The American waistline continues to expand, with 61 percent of adults now considered overweight...
More than a third of adults, 35 percent, are slightly or moderately overweight, up from 33 percent
in the last survey, which covered 1988-94. More than a quarter of Americans, 26 percent, are considered
obese, or grossly overweight, compared with 23 percent in the last survey. The findings are part of the
1999 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which measured the height and weight of 1,615
people over age 20.*
*CDC: Most Adults in U.S. Overweight
One-Quarter of Population Obese
The modern diet in the United States consists of nutrient poor and calorie rich foods for many people.
Because of this, the body craves the nutrition that it requires to function properly, but since
it is not getting what it needs to function at optimum levels, signals are being sent from the brain
which are basically begging for food that will satisfy the body's nutritional requirements for high
quality nutrients in the form of vitamins, minerals, glyconutrients. This creates a constant feeling
of hunger that can not be satisfied with empty calories, so a person will eat more of the nutrient poor
food to try to quell the craving for nutrition, often consuming many multiples of the number of calories
required daily. At the same time, the body is getting only a minute portion of the quality nutrition that
it demands in order to regenerate, build new cells, maintain health and meet its demands for energy. Thus
the viscious cycle of overeating, weight gain, low energy, susceptibility to disease, and poor health is
begun. Without providing the nutrient rich foods to feed the body properly, any program that is designed
to reduce body weight is doomed to failure, because the hunger mechanism will continue to overpower any
"willpower" that the person trying to cut down on food intake may have.
The body has an incredible genetic self-preservation system that is designed to protect us from
starvation by storing anything we eat that is not used in the process of digestion or burned as energy.
It was a beautiful design that would assure preservation in a "feast or famine" world.
In our modern developed societies the famine part of the cycle is missing, so our bodies are always
storing and rarely in the mode of using up the excess fuel.
Whenever we diet (induce an artificial famine) as soon as we stop the dieting, the body reacts by
quickly regaining the lost weight as soon as it posibly can - and often for good measure adds a few
extra pounds, just in case aother "famine" coming along.
Tricking the body into thinking it is well fed can accomplish the desired result. By eating small
portions (a piece of fruit, raw vegetables, or an ounce of protein) spaced at approximately 3 hour
intervals, because your body receives a continuous supply of nourishment your metabolic rate will
increase and hunger will diminish.
Make certain this increased frequency of eating is confined to high quality foods, not empty calories
or foods high in fat and sugar.
Miracle diets, promising instant success with very little effort are everywhere, yet it is extremely
difficult for many people to achieve and maintain their desired weight through these low calorie weight
loss diets. The weight loss industry is not making money because its methods are working - it is making
billions because its methods are NOT working.
The overweight person desparate to loose weight will try the same or similar programs over and over
often paying exorbitant prices for the latest miracle diet pill thinking that all they need is more
persistence and will power.
The premise of the low calorie diet is that if caloric intake is lowered to below energy expenditure,
stored fat will be burned off and the result will be loss of weight. This sounds logical, fat will be
burned and weight will melt off.... The deficit to burn off one pound of stored body fat is 3,500 Kcal.
In the typical quick weight loss diet, the weight loss comes not from the fat stores but from non fat
storing tissues. If stored body fat is not the source of the energy required to make up the deficit,
but rather muscle or other fat-free mass is being broken down to supply energy, it takes only 580 Kcal
to result in the loss of 1 pound of weight.
The quick weight loss diets work in this manner. Fat free tissue has less energy content and is 70% water.
So to loose weight quickly on a low-calorie diet, what is actually being lost is not fat tissue but
muscle mass and water. This can be dangerous if the muscle tissue comes from the vital muscles of the
heart.
Another factor that must be considered is that it is the muscle tissue that burns calories most
efficiently. So by loosing weight from muscle or other lean tissue, you now have a larger percentage
of body fat to muscle tissue.
It then becomes even harder than ever to loose weight because fat tissue requires fewer calories to
sustain it than muscle tissue.
Millions of people have tried the low-calorie, low-fat or high-protein diets, and yet as a culture we
are still overweight.
So we look to the diet drugs to provide the magic bullet, the effortless weight-loss approach that does
not require that we become an active participant in life style changes that can normalize our body
weight.
But diet drugs have side effects. Appetite suppressants over stimulate the nervous system. People
using over the counter drugs have reported experiencing chest pain, arrhythmia, nausea, headaches,
nervousness, elevated blood sugar, insomnia, and rapid heartbeat.
Balancing the body weight requires a change in life style which brings balance and nurtures the body.
This is the only way that can satisfactorily bring about a permanent change in body weight and
fitness.
Sometimes when you have tried everything possible and still can not drop the weight you want to loose,
it may be that you have developed intolerances to some of the foods that you eat on a regular basis.
The body's immune system has responded to what would normally be some innocuous substance, such as
dairy products, wheat, corn, sugar, soy, eggs or peanuts and has reacted as powerfully to is as if it
were a harmful bacteria, virus or parasite.
With a classic food allergy, the response is rapid, and often dramatic, possibly even triggering
anaphylactic shock which can cause serious illness and possibly death.
Food intolerance is more subtle, often delayed for several hours or even several days. A food intolerance
is similar to food allergy though the effects are not as dramatic. The body reacts to what is often a
very common food by trying to isolate it.
The result is the body causes:
When you are eating foods that are non-reactive, the body releases messages from the brain telling you
that your stomach is full, the body has a new supply of blood sugar and chemicals are released that
evoke a feeling of satisfaction and contentment.
When you eat reactive foods or trigger foods, the body thinking that it is under attack from a foreign
invader goes into a condition of distress. This produces a metabolic upset and leaves you feeling hungry,
weak and miserable.
Eating the reactive food again soothes these feelings by the release of endorphins. This gives you a
temporary feeling of relief which can last for brief periods then the whole cycle repeats.
This is the mechanism of a food craving. The trigger food causes the food reaction, then eating it
again causes a good feeling, then a let down. Eating it again relieves the distress.
The cycle continues on with eating and craving and eating of the reactive food often with the craving
being in the form of an overpowering urge to eat the reactive food. You can imagine the affect this
pattern has on your weight!
Another problem with food reactions is they create changes in your metabolism. They slow the metabolic
rate, increase hormones that cause weight gain, create hypoglycemia, depress energy and contribute to
illness.
Fortunately, there are tests that can determine which foods you are reactive to and by eliminating
these from your diet, you can rebalance and you will loose weight.
The most reliable are blood tests. The ELISA test (Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay) determines
which foods you react to and how badly you react. The ALCAT test is a cell reactive test or cytotoxic
test that will idenfify food reactions other then immune related IgE and IgG. Both are done in a
laboratory with blood that is drawn and sent for assay.
For more information on these tests, and a complete discussion of the process of weight gain caused
by food intolerances you may want to check Dr. Elson Haas website, click here
to visit, and/or read his book the "False Fat Diet".
Another book by Rudy Rivera, M.D, and Roger D. Deutsch, called "Your Hidden Food Allergies Are Making
You Fat", describes the ALCAT test information in greater detail.
Whatever the results you find regarding your trigger or reactive foods, you will want to include regular
exercise and balance in your life to help you on your weight loss program.
Healthful, longterm weight loss is the result of balancing the mind, body and spirit. By adopting a
lifestyle that is balanced and healthy, you can nurture yourself and still achieve the most desireable,
comfortable and ideal weight for your unique, individual body.
Recent research has given a few helpful aids that can assist in helping you through the inevitable
plateaus of weight loss. Fat blockers and fat burners help absorb and bind fat molecules in the
blood and intestines so that they can be eliminated easily before they are stored as deposits of
unwanted reserves.
See Metabolism Boosters, Fat Blockers, Nutrition Bars under the heading, "Nutritional support to
aid in weight loss!" at the bottom of the
Food is Medicine page.
If you want detailed information on any of these supplements, send an e-mail along with your telephone
number and the best time call.
We will get back in touch with you.
Click here.
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