Don’t get pierced! Body piercings can raise cortisol levels and lead to fat gain, and no site is as susceptible to fat gain as your abs! If you have a navel piercing, remove it and chances are you’ll lose fat in the abdominal area. I’ve seen it numerous times, and anyone who has been to my Biosignature classes has probably had the benefit of witnessing the dramatic drop in belly and total body fat over just five days when attendees remove their navel piercings.

“You Can See Their Abs”
At a recent Biosignature course in Toronto, four women with navel piercings had their body fat taken on the first day of the course. I suggested they remove their jewelry because they would likely drop fat not only in the umbilical area, but all over the body. The women removed them, and on the last day of the course, we took their body fat measurements again.  As one amazed attendee said loudly, “You can see their abs. Check out that definition!”

The fat just fell away during those five days—two women decreased their umbilical measurement by 36 percent, while the other two lost 24 and 21 percent. Other body fat sites also dropped remarkably, particularly those that are very susceptible to elevated cortisol, such as the suprailiac.

Body Piercings Mess with Hormone Levels
Body piercings alter hormone levels, and increase toxicity in the body. In simple terms, having metal permanently inserted into the body over stimulates the pierced area, resulting in increased stress hormone production. The body pumps out cortisol and fatigues the adrenals in response to the piercing, leading to fat gain and an all-around unhealthy state. In addition to raising hormones like cortisol, a piercing may overstress the immune system and other organs—it won’t kill you right away, but it will keep you from reaping the benefits of training, decrease energy levels, can impede reproduction, and may result in poorer health. Plus, because piercings alter the body’s homeostasis, they make it harder for your body to detoxify and having metal inserted into the body for long periods has been shown to increase toxicity.

Certain piercing sites on the body such as navel piercings are particularly stressful on your system because they directly disrupt the body’s energy flow. The navel is the center of the body’s central meridian in Chinese medicine, and in acupuncture, it is forbidden to put a needle in the navel because doing so would impede energy flow. By piercing the navel or other key energy sites on the body, you are directly impeding the life-force energies that keep you healthy, lean, and energized.

Body Piercings Impede Energy Flow and Alter Endocrine System
According to Chinese medicine, to be healthy you need a lot of flowing energy and it needs to be balanced and unhindered. And even though the principles of Chinese medicine don’t speak directly to a balanced endocrine system, they do focus on getting your organs to function optimally. By supporting organ and gland function, acupuncture also supports hormone function, which in turn influences all body processes, including sleep, hunger, fat gain and loss, muscle development, and sex drive.  

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