancreas to produce more insulin leads to beta cells to disintegrate, losing the ability to produce insulin. If this vicious cycle continues, it can progress to Type 2 diabetes. 

Glucagon

• secreted from alpha cells in the pancreas in response to demand for energy, allows you to access stored energy; 
• glucagon tells body to break down stored fat and convert stored liver glycogen into glucose, ONLY when there’s not a lot of circulating insulin. 
• chronic stress, protein intake, and low blood sugar levels stimulate glucagon release. 
• glucagon function inhibited by elevated insulin and free fatty acids in the blood. 
• Takeaway: Glucagon can’t help us stabilize blood sugar and access fat stores for energy if insulin levels are chronically elevated (only burning carbs for energy, fat stores accumulate). 

Cortisol

• the stress hormone secreted from adrenal glands to help body recover from acute flight-or-fight stress response 
• secreted in response to low blood sugar, physical or psychological stress, intense prolonged exercise, and sleep deprivation. 
• the release helps raise blood sugar, stimulating glycogen breakdown. 
• chronically elevated levels promotes insulin resistance (inhibits glucose uptake) and a raise in leptin levels. 

• Cortisol levels are normal to be higher in the morning; artificial light after dark (Tv, computer) tells your body it’s still day time, upsetting normal hormonal responses. 
• Cortisol promotes glucagon, breaking down stored energy as liver glycogen 
• *When you’re stressed all the time, your body releases cortisol constantly; chronically elevated cortisol levels sends a variety of messages via different hormonal pathways, designed to preserve body fat. 
• erodes your muscle mass, leaving more fat and less muscle 
• Elevated cortisol contributes to weight gain, and induced stress overeating; mostly supernormally stimulating, nutrient-poor, carbohydrate-dense foods. 
• Elevated cortisol levels also messes with thyroid function. 
• *you cannot out-exercise poor food choices and the resulting hormonal disruption. 

Chapter 6: The Guys of the Matter 

• Purpose of the digestive tract/gut is to absorb nutrients from food, and also a prominent part of the immune system. 
• When food enters the stomach, nothing happens to the carbohydrate and fats in the stomach, but protein starts to break down due to the acidic environment and digestive enzymes present. 
• Stomach acts as a sensor for satiety. 
• Carbohydrates broken down to individual sugars; small protein molecules broken down to amino acids; fats broken down to glycerol and fatty acids. 
• Your liver functions as a critical metabolic regulator and filtration system. It also produces bile, that is stored in the gallbladder, to help digest fats. 
• The small intestine effectively absorbs nutrients. 
• *Keeping the right stuff in and the wrong stuff out is critical to a healthy gut. The lining of your gut is the physical barrier between your insides and the outside world. 

• Balanced gut bacteria, the right kinds in right amounts, help to promote balanced immune functions, leading to a more relaxed, finely-tuned immune system. 
• When the intestinal lining is compromised (by eating the wrong kind of foods), your increase gut permeability, digestive distress, and systemic inflammation.  
• Increased gut permeability is linked to intestinal inflammatory conditions, provoking systemic inflammation.