Many people ask me about healthy ways for weight loss. What really works, what is hype, but, more importantly, what will work for them? Below are some ideas and some products that are often used in natural weight loss formulas. Hopefully this will help you to be more informed to make the right choice so you can reach your weight loss goals.
What are you feeding your body?
What type of fuel are you putting in your body? How many fruits and vegetables do you eat every day? The FDA states that we should be eating 7-10 servings each day of fruits and vegetables. A serving size can be different for each item. For fruits and vegetables 1 serving is typically ½ cup. How many servings of fruit and vegetables do you eat in a day? If you work towards putting 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetables every day into your diet, you will see not only a difference in your weight, but also in your overall health.
How much exercise are you really doing?
Today’s lifestyles don’t require us to carry bags of water to our house, or walk miles to the store, or chop wood for fuel for our houses. But unfortunately those activities help us to flush toxins out of our body, build bone and muscle and ultimately help us to lose weight. Although you might not do these strenuous activities, there are some basic, easy things you can do which will help you burn more calories. Always take the stairs. Always park your car farther out in the parking lot and walk. Choose to carry items instead of using a cart (within reason of course). Although time saving techniques in the past have taught us to take fewer trips around our house to get things done; try taking more steps – get a step counter and see how many steps you have gone during the day. Do your best to get over 10,000 each day. Go for daily walks with friends. It is enjoyable and helps burn calories.
What are your emotions like – what is happening in your life?
What is going on in your life that might be preventing you from losing weight? I have many customers that could not lose weight until they got divorced, and then it just fell off. I am not saying to get divorced; I am just saying that many times we hang onto weight to protect us from people or circumstances in our life. Once we acknowledge these issues, the weight usually disappears with the issues.
How much sleep are you getting?
This past year there was a study done that made a direct correlation between how much sleep people get and how much weight they gain. They took some healthy men and put them in a room. Then they deprived them of sleep, as this happened, they started eating food that was worse for them, and they started to gain weight. Once they got the amount of sleep they needed, this reversed itself. Work with your health professional to find out what actions you can take to improve your sleep time, and to make sure you are sleeping adequately for your body.
Cravings/Blood Sugar
Another major issue that is overlooked by many health care professionals helping people lose weight is blood sugar issues. Many people do not eat properly; they skip meals, then eat and stuff themselves with the wrong foods. Unfortunately, these actions do not feed our bodies correctly and then stress is put on the body and it is unable to keep our blood sugar levels balanced. When this happens, our blood sugar drops, and we usually crave carbohydrates such as sugar and junk foods. Unfortunately these substances only cause our blood sugar to go higher, and then crash again within an hour or so, starting the same cycle over again. There are many products which can help feed the adrenals, and also balance blood sugar issues such as licorice root, nopal, gymnema, garcinia cambogia and noni. Talk with your health care professional to find out which of these foods can help you. Try eating smaller meals and eating more often as well as this is also beneficial for these issues.
Colon Factors
Many people come into our store with constipation issues, and once they do a simple colon cleanse to get their colon moving, they can typically lose 10 lbs in a week from toxic fecal matter stuck in their colon. If you haven’t done a cleanse recently or have never done a cleanse, this is something to consider. We clean our ovens, our homes, our cars, why not our bodies inside? They get toxic also from all the bad food we eat, bad air we breathe, and toxic chemicals we put on our skin, hair and clothes. Colon, liver, and kidney cleansing is a very effective tool for weight loss, but specifically to get healthier to absorb food better, and make our bodies less toxic so they can run more efficiently. If our bodies are running more efficiently we have fewer cravings, because we are digesting our food better, because there are fewer toxins around for our body to be concerned with.
Products that may help with weight loss
Probiotics
Beneficial bacteria are very important to our bodies. They live throughout our bodies and help us fight disease, but vitamins are now being linked to weight loss/gain as well. An article that discusses this is in the October issue of Discover magazine. The article is titled “Are Antibiotics Killing Us?” It states that our beneficial bacteria may influence how fat we are. Taking supplementation of beneficial bacteria can only help your body run more effectively, by helping you digest your food better, providing important B vitamins for stress, and killing harmful organisms.
5-HTP
5-HTP is short for hydroxytryptophan, a precursor to serotonin, an important neurotransmitter that helps regulate appetite, mood and sleep. Hydroxytryptophan is converted into serotonin in the body, which may help elevate mood, assist in controlling hunger and promote restful sleep.
Hoodia Gordonii
Hoodia gordonii is a stinky plant from South Africa. This cactus like plant contains substances that may help control hunger and appetite for some people. History records that the San people of the Kalahari Desert used the Hoodia plant to reduce hunger and thirst when they traveled across the desert.
Guarana is often touted as a natural stimulant. It is natural, and it is a stimulant, but coffee, cola nuts and black tea are also natural stimulants. Natural does not necessarily mean non-addictive or safe. Guarana contains a high amount of guaranine, a chemical substance with the same characteristics as caffeine. In fact, Guarana is one of the richest sources of caffeine in the world. It has 2.5 times the caffeine content of coffee and extracts or concentrates of the plant can enrich the caffeine content 13-21 fold. Caffeine is, of course, quite harmful and addictive. Hence, guarana is addictive like other caffeine bearing plants and can cause all the unpleasant symptoms of heavy coffee drinking.
Guarana is now becoming popular in the “high-caffeine” drinks available on the market to give you an extreme amount of energy from caffeine. However, any potential benefits in weight loss should be measured against the addictive and possibly harmful side effects.
Gymnema blocks the taste of sugar – sweet foods no longer taste sweet because gymnema prevents the taste buds from being activated by the sugar in foods. The effect lasts 1-2 hours. Gymnema is a tree native to Africa and India.
Gymnema has been an important part of Ayurvedic medicine for some time and is one of the most popular herbal preparations sold in Japan today. Its history and use is solely based on the management of blood sugar disorders like diabetes. Clinical studies show that it has proven ability to lower one’s blood sugar.
As always – be careful not to haphazardly experiment with herbs if you have an insulin-dependent diabetes or serious blood sugar problems. Always consult a qualified health practitioner.
Also known as Malabar tamarind, or Brindal berry, Garcinia is a fruit. Containing hydroxycitric acid, garcinia signals the liver to allow dietary sugars to go into the blood stream without being changed into fat. This remarkable effect means that blood sugar remains high after a meal and therefore dampens the appetite between meals.
There are a few published studies of garcinia in humans. One study compared groups that consumed a low calorie diet for 12 weeks. The study in mildly overweight women found a significantly larger decrease in weight with garcinia, but no affect on appetite.
Chickweed is a weed, one of the most common weeds in the world. The common name from chickweed comes from the old custom of using the seeds as birdseed. It is a mild herb and very nutritious. The most famous folk use of chickweed is an old wives’ remedy for obesity. This is probably due to the diuretic action of chickweed. Chickweed is a mild diuretic, but the effect is only temporary as the body neutralizes this effect after about a week. Chickweed does aid the body in absorbing bowel toxins, lowers bowel transit time, and regulates colonic bacteria and soothe inflamed tissues. And since fat are mostly toxins, this can help some people with weight loss – which is often why it is in weight loss formulas.
Regardless of what herb(s) you choose to help yourself lose weight; be sure to contact a qualified professional before attempting any weight loss program. There are a lot of herbal products and companies out there. Just like anything else, some are very good, and some are not – make sure you know the company is reputable – if you don’t know – call them and ask if you can have a tour of the facility. And remember – you get what you pay for.
I have helped many people lose weight over the years, each with custom tailored programs specifically for them, but mostly because the people took ownership of their life and their bodies – listening to their own inner wisdom, instead of the billions of dollars of media. We all have the power within us to achieve our goals. I wish you the best of luck for your goals in the coming year.