Having professional guidance with a qualified naturopath will ensure that you loose weight safely and effectively and keep it off! Shedding those excess kilos will add years onto your life, improve your mood, energy, mobility, self-confidence, work performance and interaction with others.
Weight management is important – not just so that you look good and fit into your clothes properly, but because carrying extra weight can be detrimental to your health. 55% of women and 67% men and 25% children in Australia are overweight or obese. Research has shown that if overweight Australians lost as little as 5 kgs, this could result in a 34% reduction in deaths associated with heart disease.
Diet and exercise are very important, but other factors can slow down weight loss, even if you are doing all the “right” things in terms of diet and exercise. There may be other obstacles preventing you from losing weight. Then when you do lose weight, how do you keep it off?
Insulin is a hormone secreted by your pancreas to help regulate your blood sugar levels. Insulin helps transport glucose into the body’s cells for use as energy. When blood glucose (sugar) levels rise, insulin is released to store that excess sugar as glycogen. Unfortunately, our body can only store a little glycogen at any one time.
Once you have filled up your glycogen stores, any leftover sugar will be stored as fat. Insulin also blocks the breakdown of existing body fat. So, it becomes virtually impossible to lose fat if you have raised insulin levels.
Toxins are all around us as heavy metals, chemicals, drugs or pollutants in the air, water and/or food, and within our bodies as byproducts from metabolism. Your body stores toxins in fat, bones and other tissue. If you have excess body fat, you may have a higher accumulation of these toxins. Too many accumulated toxins can affect energy levels, general health and even slow your ability to burn fat. Eliminating any stored toxins is, therefore, an important part of any wholistic weight loss plan.
If you are suffering from persistent fatigue even when you are getting plenty of sleep your hormones may be the culprit. If you are having unexplainable mood swings, have PMS or painful periods, are menopausal, you may have a hormone imbalance. If stress is an issue for you, you may have irregular cortisol levels which will alter the way your metabolism works and the way you store glucose and fats.
Our hectic daily lives can contribute to feelings of stress, tension and anxiety. Unfortunately, too much stress can actually reduce your ability to burn fat and lose weight. Stress affects your body by increasing the stress hormone cortisol. Increased cortisol levels can adversely affect blood pressure and blood sugar levels, causing you to increase fat stores and stop burning fat.
Your thyroid controls your metabolic rate, weight, energy levels, appetite and mood. When your thyroid is under-functioning, your body’s metabolism slows down and weight loss becomes very difficult. You may experience symptoms such as tiredness, fatigue and weight gain. If you are suffering from these symptoms, perhaps your thyroid isn’t functioning optimally.
Increased body fat increases inflammation. When your body is inflamed, chemicals are released that stimulate the secretion of hormones that increase inflammation, and interfere with the body’s glucose and insulin response. This may, in turn, lead to insulin resistance and more fat storage. When you have an increase in fat storage, this will then heighten the inflammatory response and so the vicious cycle continues.
When you have tried to diet over and over again, your body goes into preservation mode, believing that hard times will be coming again, and fat stores need to be maintained for the future. This causes a reduction in metabolism, low energy and mood, and increased weight. Your body will adjust energy expenditure and appetite to maintain a ‘set-point’. Have you noticed that you can only lose a few kilos and then you plateau? That’s your body’s way of maintaining its set-point.
For the most successful weight loss, frequent contact and ongoing interaction is key to successful long-term outcomes.
Losing weight can improve your energy levels, increase your vitality and every day enjoyment of life, prevent chronic disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, and improve your overall health.