There is 1 hormone that can ruin your healthy weight loss diet and have you not only frustrated, but more importantly not losing any weight. Your body is a very complicated machine and hormones dictate much of what your body does or doesn’t do. They are very powerful and can influence your weight loss in a very dramatic way.

Cortisol is the hormone that can be detrimental. Excess cortisol will stimulate your appetite and prompt more calories to be stored as fat, so it is very influential in your weight loss plan. These are 2 things you don’t want when trying to follow a healthy weight loss diet. Cortisol also increases protein breakdown within the muscle, which means a slower metabolism and less calories burned. Continuously burning calories by keeping your metabolism going at a fast pace is a crucial component of weight loss success.

It decreases glucose utilization and increased insulin resistance, which means the glucose or sugars in your body are not used for energy as much as they should be. Instead they float around and eventually get stored as fat. This is strike two against your healthy weight loss diet and healthy eating plans.

One thing that directly increases cortisol is stress. Stress is the culprit in increasing cortisol levels and resistance to insulin and leptin. Stress can come from work issues, family issues, medical problems and even unhealthy foods. Higher cortisol levels come from stress-induced insulin resistance and increased leptin. Well, when you have higher cortisol levels your leptin and insulin resistance get worse. It is a vicious cycle that keeps feeding on itself until you are overweight or obese. If stress is a large component of your life, a healthy weight loss diet will be ineffective, despite best efforts at following healhty eating plans.

Those with extra fat in your belly, a round face, high blood sugars or high blood pressure most likely have elevated cortisol levels. These are tips for how to lower your cortisol levels.

Eat every few hours. When you wait longer than five hours between meals your body may start to release extra cortisol, which then increases your appetite. By eating every few hours not only are you going to keep your cortisol levels low you are going to stimulate other hormones that help you feel full for a longer period of time and reduce that urge to keep eating. Also, eat lean protein at every feeding opportunity to trigger certain hormones that will help you to eat less food and burn more calories.

Be aware of the stress in your life and try to control it, as I have discussed how important this is to keeping your cortisol levels low. Get plenty of sleep, exercise frequently and focus on reducing other stressors in your life so that your healthy weight loss diet is more effective.

Healthy weight loss diets are getting more and more popular. Why? Because people are starting to realize that they work, and they are sustainable, too! When on a healthy weight loss diet, you will actually not feel like you are dieting, but rather that you are adapting a new and healthier way of eating and exercising. When embarking on the journey of reducing your weight through a healthy diet, make sure you write down the “rules” for yourself on a piece of paper. How do you want to achieve weight loss through a healthy diet? Which core principles of your eating habits do you want/need to change?

Here are the top 8 tips for a healthy diet:

1. Drink plenty of water (around 2 Lt. a day). Water will keep flush out any toxins built up in your body, and will help flush out stored fat reserves. Drinking plenty of water will help getting rid of retained water, too, because the body does not have to “cling” to its water stores any more – it has plenty coming all the time!
2. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables. They contain lots of vitamins and minerals and help keep you and your body fit and healthy!
3. Eat several meals a day – 3 “main” meals and a few healthy snacks in between. Snacks could be dried apricots, a handful of nuts, a yogurt, a carrot….
4. Ban white bread from your pantry! Eat wholegrain, soy and linseed (very yummy!), pumpkin seed or similar – it helps a lot with digestion by making it harder for your body to digest. Your body will need more energy to deal with unprocessed food, therefore speeding up your metabolism and weight loss!
5. Try to not have any carbohydrates for dinner. Carbohydrates at night are really bad. Have vegetables and meat, or fish and salad, or something similar. The less carbs you eat, the less you will crave them, you will notice, promise!
6. Eat when you feel hungry, not because the clock tells you to. When you get up in the morning, don’t rush to eat your breakfast (unless you are starving!). Rather wait until you feel like you could eat something. And then make it the right choice – oats with honey and milk, or simply fruit and yoghurt are excellent choices. It is up to you whether you want to use skim or full cream milk. If you eat a healthy diet with the right foods, it won’t matter whether you eat and drink “the real stuff” or skim. I personally believe that skim products can increase your food cravings and they do have a higher carbohydrate content than the full fat versions as sugar is used to substitute the taste.
7. Eat slowly. When you eat, don’t do anything else. Concentrate on the food you are eating. You will notice a lot better when you are getting full. This is also called “being mindful”, and very important when trying to control your weight. Because successful weight loss has a lot to do with your way of thinking.
8. Moderate Exercise. No need to become a gym junkie, for some it is enough for starters to use the stairs more often, to park further away from where you want to go, and to go for walks.  Start slowly, and increase your exercise over time. Make sure your heart rate goes up a few times per week.

There you have it – 8 tips for Healthy Weight Loss Diets. Try them for yourself – and you will see and feel the results!