... the hormones that dictate our percent body fat and how they are managed in the body. The hormones involved are insulin, glucagon, growth hormone, cortisol, thyroid and epinephrine. We mentioned that insulin is the only one that promotes fuel (sugar, fat, protein) storage in the liver, the rest encourage the liver to release stored fuel into the blood. Insulin levels increase after a meal, telling the liver to store glucose as glycogen. Once the liver has stored all that it can, glucose will be converted into fat and cholesterol.

Insulin-like-growth-factor –1 (IGF-1), is a hormone made by the liver in response to growth hormone. It acts on the liver to release stored sugar and fats into the blood for fuel. In the rest of the body it acts like insulin in that it helps to take fuels out of the blood and put them into the cells. There are some cells that prefer insulin, like the fat cells and the liver, and there are other cells that prefer IGF-1, like most of the other cells. This means that there should be much more IGF-1 than insulin since there are many more cells that prefer it to help them get fuel inside. In a healthy person there is 100 times as much IGF-1 as there is insulin.

Since IGF-1 has the same function as insulin the pancreas does not need to make as much insulin so the blood levels don’t get as high so there is not as much fuel stored as fat. You cannot maintain body fat if you don’t have insulin. People who are over-weight make more insulin than IGF-1 so they constantly have the message to store extra fuel in the fat cells.

Hence the key to any weight-loss plan is to reduce insulin production. Body fat will not stay if there is insufficient insulin to support it. So diet is therefore a key component in any weight-loss routine. You want to avoid spiking the insulin after a meal by keeping the glycemic load (the amount of sugar the blood stream sees after a meal) low. The other key is to have enough IGF-1 so that the insulin doesn’t spike. As soon as the body sees enough IGF-1 it won’t make as much insulin since there is another hormone available to get the fuel into the cells.

In order to have enough IGF-1, you need to have enough growth hormone. You make growth hormone while you sleep (real sleep, not just a comatose state induced by artificial sleep meds) and you need to exercise. The more lactic acid is produced during exercise, the more growth hormone will be produced. Then, of course, you need the liver to function properly in order to make growth hormone.

The great benefit of addressing the hormonal balance to lose weight is that many chronic, degenerative diseases will also be prevented or ameliorated.