What I've Seen

Just recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 110,000 Americans die as a result of obesity each year, and that one-third of all cancers are directly related to this excess weight.  In fact, obesity now leads to more doctor visits than smoking. Studies show that the number of overweight or obese people has nearly tripled since 1980. Virtually every health problem that afflicts our population is connected in some way to this obesity epidemic proving we truly are what we eat.  However, if you’ve ever dealt with excess weight, you know that weight loss is not always that easy.

In theory, weight loss should be as easy as, eat less, and exercise more.  However this isn’t always the case.  Many times, exercise is not enough, despite the numerous other benefits of physical fitness.  If you’ve ever tried calorie counting, you know that not all calories are created equally.  While most of the experts are agreeing that highly processed grains and sugars are the primary problem, there are numerous other factors that contribute to weight gain and inhibit our best efforts for weight loss.  If you’ve been following this column, you know that inadequate sleep, incomplete exercise routines, toxicity, stress, and hormonal imbalances can all contribute to weight loss difficulties.

The one thing I’ve learned from our many customers that have committed to our 8 Weeks to Wellness program over the last 3 years is that the ones who get the best results in regard to weight loss are the ones who perfect their diets.  We’ve had men and women lose up to 40 pounds in just eight weeks when they get the diet right!  I’ve heard experts say that adhering to the right diet is 70% of weight loss and exercise is just the other 30%.  But for some people, even this isn’t enough.  I’m a huge advocate of undergoing a detoxification before even attempting a weight loss program because the fact is that toxins are stored in fat cells and when you start dumping the toxins into the blood by burning fat, your body will naturally prevent further loss in order to protect itself from the toxic burden.  Many times this type of detoxification should be done for up to 30 days in order to get results.   For other people, cortisol levels from chronic stress are the barrier that must be overcome.  In these cases, physical exercise coupled with stress reduction techniques such as meditation or yoga are imperative to reverse the trend.

In the end, this obesity trend must be reversed.  My advice is get with a professional to help determine where the problem originates from and take a multi-dimensional approach to correction.  Whatever approach is determined appropriate, give yourself about 90 days to make significant changes.  Feel free to contact our office for advice or attend our Eat Well class for instruction on a low glycemic diet.