16 September 2009

Weight Management

By Anju Mathur, M.D.

With all media blasting away about extra pounds, obesity, and how to lose weight, one might get a little overpowered by all that information. Programs, ads, and articles all over newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and internet seem to have no end. How does one sort it all out if one actually wants to lose some weight?

Fat is a huge industry, and if everyone knew how to stay healthy at a proper weight, a lot of people would be out of a job. So how do you choose a diet? How do you know what will work?

There is no magic pill t o melt away the fat that has accumulated over the body. However we like to consider the weight management needing basic fundamental components which when worked together ensures safe and effective weight loss. The pounds that melt stay away melted and do not return to plague the person over and over. Have you heard of how a woman is exclaiming about how she lost 50 lbs only to regain 60 lbs in next 5 years. This is such a wide spread let down that we have carefully evaluated the various modalities of weight management.

There are six important factors that everyone can benefit from, whether you are 100 pounds overweight or perfect or 20 pounds underweight.

1. Restore insulin sensitivity.

As a person gets older, insulin receptors become less sensitive. As this condition increases higher levels of insulin are needed to control blood sugar. When the blood sugar goes out of control, the result is type 2 diabetes, and the high insulin level causes fat and blocks the breakdown of fat in the body.

Chromium, gymnema sylvetere, fish oils and other natural supplements can restore insulin sensitivity. Less caloric intake can also increase insulin sensitivity, as can hormone balancing.

2. Restore youthful hormone levels.

If you have a hormone imbalance, you can diet and exercise to extreme, and still not get the results you want. As we age, less hormones are produced by the body. For example, a lack of testosterone in men can result in a pot belly. Other hormones can affect body weight.

A doctor can do blood tests to determine which hormones need to be replaced and prescribe natural hormones to do the trick.

3. Eating low glycemic index foods.

It is particularly important to avoid high glycemic foods as eating them raises blood sugar levels too high and too quickly. In response the insulin gets released and so the vicious cycle of insulin insensitivity and finally insulin resistance and then diabetes ensues.

Eating nutritious food includes complex carbohydrates, low glycemic foods and correct diet for your metabolic type.

4. Increase exercise.

An increase of physical activity not only burns up more stored body fat and calories, but it also improves insulin sensitivity and provides benefits to the body at a cellular level.

Even modest increase in physical activity should produce a reduction in fat mass especially around the waist, remarkable enough to motivate even the most sedentary individuals.

5. Increasing serotonum in the brain.

When the brain is flooded with serotonin, satiety normally occurs. A serotonin deficiency has been linked to carbohydrate binging that contributes to excess body fat.

6. Eat for a healthy lifestyle.

Foods cooked slowly at low temperatures help with weight loss, and overcooked foods damage proteins. If you cannot maintain a diet over a lifetime, it's just a fad, even if it helps you lose weight.

You can control cravings naturally with a proper diet for your particular metabolic type. Too much food even speeds up aging.

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