By Human growth hormone plays a key role in growth, body composition, cell repair and metabolism. It also helps to boost muscle growth, strength and exercise performance, as well as helping you recover from injury and disease. When your HGH levels are low, this decreases your quality of life and also increases your risk of disease and fat gain too. As we age, our levels of HGH begin to decline, and we are more likely to experience these negative effects. The good news is that diet and lifestyle choices play a bit part towards increasing your HGH levels. There is definitely no need to resort to synthetic ways at all. Let’s look at the effect HGH has on many aspects of our bodies in more detail.
- Losing body fat. Did you know that the amount of fat you carry around your belly is directly related to your HGH production? Higher levels of belly fat can, unfortunately, impair your bodies natural HGH production. That also means you are more susceptible to the risk of disease. What’s interesting is that body fat affect HGH levels more in men. But lowering your body fat is still the key for both genders, towards increasing HGH. So then, how do we get that belly fat shifting once and for all?
- Intermittent fasting is the key. Study upon study shows that fasting leads to huge increases in HGH levels. One study found that three days into a fast, HGH levels increase by over 300%! After one week of fasting, they had increased by 1,250%! This is phenomenal! (18). That being said, continuous fasting is not sustainable long term, therefore, it’s wiser to intermittently fast by limiting eating for brief periods (rather than the long term, sustained continuous days. There are so many methods of fasting available for you to try. A common one is a daily 8-hour eating window, with a 16 hour fast. Another option is to only eat 500–600 calories 2 days per week. From experience, my preference is to cycle between different fasting times so as to allow the most flexible lifestyle method possible. I find that stopping your food consumption is a lot more manageable than eating a limited amount of calories per day. Find out what works best for your personality and try it out.
- Insulin. Increases in insulin are associated with lower levels of HGH. Foods like refined carbs and sugars raise insulin levels. You will notice a huge difference when you reduce or cut out these from your diet. Healthy individuals have 3–4 times higher HGH levels than those who are diabetic. As you know, excessive sugar intake is a key factor for weight gain and obesity. Those also affect your levels of HGH. You may be asking yourself, what about if I want to have a cheat meal a couple of times a week that contains sugar? Don’t worry too much. It’s the long term consumption of these foods that really has an impact on your health and HGH levels overall. Just be sure to exercise self-control because it’s a cheat meal, not a whole day of cheating! Don’t cheat yourself out of good health and optimal HGH levels
- HGH at night. Our bodies naturally release ample levels of HGH, which peaks during the night. Most meals can raise insulin levels, and this is why a lot of health experts will suggest you avoid eating before bedtime. Does that include a high protein snack – YES it does! Protein still spikes your insulin levels, that can block some of the much-needed HGH releases during the night. Please note that there isn’t much sufficient research on this matter as of yet – so do look out for it in the future. Nevertheless, keep in mind that insulin levels decrease 2–3 hours after eating, so try to avoid eating any carb or protein-based meals 2–3 hours before bedtime. Try to hit the gym and have your post-workout meal a lot earlier than your scheduled bedtime if you can.
I do hope you have found this insightful. I have a comprehensive cheat sheet that outlines the best fat loss strategy phases in more detail, including an option to download the ultimate fat burning menu pack, and structure with training and fat loss. You can also find me on social if you have any questions or would like to connect.
