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Background
Gender: Female
Status: Married
Location:
NEVADA CITY, California
United States
School:
Cornell College Mt. Vernon, IA
University of California, Berkeley
Work:
Author, From Fat to Fit--Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction
Author, The Fat to Fit Meltdown Manual
Author, Remembering When I Was Young
Motivational Speaker and Columnist
Hometown(s):
Rowley, IA
San Francisco, CA
Quote:
The ancestor to every action is a thought. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is Stress Making You Fat?

 

 

Is Stress Making You Fat?


When I quit the seven-day-a-week job that I had held for 21 years as manager of a retail operation, I decided to lose weight and get fit.  In retrospect, I wonder if the stress of that unrelenting schedule contributed significantly to my obesity.

 

Perhaps so, because look at this article about a report that Zofia Zukowska of Georgetown University and her colleagues recently published in The Journal of Nature Medicine.

 

Some of us suspected it was true, but now the evidence is in.  In a recent animal study, researchers uncovered a biological link between stress and obesity.  They subjected mice to chronic stress-either standing in cold water an hour a day or being caged with a more aggressive alpha mouse for ten minutes a day.  Then the researchers gave the mice their regular food or a high-fat, high sugar diet (a.k.a. junk food).

 

According to the finding, published on-line in Nature Medicine, the stressed junk-food eaters gained a significant amount of weight after only two weeks (about twice as much as the more relaxed junk-food eaters).  And the fat they gained was more likely to be the bad kind that leads to high blood pressure, early diabetes and high cholesterol.

 

More research on humans is needed, of course.  But in the meantime, if you’re trying to lose weight or keep from regaining, you might want to consider getting your stress level under control. And while you’re at it, have a good laugh on me!

carole says:
The best stress reducer for me is exercise. Carole
Posted: March 13, 2008 8:57PM EDT
scootles82 says:
This is interesting but I am not sure I can put a handle on controlling my stress.
Any suggestions?
Posted: March 13, 2008 8:40PM EDT
jf2008 says:
This is an important piece. Thank you Carole. I recently read something about olive oil and its importance in aging well on http://www.collectivewizdom.com

A friend sent it to me.
Posted: February 29, 2008 1:55PM EST
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