The main rule for losing weight is to burn more calories than you consume. In other words, the secret of all diets is a calorie deficit. Unfortunately, this rule is not always working correctly. Every rule always has an exception. Calorie deficit theory will not work if you have issues with some of your endocrine glands. In a previous article – “How hormonal imbalances can affect your weight loss”, we already spoke about problems with hormones like cortisol, insulin, thyroid hormones, oestrogen, testosterone, Leptin and Ghrelin. This is the first time I heard this theory about hormonal issues and weight loss problems from Dr Eric Berg, and I decided to share this information with you.
Who is Dr. Eric Berg?
Dr Eric Berg is an expert in healthy keto who helps people transform their health and lose weight through natural, nutritional methods. Dr. Eric Berg has a Chiropractic degree. He spent 29 years as a full-time practitioner in Alexandria, Virginia, where he helped over 40,000 clients. He is now educating people about the human body and health through social media. You can easily find him on YouTube. He is the author of several books, including the best-selling – “The 7 Principles of Fat Burning and The Healthy Keto Plan”. He can break down confusing health topics into easy and understandable knowledge. Below is the video where Dr Eric Berg explains four body types. Also, at the end of the article, you will find one more video summarising all five body types.
What Are The 5 Body Types?
According to Dr. Eric Berg, there are five body types: Adrenal, Thyroid, Liver, Ovarian and Pancreas. What body type you have depends on how your endocrine glands are working. If you have issues with your Adrenal gland – you will have an adrenal body type. If you have a thyroid issue – you will get thyroid body type. If you have problems with any of these glands, no diets and calorie deficit programs won’t work for you. It would be best if you fixed your glands first. Now, let’s speak about each body type separately.
Adrenal body type. People with adrenal body type are mainly susceptible to stress, so their body is producing more cortisol, affecting their health. Such people mostly have a sagging belly because body fat is stored more near adrenal glands, which are located on the top of the kidneys. The problem with cortisol is not diet-related. It is more stress-related. This is why when you go on a diet, it just doesn’t work. If you have an adrenal body type, your first goal is to reduce stress. You can do it by improving your sleep quality, practising meditation, walking more often, and focusing on positive things in life.
Second, for the adrenal body type, you should eat more protein because during stress, the body breaks down more protein, and you quickly lose muscles. Also, according to Dr Eric Berg, you should include potassium foods like leafy greens or electrolyte powder. Potassium helps the adrenal glands and your mind to calm down. By eating vegetables, you will get potassium and vitamin C, which is very important for your adrenals.
Thyroid body type. The thyroid gland’s job is to produce hormones that help regulate metabolism. When the thyroid doesn’t produce enough hormones, many of the body’s functions slow down, leading to weight gain. Most excessive fat is distributed all over the body, not in a specific place. To treat thyroid issues, doctors mostly give you thyroid hormones, but they are not always working. According to Dr Berg, thyroid hormones sometimes don’t help you treat your thyroid and lose weight because it can be a secondary problem. The primary thyroid problem can be because of high oestrogen issues, problems with gallbladder or problems with adrenal glands. When treating your thyroid, you must be aware that thyroid issues can be secondary problems, and the main problem can be something completely different. If your primary problem with your thyroid is issues with your adrenals, you have to treat the adrenal glands first, and so on.
As to food, if you have thyroid issues, you need to eat a little bit less protein because your metabolism is too slow. You must include more iodine in your diet and eat less cruciferous vegetables because they deplete iodine levels. Eat more vegetables like leafy greens and spinach. Also, Dr. Berg suggests trying intermittent fasting and eating two or even one meal daily. The only thing with intermittent fasting is to keep your calories high because it can slow down your metabolism.
Liver body type. It’s very easy to recognise people with liver body type. Mostly they have a beer belly. Such body type is also called apple shape. People with liver body type can’t lose fat because their liver is damaged because of overconsumption of alcohol and processed foods. When you have a damaged liver, your body does not break down and metabolise nutrients properly. Diet changes can help to solve the problem. If you have a liver body type, Dr Eric Berg suggests eating less protein because it puts more stress on the already damaged liver. You need to eat more vegetables, especially cruciferous ones because they help clean the liver. Mostly, people with liver body type are doing well on vegetarian diets with some small amounts of protein. And of course, you should exclude processed foods and alcohol from your menu.
Ovary body type. People who have ovarian body types are women. When you have this body type, fat is stored in the lower stomach, hips and thighs. This body type is also called a pear shape. The reason why women are getting such body types is because of imbalances in oestrogen production (the body is producing too much oestrogen). According to Dr. Berg, cruciferous vegetables are the essential food to help balance oestrogen. Also, women must ensure they do not consume foods with hormones.
Pancreas body type. You can get a pancreas body type when your body cells stop responding effectively to insulin, and you get insulin resistance. The pancreas body type looks similar to the adrenal body type, which has the same location of fat in the body (sagging belly). The only difference is that the pancreas body type is formed because of insulin resistance, and the adrenal body type – because of stress.
So, insulin is a fat-storage hormone produced by the pancreas. The pancreas sends insulin to lower blood sugar levels when we eat certain foods, especially sweets, bread, sugar, pasta, crackers, and so on (insulin-spiking foods). Over time, if we spike insulin too much, our body can stop listening to insulin, and the pancreas never gets the message to stop producing insulin. This is called insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes. You can fix your insulin resistance by reducing your carbohydrates (especially sugar). Eating less carbs will help you reduce insulin and, as a result, body fat. You need to exercise more often and become more active during the day – it will help to lower insulin levels. If this does not help, you must consult your doctor about what medication to take to help lower your blood sugar levels.
What body type do you have?
Now you know about five body types, according to Dr. Eric Berg. You can get an adrenal body type if you have lots of stress in life and your body starts producing too much cortisol. Thyroid body type is when you have low thyroid hormone T4 or T3 levels. It slows down your metabolism and gives you overall weight gain all over the body. The ovary body type will give you a pear-shaped body because of its high oestrogen levels. Liver body type is when your liver is damaged by overconsumption of alcohol and processed foods. And lastly, we have the pancreas body type, which you can get because of insulin resistance.
It can be difficult to recognise your body type because we all can have mixed body types. You must be aware that some hormonal issues can be just secondary problems, and the main problem can be something completely different. For example, you may think you have a Thyroid problem, but in reality, your primary problem can be with adrenal glands. So, to treat your thyroid issue, you need to fix your adrenal glands first. In the video below, Dr. Eric Berg explains more about how problems with one gland can affect others. Enjoy the video.
