The 10-Minute Morning Routine for Cortisol & Belly Fat

0:00 So many of you are really struggling with that extra belly fat and and I 0:05 totally get it and there are many reasons that we start to gain weight 0:10 around our abdomen especially as we age. I want to bring to your attention a real 0:17 pivotal study that will help you understand one aspect of belly fat that 0:23 you can change starting today. Here's the study. It was a 22 metaanalysis, 0:28 meaning they looked at many different studies. And it was published in obesity 0:33 reviews. They looked at over 120 studies with 34,000 0:39 people. And here is what they found. The more longterm stress, the more longterm 0:48 cortisol surging through your body, the bigger your waist size. So on this 0:56 video, I want to start to break this down and give you some habits you can 1:01 apply, especially in the morning to stop the cortisol from surging through your 1:08 body. Bottom line, the more stress you have, the bigger that belly is going to 1:13 get. And this isn't about you just avoiding stress. This is about you 1:18 learning to become cortisol flexible. I have taught you all here how to become 1:24 metabolically flexible. What I want to teach you on this video is how to be 1:30 cortisol flexible because cortisol is not necessarily the enemy. It's how 1:36 cortisol gets used in your body. And this is what we're going to break down 1:41 in this video. So, here we go. First, let's talk about cortisol. Cortisol 1:48 naturally comes into our bloodstream around 45 to 90 minutes after we wake 1:55 up. What happens just so we get a general understanding of how cortisol 1:59 works is you get out of bed, your eyes see light and that light gets sensored 2:07 by receptors in your eyes and it tells me to turn off. So it is light that 2:15 tells melatonin to turn off that the day has started. As melatonin turns off, 2:22 cortisol gets turned on and within 45 to 90 minutes within from waking up, you 2:30 are actually getting your largest cortisol spike. 2:35 Which means what you do from the moment you get out of bed until that 90 minute 2:41 mark really matters. which is why we're we're just chunking this down into the 2:45 first 10 minutes. Second, I really want you to think about is that every hormone 2:52 in our body has an action that it's trying to create. So, we've talked a lot 2:58 about estrogen and all the things she was trying to create. Insulin's action 3:03 is to pair with glucose and move glucose into our cells so that our cells have 3:10 energy. Cortisol's action is to make you move. Its purpose is to get you moving. 3:19 And so when cortisol comes in, if you don't move, then what ends up happening 3:26 is the body has to store that cortisol. You have the most glucocorticoid 3:31 receptors, meaning glucose and cortisol receptors in your abdomen. So what the 3:38 body will do, the brilliant intelligence of the body is it will start to move all 3:43 that unused cortisol into the abdomen and you start to gain weight around your 3:49 abdomen. It is a thousand% because of stress. I would even say that 3:55 the if you're really struggling with belly fat, I want you to address your 4:00 stress levels first before you try anything else. Now, if you don't know 4:05 how stress is affecting you, I've created a nervous system questionnaire. 4:10 I'll link it below in the notes that will tell you what stress state you're 4:14 in and give you micro habits you can do all day long so that you can pull 4:20 yourself out of some of the more extreme stress state states. So, just know 4:24 that's available to you. It's a free offer that I'm just handing to you 4:29 because I want you to I want you to fall in love with your body. And this is such 4:33 a key piece that so many of you struggle with. Now, what was interesting about 4:37 this study is that they tracked overall weight. So, what was interesting is that 4:43 they saw that when stress goes up that everybody gains weight. That makes sense 4:50 because your body is in a fight orflight reaction. When the body is in fight or 4:56 flight, what happens is all of a sudden blood sugar would be pushed to our 5:00 larger limbs like our legs and our glutes because we're supposed and to our 5:05 arms because we're either supposed to fight or we're meant to fight to run 5:11 away. So the brilliant body of yours starts to move blood to those areas. 5:16 This study looked at people who were stressed and saw that this relocation of 5:22 blood also caused the body to become less metabolically flexible, which I've 5:29 been here teaching you all about metabolic flexibility. So, your ability 5:33 to use glucose in a fightor-flight situation becomes more impaired. So when 5:40 they looked at the connection between increase in stress and increase in 5:45 weight, they were absolutely convinced people would gain weight 5:50 because of fight or flight. But what they didn't realize is that the majority 5:56 of the weight that was gained went to the abdomen. And this is when they were 6:01 like, wait a second, that means that cortisol is at play here. and cortisol 6:07 needed somewhere to go, so it went to the abdomen. Second thing that this 6:11 study I want to point out because some of you I don't know about you guys, but 6:14 I get a little bit like crazy in my head when I'm like, well, now I got to not 6:18 stress. This isn't about not stressing for a day or two. They looked at people 6:25 over 90 days and they measured their HPA output. So that is how much cortisol was 6:33 being secreted in 90 days. So that you can do it, you can test that easily in 6:38 saliva. And so they tested it regularly through saliva and they could see over 6:44 90 days that the people with the most belly fat had the highest level of 6:50 stress hormone. The reason I want to point this part out of the study is 6:55 because as I go through the five steps to show you how you can start to unwind 7:01 this cortisol pattern, it may take you 90 days. This might not be a quick fix, 7:07 but if you do it consistently, you will start to unwind the damage that cortisol 7:13 has done to your belly fat. Second thing that I want to point out is they really 7:18 talked about how cortisol also increases visceral fat around the organs. So, this 7:25 is an issue and this is why I wanted to bring this video to you because we want 7:29 to make sure that this isn't just a a vanity topic and and if it is, great. 7:35 But I want to make sure that we keep you healthy and happy and alive. And if 7:40 cortisol is moving fat to our abdomen and it's moving fat to our heart and our 7:46 lungs and our liver, that is actually accelerating chronic disease and that is 7:51 accelerating our overall health and well-being. So it 7:57 wasn't just the belly, it went everywhere. Now, here's something really 8:00 exciting that we're going to bring into these steps. They showed that light when 8:05 you get light exposure early on in the day that those people had a lower BMI. 8:12 So remember it was in a meta analysis. So they're looking at many different 8:17 studies and and pulling out the threads. And yes, cortisol high, more belly fat. 8:23 But people who had lower BMI, lower BMI means their body weight was lower, they 8:30 were the ones that got exposure to light early in the morning. And we're going to 8:35 talk about this in a in a minute because I want to make sure this is easy. You 8:39 guys can get exposure to light. Some of the mistakes I have seen you all make, 8:44 and I'm not saying you personally, maybe some other other of my YouTube uh 8:48 subscribers, is that when you start to gain belly fat, you cut back on 8:54 calories. It's not going to help you. This is not a calorie problem. And when 9:00 we look at it through the lens of cortisol, this is a cortisol problem. 9:04 And it doesn't if you actually if you reduce your calories, then what's going 9:09 to happen is you're going to actually raise cortisol. This is why I want you 9:14 to take the NSQ that I I'm giving you as a questionnaire. Just look and see where 9:18 your nervous system state is at. Because when people start to gain weight, what 9:23 they often do is they double down. more fasting, more exercise, more dieting, 9:29 and that raises cortisol so high that you get more belly fat. Put in the 9:35 comments if that's happened to you. So, I want you to take my questionnaire so 9:39 that you can see what nervous state you're in and act accordingly. 9:45 So, it belly fat is not a calorie issue. The other thing I want to point out is 9:50 that cortisol is not the enemy. You need to learn how to work with cortisol. So 9:56 if cortisol is the hormone that is meant to make us move and it hits its peak 90 10:04 minutes after we wake up, that is the moment to move. You want go for a walk. 10:12 You got I' I've even I tell my Reset Academy members all the time. I'm like, 10:16 put the freaking coffee machine on and do push-ups on the countertop or squats 10:22 next to the coffee machine when you first wake up. That you if you can start 10:26 to move your body in those moments that cortisol is rising, then it won't be 10:32 stored. Another recommendation I've given you all here that I still stand 10:36 behind is the moment you a stressor hits you at any other time of the day, go for 10:43 a walk. go move. It's when we sit in the stress that the cortisol goes right to 10:50 the belly because it didn't get used. So, whatever you can't use, you will 10:55 store. Another trap, a morning trap that a lot of people get into is they wake 11:01 up, they get their cup of coffee, they turn on all the lights, and then they go 11:06 to their phone. I want to explain something to you about the mind in those 11:11 early morning hours because what happens is that sleep you're in a delta 11:18 brainwave state. This is where the brain is completely in relaxation and it's 11:23 sleepy and it's shut. It's completely in its dream world. When you move out of 11:28 delta, you go to something called theta. Theta is a relaxed brainwave state where 11:34 a lot of meditators will be in a in a theta brainwave state. And then after 11:39 you wake up, maybe you're a half hour, 45 minutes in, you're now into alpha. 11:45 And alpha is where you're you're insightful, but you're m and but a lot 11:49 more alert than than theta. And then once you've had your cup of coffee, 11:54 maybe talked to some friends, you've now gone into a beta state w brainwave state 12:00 where we are right now. Cortisol gets secreted in a beta brainwave state. In 12:07 fact, it gets secreted in high beta primarily. 12:11 So if I wake up in delta and I don't ease myself through theta and alpha and 12:18 I just go from delta straight to beta, I am turning that cortisol on earlier than 12:25 it needs to be turned on. So what this looks like is those of you who wake up, 12:31 you get your cup of coffee and you pick up your phone and you start scrolling 12:36 your phone. You start going onto social media, you look at news, and now we've 12:41 got the coffee stimulating cortisol, we have your phone stimulating cortisol, 12:47 and then usually people will turn on bright lights in their kitchen. And now 12:52 you have abruptly shut down melatonin. It is a startling way for your nervous 12:59 system to start the day. It's a lot for your nervous system to handle. 13:04 Especially those of you that take my nervous system questionnaire. If you're 13:07 in a yellow state or a red state, I I want you to listen to the five things 13:12 that I want you to start to implement to change your nervous system state and get 13:17 that cortisol spot to turn off. Here they are. Step number one, when you get 13:24 up, can you if if you're I now I will tell 13:28 you I like coffee first thing in the morning. So, however long it takes you 13:32 to make your coffee, could you turn on your coffee maker and go outside? 13:38 Remember, one of the studies they looked at was people who had uh more light 13:45 exposure in the morning had lower BMIs. So, turn the coffee on and go out into 13:53 your backyard. Go out onto your deck. Go if you don't have access to that, like 13:58 you live in an apartment building, go to your window. Outside would be the best, 14:04 but you're doing several things. If you go to the window and don't turn the 14:08 lights on inside your kitchen, if you go to the window and the light is starting 14:14 to come up, what you're doing is you're giving your brain time to register that 14:22 day has started. And the whole manufacturing of hormones has time to 14:27 gently start to shift in a kind way to your nervous system as opposed to an 14:33 abrupt way. So you get out of your bed, you go to the kitchen, you don't turn on 14:40 the lights. If that's going to be too dark, then have one light on, not all 14:44 the lights. You turn on your coffee maker and you go outside and you get 14:50 light. This is where we start to tell melatonin to turn off and we tell the 14:56 cortisol, "Hey, in an hour and a half, I'm going to need you. Go ahead and and 15:02 turn the cortisol spot on." But it's a soft, gentle uh way to turn cortisol on. 15:08 Step number two, let's say you got your cup of coffee. Okay, you're sitting in a 15:14 chair. I do this in in my house. I have one specific area that is my wakeup spot 15:22 and there are books there that I meditate there. It's an area that I go 15:28 to that I know is not an overly stimulating place. So find a place in 15:34 your house where you can sit down and for the first five minutes when you sit 15:39 down I want you to do breath work. You haven't turned your phone on because 15:44 remember the phone's gonna have all kinds of cortisol surging through your 15:48 body. So, let's not turn that on. You haven't even really turned a lot of the 15:51 lights on. If you have red lights, go ahead and you can put a red light on or 15:56 if you have something like Sunlighten has a red light panel. We'll leave we'll 16:01 leave links for that and discount codes. You can turn red light on for sure. And 16:06 again, you're going to breathe for five minutes. And here's what the breath work 16:12 I want you to do. And it's a breath pattern that tells your body to activate 16:18 the parasympathetic nervous system. So you're going to breathe in through your 16:22 nose. You can do it for like a count of four, five. That's usually what I do. 16:28 And you're going to exhale out of your mouth for a count of seven or eight. 16:34 Shorter inhales, longer exhales. What that does is it primes your 16:40 parasympathetic nervous system. Now, let's juxtapose that to the way many 16:46 people wake up. They alarm clock goes off, they jump out of the bed, they 16:50 think about the stresses of the day, they go to the coffee maker, they turn 16:54 on the lights, they turn on their phone, and they're like, I got to do today. I 16:59 got to conquer today. In that state, you are activating your sympathetic nervous 17:05 system and you are contributing to long-term fight or flight. In this new 17:10 morning time that I'm recommending for you, you're watching the lights. You're 17:16 waking up gently. You are doing breath work and you are easing yourself. You 17:23 haven't turned your phone on. You are easing yourself into the day. And this 17:28 is only I'm you're 5 10 minutes into your day so that cortisol can gently 17:34 come on the scene. Step number three is I want you to move gently and hydrate. 17:43 So when you grab that cup of coffee, I want you to grab water. You are the most 17:49 hydratable in the morning. So, even if you can 17:54 drink a glass of water before your coffee, your cells are going to soak 17:59 that hydration up. I personally also do my B minerals in the water in the 18:06 morning. They sit right next to my coffee maker and I do a couple shots of 18:10 B minerals to get my mineral count up. But hydrating in the morning is 18:16 incredibly important. The reason I want you to gently move is because it tells 18:23 your parasympathetic when we move in a slow way it tells your parasympathetic 18:29 nervous system that we can stay calm. So when we move very quickly what happens 18:36 is that we start to activate the sympathetic nervous system. So this slow 18:43 approach to the morning including movement is really important to make 18:48 sure that you are sending a signal to the parasympathetic nervous system that 18:53 you are gently waking up. If you do it the other way around, you are sending 18:58 the signal there is a crisis and you have started the day with cortisol 19:03 pounding through your body. And where does cortisol go? If you have extra 19:08 cortisol, it goes to the belly. Okay. Step number 19:13 four. I want you to start to run a stress audit of your morning. Now, this 19:20 one is very personal because a lot of you and put in the comments just I'd 19:25 love to get to know my viewers, but a lot of you have a list of things that 19:30 you've got to get accomplished before the kids wake up or before you get off 19:34 to work. And it's like this to-do list that instantly puts you into a stressed 19:39 state. So, as I'm giving you ideas for a new pattern, what I would encourage you 19:44 to do as you're hearing the mechanism in the morning is what is stressing you out 19:50 in the morning? Is it your social media? Is it the news? Is it your spouse? What 19:56 is stressing you out? And how do we start to change that? because stress in 20:02 the morning is the most harmful for your body. And again, what we're going to end 20:07 up doing is we're ending up moving your all that cortisol into your belly. Step 20:13 number five, and this is one that I think is really critical, is I want you 20:18 to start to care about cortisol flexibility 20:23 as much as you care about metabolic flexibility. So, let me explain myself. 20:29 Those of you who have read Fast Like a Girl, all of my all my like a Girls, age 20:33 like a girl, eat like a girl, you know that I've spoke about something called 20:39 the hormonal hierarchy. The hormonal hierarchy says that each hormone impacts 20:45 another hormone in a very hierarchal way. So our sex hormones are on the 20:51 bottom of the hierarchy. This is estrogen, progesterone, and 20:54 testosterone. What impacts those hormones more than any hormone is 20:59 insulin. This is this was the whole premise of Fast Like a Girl. Put in the 21:04 comments if you bought that book because that was the whole premise of that book 21:09 was to make sure that you understood if you got yourself insulin sensitive, you 21:16 would balance your hormones. This is my big take on menopause. your menopause 21:21 symptoms won't be as bad if you ha if you balance insulin. 21:26 But the part of the story that we need to talk about now is above insulin is 21:32 cortisol. Cortisol will make you insulin resistant. And it is the morning time 21:39 that is the most important to make sure that we are using cortisol the way that 21:46 cortisol has been meant to use. Cortisol is not meant to come flooding in within 21:51 five minutes of you waking up. Cortisol is not meant for it to come flooding in 21:57 and for you to sit. So, I'm giving you small little micro habits that you can 22:05 do so that cortisol comes gently in. At 90 minutes, we get a cortisol peak. That 22:13 is a great time to work out. So, those of you who like to work out, do this 22:17 10-minute ritual where you're going to get light, you're going to do some 22:21 breathing, you can read some positivity, you can journal, things like that. You 22:26 haven't turned your phone on. You can, by the way, I've got a new card deck. 22:30 You can journal on the questions in the card deck. I'll leave I'll leave um 22:34 links for that. They're great for It's called Who Are You Becoming? Great for 22:38 those of you who are going through transitions. But that first 10 minutes, 22:43 you're preserving that so that your cortisol gently comes in. And then at 22:48 the 90 minute mark, go for a run, go for a walk, go do things that are going to 22:54 use that cortisol. I am a big fan of working out in the morning. I think that 22:59 is the best time if you have belly fat, you should be working out in the 23:02 morning. That is the big step to becoming cortisol flexible. 23:07 The second part of becoming cortisol flexible 23:11 is that you want to make sure that anytime a stressor hits you, you move. 23:17 Get up and move. Go for a walk. I often will walk around my dining room table. 23:22 I'll take my dog for a walk. I'll go out and move when stress starts to build. 23:27 That will absolutely help you become cortisol flexible. And then the third 23:33 way you can become cortisol flexible is to start to understand what's triggering 23:40 your cortisol because it everybody's going to be a little different. So 23:45 understand those moments that attack you and know oh if I go into this situation 23:50 I'm let's say you have a meeting at work and you go into a meeting at work and 23:55 you know that meeting is going to stress you out. Build in time after the meeting 23:59 to go for a walk. If you know you've got a really busy day, build in time at the 24:06 end of the day to prime your parasympathetic nervous system through 24:10 breath work and reading and to start to bring you back into a relaxed state. 24:15 That is what cortisol flexibility is all about. Now, if you need help with this, 24:21 know I have a membership group. I'll leave links. This is the kind of things 24:24 we are coaching over there to the women that join there. Love to have you join 24:29 us. Here are three action steps I want you to think about taking immediately 24:35 tonight. When you get into bed, where's your phone? Is it right next to you? I 24:41 want it on airplane mode. Or I want you to put it in the other room. And I want 24:46 you when you put the phone down, I want you to tell yourself, I am not going to 24:52 pick up this phone until I have been up for at least a half an hour. If you can 24:58 make it an hour, great. Leave that phone there. That is a cortisol machine. 25:04 Action step number two. When you get up tomorrow, you're going to go outside 25:10 within the first 10 minutes so you can your eyes can see the light. it. Light 25:15 is healing. If you can't get outside, then get some red light. Anything that 25:22 brings in a new perspective to the eyes other than LED lamps. You don't want the 25:27 LED lamps. And number three, tomorrow morning, and I want you to put in the 25:32 comments, if you're going to do this, because again, I'm I'm great at 25:35 accountability. I want you to put in the comments that when you get your coffee 25:40 and you sit in a chair and your phone is turned off that you're gonna do five 25:45 minutes of breath work and you're going to do it with longer exhales so you can 25:50 tell your body it's safe and that it doesn't need to overproduce cortisol. 25:57 Try this 10-minute routine for 30 days. It's a challenge I'm offering you. and 26:02 come back to this video and let me know how you how you're feeling. More 26:08 importantly, I really want you to know that it is not your fault that that 26:13 belly fat is there, but it is your responsibility to start on working on 26:19 it. And this is not a, you know, this is not a a moment to white knuckle it. It's 26:24 actually the opposite. It's a moment to love your body and give it all of the 26:30 nurture and care that it deserves. So, as always, I hope that helps and put in 26:35 the comments your stories and your questions. I love reading them and I'm 26:40 cheering you on. If this helped, you're not going to want to stop there. Check 26:44 out this video.