Epinephrine and cortisol: prepare the body for an instant state of readiness – the classic ‘fight or flight’ response. Epinephrine is the primary hormone that stimulates lipolysis, the breakdown of fat. Epinephrine binds to the receptors on various cells and can either activate or inhibit HSL, the hormone responsible for fat mobilization. Epinephrine excretion appears not to change with age. Cortisol releases glucose and fatty acids into the bloodstream to provide energy to the muscles. It also has a direct impact on the body’s blood sugar levels. If too little cortisol is released, hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) can develop; if too much cortisol is released, hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar) can develop, which can increase the risk of developing diabetes. When people experience prolonged stress, cortisol levels remain elevated for long periods, and recent research shows that this can lead to weight gain, especially on the belly. Cortisol excretion appears to increase with age.
Intestinal Bacteria
Our intestinal bacteria can play a role in weight gain as we age. Atrophic gastritis is a bacterial infection marked by a decreased ability to produce sufficient amounts of gastric acids. This condition occurs in 24 per cent of people aged 60–69 years, 32 per cent of people aged 70–79 and about 40 per cent of people over the age of 80.
What This Means to You
Low-acidic conditions in the stomach can affect the absorption of nutrients such as folic acid, vitamin B12, calcium, iron and betacarotene.
What You Can Do
If you suffer from atrophic gastritis, you are usually advised to get adequate calories by eating small meals throughout the day or by snacking on nutrient-dense foods. You should avoid nutrient-poor choices such as commercial biscuits and cakes. Medication may also be prescribed for this condition. Speak to your doctor if you feel you may be suffering from intestinal bacteria problems. Symptoms include bloating, discomfort and poor digestion.
Action Worth Investing In
The six-week menu plan and all the recipes are designed to provide you with an optimum nutrition plan that is both enjoyable and easy to adapt to your lifestyle, whether you are entertaining or looking after the family.
Connective Tissue
Ageing brings about stiffening of the connective tissue such as your tendons and ligaments. This leads to a loss of mobility.
What This Means to You
This may make your joints feel stiff, affecting your mobility and ability to react physically and move the way you want. When walking, you may experience an increased postural sway – moving the upper body from side to side – which affects your stride length, gait and balance. When gait and balance are affected, the risk of falling increases. But it doesn’t have to be like this …
What You Can Do
Improving your mobility is a simple and highly effective way to improve your range of motion and your quality of movement.
Action Worth Investing In
You’ll find your mobility action plan invaluable.You can do it every day, and in fewer than 14 days you’ll notice a difference in how your body feels; and after three weeks you’ll notice a big improvement in how it moves. You’ll also find the tips on walking technique helpful for enhancing mobility.
Body Stages
The body is on a journey. Like any journey,
the ride may not always be smooth.
For women in particular, hormones play a large part in the changes we notice as we get older. However, men also see their bodies changing as they pass through different stages in life.
Peri-menopause
Peri-menopause is defined as the time leading up to menopause. For some women, this can be eight to ten years before the onset of the menopause itself. Marked by a fluctuation of hormones, it is often described as a roller-coaster ride since the decline in hormones is erratic rather than steady.
During peri-menopause, many women experience a range of symptoms, including:
At this stage in their lives, women also experience a drop in metabolism, owing to changes in hormones and muscle mass. This means their bodies require fewer calories to perform normal everyday tasks, and slowly this contributes to weight gain. Oestrogen levels become more erratic, waxing and waning, which causes fat to be stored in the abdomen. Consequently, any weight gain is laid down around the middle, and so middle-age spread is born!
Erratic levels of the hormone oestrogen cause fat to be stored around the abdomen – and so middle-age spread is born!
Peri-menopause is a critical period for a woman’s health. During this time, healthy habits – like regular exercise, good nutrition and an element of stress management – are vital to prepare for the next stage of your life, and to help you handle the physiological and associated emotional changes being experienced.
How the GI Walking Diet Can Help
Follow the six-week plan and you will make a great investment in your health. The structure of the programme will help you form good habits, while all the tips along the way will show you how these physical investments can fit easily into your lifestyle.
Menopause
Menopause is defined as the 12 months after a woman’s final menstrual period, which is usually around the age of 52. Although we tend to think of menopause as a single point in the body’s journey, both peri-menopause and menopause are more like peaks and troughs than finite events. After menopause, women lose about 66 per cent of their oestrogen and 50 to 60 per cent of their testosterone. Oestrogen tends to decline at a faster rate than testosterone, and so testosterone can start to have a greater effect on the body. In most cases, body fat is redistributed from the hips to the midriff. This ‘shape-shifting’ phenomenon compounds the middle-age spread that you may have started to experience during peri-menopause. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels rise. The loss of oestrogen’s protective influence on bone tissue leads to decreases in bone mineral density. On average, women lose 2 per cent of
