When drug companies who produced diet pills realized that ephedra was going to be removed from the market, those companies realized that they must find another natural supplement that could be used for weight loss. One of the ideas these companies came up with was to promote weight loss by reducing cortisol levels and balancing blood sugar.

Cortisol is one of the hormones that is released by the adrenal glands in excess when you’re chronically stressed, which many of us are these days. Like other hormones, cortisol is primary to good health but damaging when it’s too high or too low. Chronically high cortisol increases appetite, especially for sugar and carbohydrates; creates weight gain around the middle; contributes to short term memory loss; depletes bone and suppresses the immune system. Extended periods of high cortisol also increase your risk for breast cancer. If your cortisol is elevated for years on end, eventually you’ll end up with tired adrenals, never-ending fatigue and unstable blood sugar that may lead to diabetes.

Ideally you would revive your adrenals and carve your cortisol levels by reducing and managing stress, eating well, exercising moderately and getting plenty of sleep in a dark room.

If you need a little extra help, the unusual generation of supplements such as Relacore and Cortislim are designed to crop cortisol levels by helping you relax and stabilizing your blood sugar. The primary ingredient is an extract of magnolia bark (Magnolia Officinalis Cortex), which has a long history of use in Chinese medicine for “wind-stroke, cold damage, headache, wintry and heat, apprehension qi, blood impediment and dead muscle (from Subhuti Dharmananda of the Institute for Dilapidated Medicine). The term “fright qi” probably comes closest to describing the condition of chronic stress, which Dharmananda says is associated with “emotional distress …digestive disturbances associated with awe and anxiety, and shortness of breath due to emotional turmoil.”

Along with the magnolia, both Cortislim and Relacore contain some vitamin C and calcium. Cortislim also contains chromium, which is a trace mineral that helps stabilize blood sugar; L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea that promotes relaxation, and a handful of other ingredients that promote balanced blood sugar.

Relacore contains a bit of B vitamins, magnesium, and a bit of herbs that promote relaxation and stable blood sugar.

Source Naturals has a product called Relora that contains magnolia and Phellodendron amurense. There’s not a lot of research available on Phellodendron, but in Chinese medicine it’s used as an anti-inflammatory and to help balance blood sugar.

Chinese medicine texts warn against the employ of both magnolia and phellodendron if you have digestion problems.

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