Many of us are holding on to extra weight that we
can’t get rid of. We find that normal diet control and increased
exercise are not making a difference. Well, there may be more to it!
Our excess weight could be the cause of many underlying biochemical
reasons. Here are some aspects that may be contributing to your weight
gain.
Don’t ‘Diet’, Change your diet!
Dieting is a problematic state. Many people who struggle with weight also struggle with dieting. Diets are temporary and after people lose the weight, they revert back to their normal way of eating which leads to the regaining of even more weight. Dieting can actually cause your metabolism to slow down because the body adjusts to a lesser calorie intake by becoming more efficient at saving energy. The big problem is that people put too much emphasis on “dieting” and not enough focus on lifestyle change. There’s more to being healthy than just losing weight! We must change our goal from ‘losing weight’ to ‘getting healthy’ and when we are healthy, the weight will come off naturally.
Low-fat/high-carb diets
Fats are important to your overall well being. Eating FAT does not MAKE you FAT! It is a common misconception that fat in your food turns into fat in your body. But actually fats need to be a significant part of your diet. They are necessary for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K. They are important for the formation of your hormones. They help run your gastrointestinal system and regulate body temperature. In addition, they are a big part of what makes up the cell membrane and essential for growth, healing, skin, reproduction and most importantly, your nervous system and brain functioning! This is why low-fat diets are not necessarily good for you overall health.
In addition, when dieters eat less fat, they tend to eat less protein due to fat content in meats. If you are dieting and taking in less calories than your body needs more protein. Your muscles use protein and without this nutrient, they will atrophy (or break down). Muscle fibers burn calories and speed up your metabolism, so if you’re losing muscle while dieting, you’re going in the wrong direction. A better solution is to build muscle in order to burn fat. Protein is also used to make chemicals that regulate our mood, brain focus and concentration.
Likewise, low-fat diets cause high-carb eating. If these carbs are not used throughout the day, this is what turns into adipose tissue (or fat) in your body.
There are many “healthful” fats or oils including extra virgin olive oil, macadamia, sesame, walnut, almond, soy, coconut, safflower, and more. It’s important that these oils are expeller pressed, cold pressed, or extra virgin to insure that they have not been stripped of their nutrients. Good fats are also found in natural foods like nuts, seeds, fish and avocados. Try to avoid using any hydrogenated oils, or vegetable shortening they contain damaged fats that your body can not process well. Go to Fats and Oils: A Primer to learn more.
The idea is to find something that works. Dieting works for people whose problem is eating too much and moving too little, but it’s only part of the picture. Toxicity, hormone imbalance, and genetics could be the real reason why you cannot lose weight.
When our body craves certain foods, it is more than likely that we are sensitive or allergic to them. This may be because your body is having problems absorbing a nutrient in the food your craving. Like vitamin C if you crave oranges, for example. However, if you are craving sweet foods it may not be a result of a deficiency of a nutrient. It is more likely due to you craving the effect this food has on your body (like a chemical increase of serotonin levels, which makes you feel good and happy).
Regardless of what is causing your food craving, it is worth looking into, because food allergies and sensitivities can cause your body to hold on to extra stored fat and slow down weight loss.
You can pinpoint your own food allergies by eliminating certain foods from your diet for several weeks and noting how it affects you. The Sensitive Seven include wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, nuts, and sugar.
Alcohol is another substance many don’t realize plays a role in fat burning. Alcohol can inhibit fat burning hormones in the liver for up to 12 hours with just a half glass of wine.
Is Gluten the Culprit?
For very many people, gluten is hard to digest. This inability to digest gluten leads to bloating, gas, and weight gain. In addition, it can actually inflame and damage the body’s digestive lining and destroy the linings ability to absorb certain nutrients. This can manifest in other areas of the body and cause symptoms of certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies. More relevant, however, this inability to digestive properly can cause the body to hold on to extra weight as a buffer in the threat of malnourishment.
Try eliminating gluten from your diet for one month to see how it affects your weight and overall health.
Soy
According to Julia Ross, soy is a thyroid suppressor and a hormone deregulator. The thyroid controls how effectively the body burns energy (your metabolism), it makes protein, and it regulates how the body interacts with other hormones. So in other words, soy can mess with a person’s metabolism and hormone interactions, which can contribute to excess weight or weight gain.
In addition, soy can be hard to digest, especially highly processed soy like soy milk, soy burgers, and soy ice cream. Eating soy products that have been fermented naturally and properly are not of as great a concern. These foods include tempeh, miso, and natto.
However, it is hard to avoid soy. It is hidden in all kinds of everyday foods. This list ranges from Bumblebee canned tuna, bread and donuts to Hersey’s chocolate, Baskin Robbins ice creams, and baby foods! So read food labels carefully.
Toxins in Our Tummy
We are constantly surrounded by toxins including hormones, pesticides and heavy metals in the air, water, our food, and our food’s food! According to Ann Louise Gittleman, this bombardment of chemicals is making us fat. She explains that toxins overstress our livers and colons, which make it hard for us to metabolize fats and digest. Here’s a thought, farmers give their animals ‘feed’ that is meant to fatten them up in order to sell. It is possible that those same chemicals and hormones are fattening us up as well?
Our body has a natural weight-regulation system that tells us when we are hungry and stops us when we are full to maintain our weight and caloric intake. But it is newly suggested that the toxins we take in are affecting this system and making us unaware of when we should eat and when we should stop.
In addition, when we do loss weight, we release the toxins held in our adipose tissue. This means drinking lots of water is important.
According to an interview with Dr. Eric Berg, environmental estrogens, growth hormones, and pesticides that mimic hormones can cause our endocrine system to get out of whack.
Hormones are very complicated. The fat that we eat is used by our liver to make cholesterol. This cholesterol is important for the formation of our sex hormones. If we do not eat enough fat (as in a low-fat diet) our liver is not only responsible for managing the hormone levels in the bloodstream as usual, but also for making up the difference from the lack of appropriate fat. This can cause hormone imbalance in the body. In addition, a diet high in refined sugars and carbohydrates can also cause hormone imbalance. When the hormone, insulin, is out of balance it can be due to increased levels of glucose and thus a vicious cycle. The higher your glucose levels, the more insulin you produce, the more fat cells your body makes to store the excess glucose in your body, which are usually located around your waist.
Stress can also contribute to weight gain. Dr. Eric Berg has found that exhausted adrenals can cause weight gain in the mid section, especially after menopause. This can be caused by a life of constant stress in which the adrenal glands produce excess cortisol leading to insulin insensitivity and estrogen dominance. This contributes to neurotransmitter imbalance, as well. In addition, fat is the largest endocrine gland of
the body and therefore, when stressed or overweight, it will hold water
in large amounts.
Artificial Sweeteners and their Role in Weight Gain
There is much controversy over artificial sweeteners.
Aspartame was originally developed as an ant poison, but made more money as a sweetener. It has been known to have neuro-toxic properties in humans, just as it is a toxin to the nervous system of bugs.
Aspartame has also been found to increase risk of lymphoma and leukemia. Many have also reported problems with seizures, migraines, and multiple sclerosis.
But aside from these negative reactions, they can also contribute to excess weight. Christine Rosche finds that “artificial sweeteners can adversely affect brain chemistry, blocking the mood enhancing brain chemical, serotonin”, she goes on to include that they also make you feel bloated and fat.
Ann Louise Gittleman has found that sugar alcohols and sucralose (Splenda) for many who are insulin-resistant or who metabolize sugar alcohol differently find that it can cause weight gain. She has also found that it causes gas, bloating, and diarrhea for many. Many used to believe that Splenda passed through our bodies undigested. Now, there is reason to believe that at least 40% is absorbed and stored in body fat, as a xenoestrogen.
The issue with artificial sweeteners is that people can eat and drink more amounts of these foods than they can of foods that contain sugar. Your body has the natural ability to stop eating sugar when it’s had enough, but artificial sweeteners do not affect the body in this way. Therefore, when you do choose something with real sugar, you tend to overdo it because your body is used to overeating sweet foods without feeling the effects. This will then set up a cycle for weight gain as a result.
Emotional eating is a problem for many, it’s important to recognize why and when you are eating in order to control this issue.
“Binge
eating is the most common eating disorder. It affects about 3% of all adults in
the US.”
"Compulsive overeating might be the most
common eating disorder in the United States, where as many as 4 million adults
struggle with the disorder."
Reasons Why We Eat When We Aren't Hungry
Just not thinking consciously
Scared/afraid
Lonely
Procrastinate/permission to procrastinate
Gassing up
Reward
Self-pity
Anger
Sadness
Frustration
Guilt Eating
Happy
To make an unpleasant task more enjoyable
Social
Worry
“If I’m eating, I’m busy”
“warm fuzzies”
tastes good
Starving children in India/China/Bangladesh
Bargain eating—it’s already been paid for/all you can
eat/buffet
Scarcity eating
They made me do it—peer pressure
Health
Transition
Closet eating
Pre- and post-diet eating
Grazing clock eating
Compulsive/addictive
Breaking the Cycle
Develop different coping skills
Keep a food diary
Understand it's OK to be upset
about your feelings
Express yourself
Emotional Food Diary
If you are an emotional eater:
- Write down everything you eat and drink and the approx time.
- Write down if you were hungry or not and if the food was satisfying.
- Also write down what was going on when you overate---underate
- Be as specific as possible, not so much the situation, but distill it down to a
feeling: sad, tired, bored, lonely, angry, depressed, frustrated, excited, etc.
Then take one emotion and say:
"when I am feeling unappreciated I can": Make a
list.
Best exercises for weight loss include weight bearing exercises. Building muscle increases your metabolic rate. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn to support that muscle throughout the day. So muscle is essential to weight loss.
Although swimming is a great low-impact, overall body workout, it is not considered a weight loss exercise because your body adapts to the activities you incorporate into your life. Therefore, buoyancy and insulation is necessary for swimming because it helps you float better and extra weight can be beneficial for this practice.
Running on the other hand causes weight loss, because your body wants to become lighter so that it can move more easily against the force of gravity.
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- Dr. Meg Jordan,Global Medicine Hunter show
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In addition, when dieters eat less fat, they tend to eat less protein due to fat content in meats. If you are dieting and taking in less calories than your body needs more protein. Your muscles use protein and without this nutrient, they will atrophy (or break down). Muscle fibers burn calories and speed up your metabolism, so if you’re losing muscle while dieting, you’re going in the wrong direction. A better solution is to build muscle in order to burn fat. Protein is also used to make chemicals that regulate our mood, brain focus and concentration. 
There are many “healthful” fats or oils including extra virgin olive oil, macadamia, sesame, walnut, almond, soy, coconut, safflower, and more. It’s important that these oils are expeller pressed, cold pressed, or extra virgin to insure that they have not been stripped of their nutrients. Good fats are also found in natural foods like nuts, seeds, fish and avocados. Try to avoid using any hydrogenated oils, or vegetable shortening they contain damaged fats that your body can not process well. Go to 
Regardless of what is causing your food craving, it is worth looking into, because food allergies and sensitivities can cause your body to hold on to extra stored fat and slow down weight loss.
In addition, soy can be hard to digest, especially highly processed soy like soy milk, soy burgers, and soy ice cream. Eating soy products that have been fermented naturally and properly are not of as great a concern. These foods include tempeh, miso, and natto. 
Emotional eating is a problem for many, it’s important to recognize why and when you are eating in order to control this issue.
The Very Important Role of Exercise.
Multivitamins with minerals (Only menstruating and pregnant women need Vitamins with Iron) 
Ultra Meal Plus 360 by Metagentics
