Chapter 2
How healthy hormones keep you slim and fit

Being healthy means that your body is in balance. It is all about maintaining internal stability even though things change constantly on the outside. Take for instance the example of maintaining your body temperature whilst walking in the freezing cold to find yourself later sweating in a sauna. Whilst the ‘outdoor temperature’ fluctuates between 41 and 194F from your body’s perspective, the ‘indoor temperature’ should not deviate a lot from 97.7 till 99.5. Your body knows several tricks though to keep its temperature level. When it is very warm, you will start to sweat. The fluids evaporate and in doing so withdraw heat from your body causing its temperature’ to drop. On the other hand, should it be very cold, you then start to shiver. These involuntary movements allow for heat to be released causing the body temperature to rise.

Things like blood pressure, blood sugar level and the cholesterol level in the blood are also being kept at a constant level. And your fat supply should also be in balance: not too little and not too much. Our brains measure these values continuously. As soon as a modification takes place they provide a signal to the glands in question. These in turn produce the necessary hormones for restoring the balance.

The amount of fat and where it is stored are thus being kept level by your nervous system and hormones. Are you gaining weight or are you losing weight? Do you mainly gain weight on your buttocks? Or rather around the waist and between the organs of your abdomen? Are you feeling hungry all day? Suffer from frequent snack attacks? These things are all being determined by your hormones. You see, a major task of the hormones is to ensure that you are in balance when it comes to your weight: In short, that you are not too fat and not too thin.

You know them all too well, those who can eat whatever they want without gaining an ounce at all. It’s their hormones that keep their body perfectly balanced in terms of size and weight. And if they are lucky, they should also not have to worry about diabetes, high cholesterol or excess weight as their hormonal system is working superbly.

For most people though, their hormonal system gets disturbed by unhealthy eating habits and by too little or then again too much physical exercise. If you are struggling with weight problems, then your hormonal system is definitely disturbed. Should you continue along the same line then your hormonal system will become even more imbalanced in time – with serious consequences: Additional excess pounds, but also diabetes type 2 (‘adult-onset diabetes’) and many other diseases.

Hormones that determine your appetite

There are two hormones that are currently scientifically hot, being leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is mainly produced by fat cells and suppresses the appetite. Ghrelin is mainly produced in the stomach and stimulates the appetite. If the nine hormones, as described in Chapter 3, are in balance then so are leptin and ghrelin.