What does your weight have to do it your brain? Well, as your weight increases the size of your brain decreases. WOW! Did you know that? I didn’t. Your ability to reason, pay attention and your memory decreases as your weight goes up. So the higher your weight goes, the smaller your brain becomes.
Why Is Excess Fat Bad For Your Brain?
According to Dr. Daniel Amen, fat is the largest endocrine organ in your body. It stores toxins, releases lipids into your bloodstream, produces inflammatory cytokines, promotes insulin resistance and turns healthy testosterone in men into dangerous forms of estrogen.
Now remember that you do not get fat from consuming healthy dietary fats. You become fat by eating sugary foods or foods that quickly turn to sugar as refined carbohydrates do. We know that consuming these foods also contributes to diabetes and obesity or a term coined by Dr. Mark Hyman, diabesity.
What Happens To Your Brain?
Did you know that having diabetes and being obese can affect your memory and put you at higher risk for dementia?
Lifestyle Behaviors That Put You At Risk
- Living a sedentary lifestyle
- consuming too much alcohol
- using nicotine and other addictive substances
- exposure to toxins
- consuming excess sugar and foods high on the glycemic index
These can all contribute to diabetes, obesity and ultimately a decline in brain function.
Sleep Disorder
Another consequence of being overweight can be the development of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a potentially very dangerous sleep disorder that can lead to brain damage because of lowered blood flow in the brain. When blood flow in the brain is reduced, your risk of dementia increases. If you lose weight, and are treated for the apnea, this condition may be reversible.
There’s more, and as I complete the course I am taking on brain health, I’ll share more of what I learn. Your brain is your most valuable asset and when you kill off brain cells, they don’t grow back. So treat your brain with the same care you would use with a loved one because it’s the only one you’ll have.
My Story
Since June 2019, I decided to hold myself accountable for walking my talk. Several years ago, I was able to take off 135 pounds and essentially save my own life. I regained some of that weight in the last couple of years and I’m working my way back down. I’ve lost over 40 pounds since I began in June and have exercised nearly every day since August.
If you choose to join me on this journey, I hope I am able to impart some nutritional and lifestyle wisdom. Even though I may have gone off the rails temporarily I can still share some of my first hand experience as well as my acquired knowledge and training to help you make the right changes to live your best life.
Do You Want Help?
Would you like to have more energy, lose weight, sleep better, and balance your hormones? I am launching another 5 week Sugar Detox Program beginning January 28th.
This program is open to anyone who:
- would like to get control of their sugar cravings
- feel better
- have an abundance of energy
- and an overall increase in well-being.
Aren’t you tired of feeling bloated and lethargic?
If you continue to follow the path you’re on, where will it lead you in six months? a year? Isn’t it time to take a different approach?
What you have done in the past hasn’t worked or at least has not stuck. I can help you change that. Click here for a free consultation. We’ll discuss your challenges and your goals for the coming year and see if we’re a good fit. You have nothing to lose except those nasty cravings.
As a health coach, I work with women who are facing serious health challenges like heart disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes or who have been diagnosed as having a precursor to a serious health issue such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood sugar. I help them make food and lifestyle changes so they can get healthy, live longer and enjoy a fuller, happier, more energetic life. If you would like to have a free consultation about the health challenges you have and the improvements you would like to see in your health, click here to schedule a no strings attached call.
Do you think the brain gets larger because you loose weight or because you start thinking better, you realize the importance of losing weight and gain the discipline and education to actually do it.
Maybe a study is required in teenagers to find out what is happening to the brain when they are growing and gaining weight so rapidly. 🙂
Doug…I believe that the inflammatory response your body has when you eat foods that are nutritionally void contributes to the shrinking of your brain. When you give your body the proper nutrition you allow everything to function the way it is meant to.
Weight gain as a result of growing is not the same as weight gain as a result of eating badly. It’s really about maintaining a healthy weight while eating foods that nourish your body.