Every year at this time there is a flurry of activity to get to the gym and the health food stores in an effort to lose weight. The weight loss industry has taught us that all we need to do is eat less and exercise more. It is true that this works, but only for a short while and in a lot of cases it sets the body up to store fat. Let me elaborate on that.
Let’s say you decided to lose weight by restricting calories. Here is what happens. As blood sugar drops, the body will break down muscle tissue to provide needed fuel. Bear in mind that the brain needs fuel, so when blood sugar drops the brain is affected resulting in lack of concentration and fatigue. But back to the rest of the body; as this state continues, the body senses it as stress and responds by secreting the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone that helps us to deal with stress. It is secreted in times of stress, and during fasting, and will increase blood sugar. That is a good thing when you are on a deserted island with no food, but if you are trying to lose weight it is a bad thing because as the cortisol level increases so does insulin and guess what? When insulin is high you will not burn fat. Not only will you not burn fat but if this scenario that I just described is allowed to occur repeatedly, it can result in insulin resistance. You can spot the person who suffers from high cortisol level. They tend to carry that spare tire type weight and they will tell you that they do not eat a lot.
To further explain how this plays out; some time ago I started going to a dance class where I would dance for one hour. I would work at the hospital all night and then I’d go and dance for an hour and do other chores before getting some sleep. Then I noticed that I was getting a spare tire around my waist. All of a sudden it dawned on me! I had not even thought about what I was doing but, when I saw the weight gain and knew it was not from food, I knew right away that this was stress induced.
Exercise can be perceived by the body as stress especially if the person is not getting enough rest, or is over exercising. Since the body treats all stressors alike, the same stress response can be expected.
I have just explained why dieting and exercise is not the answer to obesity and overweight. I have mentioned only two hormones here but there are many other hormones that play a role in the maintenance of a healthy weight. The truth is that overweight is a symptom just like pain is a symptom. Some may even say that it is a symptom of malnutrition, where the body is starved of micronutrients, and overeating results as the body searches for these nutrients. If you investigate overweight and obesity, you will find that there are always other symptoms present. Other symptoms may include fatigue, depression, insomnia, anxiety, and digestive problems.
So if diet and exercise (and I’m not saying you should not exercise) is not the answer, what is?
There are several road blocks to permanent weight loss and these must be addressed by lifestyle changes.
Roadblocks include hormone imbalances, food allergies, imbalances in neurotransmitters, and stress. To be successful at permanent weight loss, all roadblocks must be removed. This means getting to the root of the problem, identifying the cause of overweight and removing it, then maintaining the new level of health. In other words, find the cause of the problem, fix it, and stay away from whatever caused the problem in the first place.
This sounds like a lot of work but in this practice we have found one plan that addresses hormone imbalance, reduces inflammation and food allergies, and helps the body to burn fat. There are also added benefits with our program in that one can expect improvement in GERD, allergies, digestive problems, headaches, fatigue, insomnia, PMS, menopause and improvement in cholesterol levels. We achieve this because our goal is to improve health. A healthy body will not be oveweight. There is no dieting, as in calorie restriction but there may be restrictions relating to unhealthy foods. If you are interested in permanent weight loss and getting healthier, please call us for more information. 407-293-8890. You may also chose to download my VIP widget and receive my workshops on weight loss. http://rthompson.2ndcousinmedia.com/widget