Article from www.sensible-alternative.com.au

10 Reasons People CANNOT Lose Weight

(For more answers to your weight loss questions, check out the Prana Index Diet, Truth About Hunger article, Sensible News 26and the NEW Weight Loss Quiz.)

We also urge you to make an appointment with one of our friendly Naturopaths. We will prescribe an individualised weight loss program based on blood tests of your metabolic indicators.

1. Insulin

Almost 40% of people on a standard Western diet develop insulin resistance (1). This means that even "ordinary" amounts of flour, sugar and alcohol elevate insulin, which causes obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, fatty liver and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Partially hydrogenated oils, or Trans fat, are also major contributors to insulin resistance.

Diagnosis: Bread cravings, apple shaped obesity, abnormal glucose tolerance test, fasting cholesterol and fasting insulin.

Solution: Reduce refined carbohydrates in the diet.  Eat mainly low GI vegetables and whole grains, as well as protein and healthy fat.  Avoid wheat, in particular, because it acts as an insulin mimic. Avoid Trans fat.

2. Leptin

Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat that is supposed to stop hunger. Under normal conditions, it tells the brain that you are not hungry, and it tells the body to burn fat.  When leptin resistance develops, the result is a gnawing, constant hunger that cannot be satisfied.

Diagnosis: Constant hunger. Elevated fasting leptin on blood test.

Solution: Use potentised leptin before every meal. Get enough sleep, as sleep deprivation will reduce the effectiveness of leptin.

3. Stress/Depression

Emotional eating may account for up to 75% of overeating (2).  It is the use of food to control emotions, which results in increased consumption.  Stress hormone (cortisol) also contributes directly to weight gain by destabilizing blood sugar.

Diagnosis: Pattern of eating when sad, worried, anxious, or even overly happy.  Saliva hormone test for cortisol. Abdominal weight gain; "cortisol hump" at the back of the neck.

Solution: Because it is healthy to enjoy food, there is not an easy solution to emotional overeating.  Restricting food or feeling guilty about eating will only worsen the condition.  The best approach is a relaxed, forgiving attitude about food.  Remember that food is nourishing. 

Open yourself up to emotions and intimacy, and do not be afraid to make changes in your life and relationships.   Adopt stress management techniques such as meditation.

4. Birth Control Pill/ HRT

Estrogen, especially the artificial estrogens used in conventional hormone formulas, causes weight gain.   Progestins in the Pill may also cause weight gain in some women.

Diagnosis: Pear shaped obesity, with fluid retention, breast tenderness, anxiety, and other symptoms of estrogen dominance. (See Sensible News 4).

Solution: Come off the OCP and HRT.  There are many alternative methods of birth control, and many ways to control menopausal symptoms.  Use natural progesterone, an effective weight loss agent,   

5. Food Lectins

Lectins are sticky proteins in food that cause inflammation including clumped red blood cells, high white blood cells.  Such inflammation puts and stress on the liver and suppresses metabolism, both contributing to weight gain.  Reactivity to lectins depends on blood type (3), and immune function. Lectin incompatibility is just one type of food sensitivity.  Food causes other sensitivities by its toxic byproducts from incomplete digestion, and by mimicking of neurotransmitter and proteins.  Food sensitivities cause cravings, often for the very food that is causing the problem.  A good example is cow's milk products in people with Blood Type A.

Diagnosis: Signs of food sensitivity: bloating, headaches, sinus, fluid retention, poor skin, and more.  Lab tests include: Blood type, urinary indican, food sensitivity tests.

Solution: Avoid food sensitivities.

6. Underactive Thyroid

Low thyroid function is often a missed diagnosis.  This is because the reference range for TSH has recently changed to 0.2-2.5 mlU/L (4), making thousands of people now officially hypothyroid.  (See Sensible News 16).  Estrogen dominance inhibits thyroid function (see Sensible News 4)

Diagnosis: Fluid retention, sensitivity to heat and cold, constipation, hair loss, low basal body temperature, abnormal thyroid panel on blood test.

Solution: Nutritionally support thyroid with kelp and selenium, supplement T4 and T3, correct estrogen dominance.

7. Trans Fat

Margarine and processed vegetable oils contain dangerous TRANS fat, and are now deemed to be "the worst public health disaster in history". (5) TRANS fat causes insulin resistance, suppresses metabolism, contributes to cancer, diabetes and heart disease, and are widely used in processed food

Diagnosis: Consumption of margarine, commercially baked goods, deep-fried foods.

Solution: Replace trans fat with naturally occurring saturated and mono-unsaturated oil, including butter, coconut oil, and olive oil.

8. Processed Food

Refined carbohydrates are empty calories and deplete the body of nutrients that it has obtained from other food.  Such anti-food slows metabolism dramatically.

Diagnosis: Consumption of packaged, processed food.

Solution: Support metabolism by consuming foods high in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, good bacteria, fibre, pigments and accessory nutrients (high prana foods).  Raw vegetable juice is the best.

9. Plastics, Pesticides

These, and other endocrine disruptors contribute to estrogen dominance, underactive thyroid, and other forms of hormone imbalance.

Diagnosis: Estrogen dominance symptoms, chronic unexplained anxiety or insomnia, chemical sensitivity.

Solution: Avoid fly sprays and microwaving in plastic containers.

10. Liver

The liver is the main powerhouse in the body.  It produces enzymes, balances sugar levels, and most importantly for weight loss, it converts fat into energy!  Overburdened by household chemicals and pollution, and deprived of nutrition, the liver can simply not keep up with the all of the body's jobs, and metabolism slows down. 

Diagnosis: Signs of inadequate liver function: Elevated liver enzymes on blood test, coated tongue, fat just below the ribcage, headaches, poor digestion and skin rashes.

Solution: Eat whole foods, and supplement with milk thistly, selenium, the amino acid taurine and B-vitamins.

11. Inactivity

Previous generations walked an average of 15,000 steps per day.   The average office worker now walks only 3000 steps (6). Exercise does not just burn calories. It fundamentally changes metabolism.

Solution: Join an exercise class, walk to work.  Stepometers, available in electronics stores, are a good way to try to get your 10,000 steps per day.

Author: Lara Grinevitch BSc, ND. Sensible-Alternative Naturopathic Clinic.
www.sensible-alternative.com.au

Appointments at Sensible-Alternative

For professional advice regarding weight loss issues, please call to make an appointment...

   Sensible-Alternative Hormone Clinic
   Suite 1, Berry Rd Medical Centre
   1A Berry Rd, St Leonards NSW.
   phone: 02 9438 3448.

References:

(1)  American Association of Endocrinologists (AACE)

(2)  Jakubczak, RD, LD, student health center dietitian, University of Maryland, College Park

(3)  D'Adamo, Peter. 1996. Eat Right 4 Your Type. GP Putnam's Sons. New York.

(4)  AACE Medical Guidelines for Clinical Practice for the Evaluation and Treatment of Hyperthyroidism and Hypothyroidism, Endocrine Practice, Vol. 8, No. 6, Nov/Dec 2002.

(5) Sept 25, 2003. The Globe and Mail.

(6) www.medicineau.net.au