sebastianmaclean

Hi Bas, it's Jeremy(841061) I have been hearing a lot about a hormone released in the body when it's under stress, mental and physical. I've heard that this hormone can cause people to hold onto fat around there middles, as well as thicken the blood and lead to ulcers and hardened arteries particularly in people who do not ingest enough anti oxidants or have a release for built up stress. I can't remember the name of this hormone but on a show airing on the National geographic channel called "The truth about food", a sample group of taxi drivers in London were selected and there hormone levels measured. After 3 months of eating fish rich in omega fatty acids, Salmon being the best choice, there levels were measured again. A 20% drop of this hormone was recorded across the board. In another study Type 2 diabetics were required to consume a regulated and daily intake of Salmon. Apparently there insulin resistance decreased dramatically. Not to mention what Regularly eating fish did for Cognitive abilities, and the dramatic benefits experienced by those suffering from depression and Bipolar disorder. Sorry I can't offer specific numbers, these are thing I've read in many nutritional books over the years and it all kind of runs together.
Anyway I was wondering if you could tell me the name of this stress hormone, and maybe tell me about how a reduction in this would benefit me in your program. Also I have heard about bodybuilders injecting insulin. I'm not sure why they do this but if Salmon drops the bodies resistance to insulin, would it be enough to enhance my results?


Thanks,
Jeremy.

Hey Jeremy,

You are talking about a catabolic steroid produced by the body called cortisol. It is both a nayural and sytheticly produced anti-inflamatory hormone. It also assists in accelerating the breakdown of sugars for in high stress situations for the purpose of increase strength and energy output. However, it is very hard on the system and muscle tissue in particular, as it does have a catabolic effect on those tissues.

Omega 3 fat's, particularly those from fish, have been shown to have a number of hormone balancing benefits, and this seems to be the case with the ratio of cortisol to growth hormone and testosterone in the body. This is vital since hormone balances are shifting constantly when training and the Omega 3 fats are vital to keeping natural growth inducing hormones at optimal levels. Other ways to reduce cortisol levels are through ample sleep, water intake and post workout massage treatment. Essentially the faster you can recover the more cortisol levels will stay at their lower level.

As for your last question about insulin, this injection process used by some bodybuilders is done to accelerate the amount of nutrient supplied to muscle cells and keep the body in a more persistent anabolic state, due to increased nutrient ansorption and glycogen access. This is very dangerous and can rapidly cause insulin resistance or even death if handled by the less knowledgable.

hi sebastian, i read thru your naturally massive manual would i be right in assuming that you go thru the 2 phases one afte rthe other and therefore you could gain weight and keep your fat percentage down. iam currently at 260lbs at 11% body fat my target in 6 months is to be at 270 at 13% then spend the final 6 months reducing the body fat to competition levels of 5% body weight 235lbs. being my first competition this year i want to get my targets as accurate and realistic as i can. 12 months ago i was 280lbs and 27% body. two questions really doing the 2 phases the right way to go about achieving my first goal (270@13%) and secondly what changes do i need to make in the last 6 months to achieve my second goal (235@5%) reagrds ricky