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The natural way to lose weight Never mind magic pills, or the latest fad diet. If you really want to lose weight, you need to deal with your stress levels and get enough sleep. Fitness expert Pat Divilly explains.
HIPPOCRATES
ILLNESSES DO NOT COME UPON US OUT OF THE BLUE. THEY ARE DEVELOPED FROM SMALL DAILY SINS AGAINST NATURE. WHEN ENOUGH SINS HAVE ACCUMULATED, ILLNESSES WILL SUDDENLY APPEAR.
When it comes to achieving a lean
requires us to take into account the
sync with seasonal light exposure.
we need to set out a game plan to
by our sleep. Cortisol levels should
physique, addressing your diet
quality of our sleep.
And these long days fool our bodies
help our sleep patterns get back in
be high in the morning and come
into thinking it is permanently
sync with what nature intended.
down through the day, but many of
and starting to exercise are the first obvious ports of call. But few
Our ancestors evolved eating a
summer, which affects our
people realise the role that their
diet of real natural foods that were
hormonal levels, our fertility,
As a personal trainer, many of my
leaving us walking around like
sleep and stress levels have in
fresh, organic and in-season.
appetite, and mental and
clients ask how they can remove fat
zombies in the mornings. Later,
achieving and maintaining a lean
Nowadays, too many people eat
physical health.
from troublesome areas. This sort
fueled by coffee and sugar, our
body that is healthy inside and out.
food that is heavily processed and
of ‘spot reduction’ isn’t possible
cortisol levels are high when going
us wake up with low cortisol levels,
loaded with sugar. This has led to
With our bodies anticipating scarce
through training alone, but by
to bed, leaving us feeling tired, but
For years we’ve been fooled into
chronically elevated insulin levels
food supply in the upcoming
optimizing our hormones with
sleepless and jumpy.
thinking weight loss is a simple
and, in turn ,obesity and type II
“winter”, we begin storing fat
proper diet and sleep we can tackle
To improve health and rid ourselves
matter of calories in versus calories
diabetes reaching epidemic levels.
and slowing our metabolism as a
these troublesome areas head-on.
or stubborn body fat, we need to get
out. In reality, it’s the quality of
means of survival. Living reactively
these biological rhythms back in
the foods we consume and, in
We have also seen drastic changes
and going with the flow in the
Take the very common “love
turn, the hormonal response they
in our sleep patterns in modern
modern world will lead to inevitable
handles” or infamous “muffin-top”.
elicit that affect how we look, feel
times. The invention of the light
decline in our health and wellbeing.
These are directly correlated to
and function. So optimizing our
bulb made our days longer year
Much like we need a structured
our levels of the stress hormone
hormonal levels is the key, and this
round, and we no longer sleep in
approach to how we eat and train,
cortisol, which are directly affected
sync with what nature intended.
YOUR SLEEP AND CORTISOL GAME PLAN
1. 2.
Turn off the TV or laptop at 9.00pm, dim the lights and get to bed before 11.00. Turn your room into a cave! Black out the room as much as possible removing any artificial light and ensure your room is reasonably cool.
3.
Get as much sleep as you can, aiming for nine hours, preferably waking without the use on an alarm (jobs and children make this easier said than done, but try do this as often as you can!).
4. 5.
Cut out caffeine after 3pm. Cut down on carbohydrate, replacing it with healthy fats like oils, nuts, nut butters and avocados.
6. 7.
Supplement with Magnesium oil spray, Tulsi Tea and/or ashwaghanda before bed. Keep your workouts to under an hour. Once you surpass this, testosterone levels drop and, in turn, your cortisol levels rise.
8.
Replace endurance style workouts with weight training or yoga.
Pat Divilly runs ‘Pat Divilly Fitness’ in Galway (www.patdivillyfitness.com) and is one of Ireland’s leading fat loss experts. He holds a Masters Degree in Exercise and Nutrition Science and is a certified personal trainer, strength coach and corrective exercise specialist.