Alcohol & your hormones

Emma Fillmore
Oct 6, 2017
2 min read

We all know that alcohol isn’t great for our health and can hinder our weight loss efforts but the below article explains some of the reasons why and just how it plays havoc with our hormones.

http://betterbydrbrooke.com/alcohol-affects-hormones/

I’ve had a few too many the last couple of weekends and after reading this the way I’ve felt all makes sense! It has inspired me to lay off the drink for the next few weekends (at the very least!) so I feel refreshed and ready for my week. Hopefully it inspires a few to do the same - I have even summarised the main points below so no excuses for not giving it a go 😁StartFragmentStartFragment

Alcohol is an inefficient fuel source and therefore not preferred by the body for energy production. Because we can’t store it the body must deal with it by burning it off. This is not as good as it sounds as it puts other processes on the back burner, like burning fat and sugar and converting energy to glycogen in the muscles. Remember we’re just talking about the alcohol, not the mixers which contain calories too 🤗
As alcohol metabolism takes priority, carbs and fat consumed while drinking and soon after are more likely to be stored so reach for protein and veg if you are still capable!
It wreaks havoc with your blood sugar resulting in restless sleep, cravings and increased/irregular appetite
Alcohol increases adrenaline and cortisol which raises stress levels, while lowering melatonin which effects our sleep/wake cycle and can result in disrupted sleep…so that glass of wine may not be as relaxing as it feels at the time!
It raises testosterone levels which can be bad news for us women – it can increase insulin resistance, hinder ovulation, increase breakouts, facial hair and raise your risk of CVD and diabetes
Now some good news…research shows that cocktails ramp up your appetite more than wine and that most of the downsides increase the more you drink so you don’t have to go T-Total forever…just try not to overdo it and make sure it’s wine…right?! 🍷 🙌

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