Categories: Diets, Nutrition

Weight Loss

We Have Big Problems

It is clear that we are doing something wrong! America was the healthiest nation in 1900 and by 1920 was in second place. During WWI the US was back into first position because sugar and meat were hard to get therefore families relied on the vegetable garden as the sole source of food. By 1978 they dropped to 79th position and 1988 saw Americans in 100th position.

The USA is toted as being the wealthiest nation yet the demise of people is alarming. So why is this happening? The deviation from what nature intended has proven to be highly detrimental to health. After the war we saw the introduction of chemicals and preservatives to the food chain, the more prevalent use of drugs as medicine, and a significant increase in pollution.

In addition we have added toxic substances such as coffee, sugar, alcohol, and processed foods to our daily diet. What were once seasonal treats have now become staples in our diet. The Food Standards Agencies have made some efforts toward improving our choices although many flaws still exist in the rules and laws around food. Huge discrepancies remain around what food manufacturers are obliged to tell us and what they aren’t required to reveal. Some foods, and I use that term loosely, bare little or no relationship to the way mother nature intended once they have suffered the assault of processing and packaging.

The Body’s Inner Wisdom

The foods you eat dictates your health. The input of negative foods alert the body to produce mucous in order to buffer the acidic presence from delicate tissues and organs. This is the body’s inner wisdom protecting against the mindless operator! Because the bowel is responsible for the absorption of nutrients, the state of its inner terrain is critical for healing to occur. And if that’s not enough, over 134 parasites can exist in the body simultaneously, consequently plugging up the entire alimentary canal. All of this congests the liver, therefore potentially interfering with hormone production. From here, the body once again protects by storing accumulated toxic debris in fat tissue. If this is you, cleansing and detoxifying must accompany your lifestyle and diet changes.

The problems are getting bigger…

  • Since 1980 there is a significant increase in obesity that continues to rise to this day
  • From 1991-98 there was a 60% increase in adult obesity
  • 1998-99 saw another 6% increase in obesity
  • Childhood obesity has doubled since 1960
  • Obesity cost taxpayers in excess of $75 billion in 2003
  • Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable deaths in the US next to tobacco

Boot Camp, What are Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins

The ratio of macronutrients, protein, carbohydrates and fat in the meals you eat is the key to permanent weight loss and optimal health. If you understand and appreciate the basic rules that control the powerful biochemical responses generated by food, you are more likely to achieve optimal wellness.

CARBOHYDRATES are essential for energy. Did you know that carbohydrates include everything from sweets and pasta to fruits and vegetables? A continual intake of carbohydrates is necessary to feed such organs as the brain, which requires huge amounts of glucose to function optimally. All carbohydrates are basically sugar! They stimulate insulin and other metabolic hormones, which means you have to be moving in order to use them up.

Insulin is the hormone produced by the pancreas and it fuels each and every cell with glucose. It regulates blood sugar levels, the storage of fat, growth hormone, liver function etc. It is the master hormone of metabolism. Dr. Michael Eades, in his book PROTEIN POWER, calls insulin not only the master hormone but the “monster” hormone because too much can cause a myriad of serious health conditions, especially diabetes. The good news is that controlling insulin is easily done by diet. As with diabetes, the only way to make permanent change is to control what goes in your mouth.

COMPLEX carbohydrates are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and fiber and should make up the majority of carbs consumed in a day. SIMPLE carbohydrates are such things as refined sugar, honey, cookies, pastries, candy and soft drinks. They are typically sugary and low in nutritional value but high in calories. These foods give you that burst of energy when consumed and should constitute only a small percentage of your diet.

Once glycogen levels are filled in both the liver and the muscles, excess carbohydrates have just one fate; they are converted into fat and stored in the adipose or fatty tissue. An excess of carbohydrates not only makes you fat, it keeps you fat! These increased insulin levels tell the body to store and not to release fat therefore this makes it impossible for you to use your own stored body fat for energy. Some people make the mistake of drastically reducing carbohydrates which works for a while but in the end interferes with your body’s ability to synthesize protein.

PROTEIN foods include meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. Nuts and seeds are often grouped in this category although many nuts are composed of as many carbs as protein plus a hefty dose of fat. Protein is necessary to build and repair tissue and for the development of lean muscle mass.

FATS play a critical role in health and disease prevention and there is a tendency to eliminate them when dieting. This is a mistake! Long-chain fatty acids, such as Fish Oils, have proven to be excellent for nearly every condition, including obesity. Know the difference between good fats and bad fats. Use only olive oil or coconut oil with your foods and supplement with pharmaceutical grade Omega-3 Fish Oils.

What is Obesity?

We know it but we don’t want to hear it. More than half the population is carrying more weight than they should be and are putting their health at risk. Some people carry even more. If your weight exceeds 20% over the maximum desirable for your age and height, you are obese. It’s time to take action. The body cannot store protein or carbohydrates, so excess is converted to fat and stored. One pound of fat represents about 3,500 excess calories. Now that’s a lot. Modern medicine offers drastic measures to the desperate. Stomach stapling is reserved for the supposed hopeless situations, although it is a barbaric and extreme temporary solution. It is important to assess your history, your blood type, your tendencies, your habits and your goals. If your weight problem has created health problems, it is even more important to take charge.

Beware of Grains

Have you ever wondered why they feed cattle grain just before they go to market? To fatten them up! Yet we continue to think that plenty of rice, bread and pasta are essential in our diets. WRONG! Grains convert to sugar and eating these foods makes us put on the weight and keep it. We have been conditioned to accept that bread is the staple of life, but wheat and wheat products are one of the most allergy producing foods in the marketplace.

Food Combining

Now that we’ve established that grain is not the best choice, let’s take a look at what goes wrong when we combine these starchy foods with protein. Because grains are acid-forming and contain more phosphorus, they consequently have less of the alkalizing minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium. Mixing your steak with rice and garlic toast hits the gut with a double dose of acid and the pancreas rushes to produce bicarbonate to buffer the influx of acid. The important thing to remember here is that too many acidic foods quickly deplete the alkaline reserves. If you add all important exercise to this, your problem doubles because of the production of more acids.

Combining proteins and starches simply doesn’t work. Jay Robb in his book The Fat Burning Diet explained back in 1994 that this combination was detrimental to digestive health and he was soon followed by such authors as Dr. Barry Sears in The Zone and Dr. Atkins with the Atkins Diet. This concept is not just the latest fad but rather has even deeper roots back to Dr. E. E. Rogers who wrote Biological Medicine in 1917. The combination of meats and grains putrefies in the gut creating fermentation, gas and bloating.

So where do we go from here? It’s simple. If you choose to eat grains, eat only very small portions but never in combination with protein. Remember that wheat and other grains contain gluten that is highly disruptive to the sensitive digestive tract. After all my years in practice, diet modifications in conjunction with supplement support gets results. If you choose to use grains, rice and millet are better choices because they are gluten free. Fruits and vegetables remain your best choice of carbohydrates. Still not convinced? Then at least choose sprouted grains which do not contain gluten.

  1. A vegetarian with digestive problems?
  2. How much grain are you eating?

Success at Last

Diet is the key to health and wellness. The food you eat will make the difference between simply satisfying hunger and helping your body to heal itself. That’s why a template that you can refer to at any time is the all important missing piece. Based on your blood type and in consideration of your health challenges, your diet program will be individualized to meet your specific needs. We ensure that all recommendations are directed at boosting immune system function, digestion, energy and well-being. One of the frequently experienced side benefits is this approach is loss of unwanted pounds.

Diet – The Missing Link

Day in and day out at our clinic we listen to your struggles with health. We know that health begins and ends in the colon, and that the Inner Terrain is the most important and critical domain to address. If your Inner Terrain is out of balance, it is most likely that your health challenges are beginning or well on their way to becoming a serious matter. Cleaning up the debris within and restoring its delicate equilibrium is critical. Let’s make a plan.

Poor Diet the Number One Cause of Disease

Poor food choices and their effects in the body can be alarming. High fat diets, or high protein intake along with excess salt, sugar, grain, etc. can wreak havoc within. Essentially, ingestion of any food or beverage of questionable nature has the potential to throw the body chemistry into turmoil. Cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, artherosclerosis, diabetes, lupus, asthma, and other conditions have direct relationships to the food we eat on a daily basis. Often the failure of elderly people to take in enough calories in a day also becomes a problem. Cancer can be traced back to dietary habits to some degree and the fact that diet improvements can eradicate cancer is proof in itself. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston reports a study linking high starch diets and pancreatic cancer. Excess insulin production is the number one contributor to this type of cancer.

The Thyroid Connection

It’s always a gamble. The diet industry is full of arguments over the best approach to losing weight but there are still no long term studies to really prove that one is better than another. What we do know is that good food and proper exercise contributes significantly to good health. Add the power of your mind and you are even more likely to meet you goals.

So You Say You Are Only a Size 8

A recent J. Brody article in the New York Times held some interesting information about the ‘widening of America’. Did you know that a size 8 used to be a size 12? A size 4 used to be an 8 and a size 12 was a 16? Alarming, isn’t it? Regular pants for men are now being labeled ‘slim’ and subway cars made in Japan seat 1/3 fewer New Yorkers than they are meant to because the bottoms of Americans take up more bench space than manufacturers anticipated. Industry is creating an illusion by making sizes smaller while the food chains are making portions bigger with a lower price tag. Even restaurant chairs are becoming larger to accommodate the ever increasing girth of the customer. And what about vending machines in schools? We are clearly trading health for dollars and jeopardizing the lives of our children and the future of our nation. Your choices will be your saving grace amidst the chemical soups called ‘food’.

The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Make choices that put YOU in charge of your destiny. Poor choices are addictive, but also deadly. Once you feel the changes that are possible you will wonder what took you so long to get there. Try going without sugar for seven days. The first three days are the hardest and the body is likely to throw a temper tantrum! By day 4, it looks like there is hope for your addiction, but the true test comes when you take this ‘new you’ into the social realm. Can you survive the temptations at your favorite restaurant? How will you handle your great-aunt’s 80th birthday party? One of the best ways to be in charge is to keep a food diary, including times, beverages, gum, moods and energy levels. Often we think we’re on track, when in fact we are sabotaging ourselves with every mouthful. Make a plan and remember the old adage:

“If you fail to make a plan, you plan to fail!”

Did you know that often overweight people are not eating enough? Yes, it’s true! In order to lose fat you must take in enough good calories to support the thyroid, which controls metabolism.

Did You Say Chocolate

Almost everyone loves chocolate! When we are contemplating making life style changes, one of the first things we think of is what we must give up in order to succeed. Chocolate contains a wide variety of trace minerals and other phytonutrients that contribute to a healthy diet. It is also a good source of several minerals, including calcium and magnesium. Cocoa powder contains more calcium than whole milk and more magnesium than whole grain bread! It is also an excellent source of other minerals such as iron, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and copper. These minerals are critical to good health and chocolate is a virtual storehouse of these important elements.

Research is just beginning to reveal the many valuable components of the cocoa bean and it is no longer being toted as merely a food for rare indulgence. Much of the data has focused on chocolate’s powerful antioxidant abilities that can protect the body from free radical damage which is one of the primary causes of aging. Cocoa also contains a substance called phenylethylamine (PEA), which is an endorphin. These chemicals stimulate and elevate moods.

And Finally… What About Water?

Almost everyone is actively involved in becoming more healthy, whether it’s dieting, taking supplements or walking the dog more often. This age of expanded consciousness has led American’s to spend more than $30 billion a year doing so. So what are we missing? No matter what the specific health or fitness goal, no one can achieve the maximum benefit from any health program without drinking the right kind of water in the proper proportions. There is virtually NO function in the body that can occur without the presence of water. Approximately 75% of our body is made up of water and water constitutes over 80% of our brain and 90% of our blood. Insufficient hydration of the body can, in itself, contribute to health conditions and disease. Water:

  • Helps with absorption of nutrients
  • Aids the kidneys, helps with constipation, excretion of toxins
  • Drinking water before meals helps with weight loss and weight control since it aids digestion and reduces cravings
  • Lubricates joints and muscles, reduces inflammation
  • Boosts mental performance

Before you run out and buy a case of bottled water, be sure you know what you are in for.

DISTILLED & REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER

The two most common types of water are distilled and reverse osmosis. Both are very pure although both can allow the carry over of trace contaminants. But did you know that the ‘purest’ water is not necessarily the best? How stable the water is in relation to the chemicals and minerals in its immediate environment is what determines quality water that carries the potential to improve health. Long term ingestion of ultra-pure, demineralized water strips the body of magnesium, calcium and trace minerals, which contributes to an acid state within. The Wellness Filter has been shown to produce a very pure but minerally enhanced water that will not leach trace minerals from the body like distilled water and R/O water. Wellness water is stable.

ALKALINE OR IONIZED WATER

Machines that claim to alkalize water don’t purify the water as much as they physically modify it by producing high levels of negative ions via electrolysis. These machines produce two streams of water, one being negatively charged and the other being positively charged. There have been long-term health studies recently prompted by the Japanese Ministry of Health and they have published a health warning about the potential adverse effects of routine consumption of highly alkaline water.

On the other hand, The Wellness Filter produces a consistent but highly stable stream of negative ions by natural ionization of the water without raising the alkalinity above a pH of 8.5. These negative ions loosely attach themselves to the soluble silica ions produced by the Bakuhan stone and are able to survive the harsh conditions of the stomach and progress into the bloodstream.

CARBON FILTERS

Carbon filters can be excellent and are capable of efficiently removing chlorine, chlorination byproducts, organics and pesticides, however, there are several notable drawbacks. The main concern lies with the eventual saturation of the carbon and accumulation of bacteria. The Wellness Filter utilizes a permanent carbon section as part of its media, that does not require periodic changing like traditional cartridge filters. Instead its patented backwashing system is uniquely capable of purging the filter of most of its accumulated contaminants and regenerating the carbon for continued use.

MINERAL SPRING WATER

It’s quite simple. Bottled water is only required to meet minimum tap water standards in the US. This requires only that there are no visible suspended solids and no living bacteria. There are over 400 brands of bottled water sold in the US and approximately one third fail to meet even minimum tap water standards. Also, beware of the plastic that can leach into the water and be absorbed by the water.

THERE IS ONLY ONE CHOICE!

Clearly, The Wellness Filter will help your body eliminate toxins, hydrate each and every cell, and achieve a natural alkaline state. This water system has proven to aid digestion and reduce complaints of gastric reflux, heartburn and indigestion. Participants in a weight loss study were found to lose more weight (16-24%) and keep the weight off longer and Wellness Water contributed to more lean muscle mass.

Resources

  1. Anderson, Rich, 1988. Cleanse and Purify Thyself, pages 6-24. Baboza, David (NYT) Late Edition – Final , Section C , Page 6, Column 3.
  2. Barkoukis, Fiedler, et al. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Oct. 2002
  3. Brownell, Kelly D., Nestle, Marion. Article, The Sweet And Lowdown on Sugar, January 23, 2004.
  4. Burros, Marian. NYT, January 21, 2004. Article, The Post-Atkins Low Carb Diet.
  5. Connelly, A. Scott, MD. Body Rx, 2001.
  6. Eades, Michael R., Mary Dan Eades, MD. Protein Power, 1996.
  7. Jensen, Bernard, MD. Foods That Heal, 1988.
  8. King, Brad J. Fat Wars, 2002.
  9. Nuff, Elyse. Alive ‘Raw… as Nature Intended, 2003.
  10. Philips, Brad. Body-for-Life, 1999.
  11. Robb, Jay. The Fat Burning Diet, 1994.
  12. Robins, John. Diet for a New America, 1987.
  13. Rogers, E.E., MD, CM. Biological Medicine, 1917.
  14. Sears, Dr. Barry, The Omega Rx Zone, 2002.
  15. Wilson, Dr. Lawrence, Nutritional Balancing and Hair Mineral Analysis, 1991.
Author: Maureen Fontaine