Energy and Empowerment: How to achieve optimal weight and wellness

This week’s topic for our nutrition support luncheon was Energy and Empowerment; How to achieve optimal weight and wellness.

We started with great news from one of our patients! A patient with pancreatic cancer who decided to work with Victoria Wood and has attended almost every Wednesday nutrition group, changing her diet, working on self-care and taking lots of the Thorne Research supplements and her CA 19-9 (a cancer marker) dropped from 607.9 to 232.6 in 3 months! She also did the Spectracell micronutrient testing when she starting working with our team one year ago and again this past month. All of her deficiencies improved so much that she only had one low normal level! Her vitamin D is at optimal level of 65 ng/ml. Her cardiologist last week told her to keep doing what she is doing that he doesn’t need to see her for another year and her eyesight is improving! Proof that when you replenish nutrient insufficiencies and you address toxicity and inflammation, the body naturally begins to heal itself. Most importantly, is that the patient reported that she has good quality of life and that motivates her to continue to participate and make vital change.  She has the support of her daughter and husband who also attend our luncheon which is a powerful plus.

Another of our patients attending our nutrition support luncheon requested we discuss resting metabolism and mindful eating for this week’s group.  He read two articles in The New York Times and was hungry for a perspective based on wellness…how profound and wise! This gentlemen, by coming to our weekly luncheons has gone from 283 pounds to 243 without dieting or deprivation. He is now hovering between  245-250, and after reading the NYT articles is worried about moving in the “wrong direction.”

These two articles are great examples of the difference in disease management and wellness and why our current thinking regarding disease management is not very helpful for anyone with chronic conditions. The more we focus on what’s wrong with the body in the attempt to “fix it”, the more shame and stress we get in the process, interfering with the body’s natural ability to heal from within. 

The more we focus on what we really want, the more likely we are to achieve natural balance with ease.  Yes, you heard me, with ease. Robert lost the first 40 pounds with ease. Now he’s worried about not being able to lose even more or worse yet to regain the lost pounds back.

First, I’d like to comment on a few key points from the first article titled, “Never Diet Again” an opinion by Sandra Aamodt, and lessons learned from neuroscience. Here’s why diets don’t work:

#1 Stress holds on to fat. All kinds of stress, mental emotional as well a food sensitivities, gut dysbiosis, and all the hidden causes of inflammation that we discuss in our nutrition groups. This is why weight loss is the natural consequence to healing the body.

#2. Weight Anxiety. The fear of gaining weight leads to binge eating leading to weight gain. Yes, the body follows the mind; what we focus on is what we get. The article gave several examples in both teenage girls and rodents (who have common eating patterns!). Girls who diet in adolescence are three times more likely to become overweight in the next four years. Girls who dieted frequently were twelve times more likely than non-dieters to binge. “binge eating is a common mammalian response to starvation.” You are literally telling your body that you are starving and to save up fat cells for your own survival later on.

#3 Food Deprivation leads to changes in dopamine and neurotransmitters. Remember from our group classes that 90% of our neurotransmitters are produced in the gut. You need a healthy gut for a healthy mind, mood and body.  These changes linger long after the diet.

#4 Diets rely on rules rather than your own internal clues. Marketing mania further supports the false belief that we need to depend on external clues to “fix us,” Powerlessness does not lead to empowered.

#5 Diets are fear driven. We diet because we are worried about heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or just plain not being good enough, young enough, attractive enough, etc. This leads us back to #1 Stress holds onto fat….

I love how Sandra ends her article. She says, “I finally gave up dieting six years ago and I’m much happier. I redirected the energy I used to spend on dieting to establishing daily habits of exercise and meditation. I also enjoy food more while worrying about it less, now that it no longer comes with a side order of shame.”

So what’s the Savvy Secret? Now for the Remedy!

1.      

      First, we must love and accept all of us, exactly where we are. Ask, not, “What’s wrong with me, but what’s right with me…what is my loving body trying to tell me?”  The answer may not be what you think.  Newer studies are linking toxicity to obesity, diabetes, cancer and chronic dis-ease. Here’s a graph that points out the direct correlation to chemical use in the U.S. with the rapid rises in diabetes.

Could toxicity be the precursor to diabetes and obesity instead of merely the standard American diet laden with hyper palatable food? Understand the body’s loving way of storing toxins in fat is to protect you. Forget the guilt and shame, it serves no purpose and keeps you on the hamster wheel!

This leads to #2; the need to minimize toxicity in our food and water supply as well as the need to boost the body and support the liver’s detoxification pathways. How?

a.       First, address intestinal permeability (IP), (otherwise toxins just recirculate!), Enlist the 5 R’s of functional medicine we discuss in our group. Remove inflammatory food, Replace processed food with whole nutrient dense food, Restore probiotics, Repair the Gut and Rest and digest and rebalance.

b.      Address nutrient insufficiencies (like vitamin D and zinc which can lead to IP.

c.       Supplement to support the liver. 

d.      Consider a detoxification program to eliminate inflammatory foods, kick the sugar and carb cravings and eliminate toxins. Try the Kick-Start program and the new Tasty 6 juices.

The most important of the 5 R’s is to “rest and digest or rest and repair.” 

Lower Stress! Think HALT Don’t get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired or Thirsty.

Recognize that you cannot meet any of your health goals if you are in fight or

flight mode. It is physiologically impossible to lose weight or to heal and repair

when you are stuck in sympathetic nervous system (SNS) overdrive.  Here's a

picture from my book on what happens when we are always in sympathetic

nervous system overdrive:

When you are chronically in "fight or flight" you become susceptible to eye problems, flu's, viruses and asthma, hypertension, constipation, varicose veins, anemia, anxiety, depression, insomnia and so much more. You secrete less stomach acid which is essential for nutrient absorption, creation of the stress b and k vitamins and  the feel good neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. This is why a practice in rest and relaxation, self-love and self-care is so essential!

The second article, That Lost Weight? The Body Finds It  gave the depressing news that nearly all of TV’s Biggest Loser’s gained back lost weight and gives great examples of what NOT to do, and again why dieting and deprivation are ineffective and create more stress, dis-ease and weight gain in the long term. The most intelligent take away is, “We need to explore other approaches.” And Dr Ludwig said, “simply cutting calories was not the answer.” Dr. Rosenbaum summarizes, “The difficulty in keeping weight off reflects biology, not a pathological lack of willpower affecting two-thirds of the U.S.A.” 

There is a great common myth that if you just eat less and exercise more you can meet your weight goals…WRONG!

The truth is counting calories is old school outdated knowledge, stressful, and ineffective. Simply put, a calorie does not equal a calorie. A calorie from a green juice is no way similar to the calories in a soda drink. The calories from a can of soda have so many other effects on the body (consider not only lack of nutrients, but the sugar, the BPA and heavy metal from the can and the negative effect on the pancreas and the adrenals, which affect the hormones, which affect the thyroid….) The body has interconnected intelligence; each body part is functionally related to each other and health begins in the gut.

As we discuss weekly, food is information to the body and can lead to healing the body or causing more dis-ease.

Before we ate lunch, we practiced this deep belly breathing. Inhale to the count of 4, hold for the count of 5 and exhale to the count of 7. We then did some yoga dance to, “Don't Worry, Be Happy”, stimulating the lymphatic system and shaking out the arms and legs and hips. Everyone was smiling and laughing; definitely the best way to decrease stress! It was so much fun we had to do it again to end our lunch.

We ended lunch with a mindful eating experience with chocolate and strawberries. We took our time to smell, taste, feel and chew the food to stimulate digestion and to get the peak enjoyment from eating. Food should be nourishing and decadently delicious. So many studies support happiness as a path to healing. We ended sharing what makes us happy and what each of us could do to increase happiness and decrease stress. Some examples were breathing, movement to music, walking, smelling flowers, cooking and for me it’s time with my Grandson. Now doesn’t it make you happy to see that beautiful baby smile!

Carpe Diem!

Lisa

Lisa is an author, inspirational speaker, retired RN, certified health coach, and yoga teacher.

Her book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think & Thrive: Seven Steps to Optimal Health is a self health book to enable healing from within. Her goal is to inspire wellness and to help others look and feel their best at any age.

Lisa is part of the New Self Health Movement, the International Health Coach Association and the Wellness Inspired Network. She is the mother of four adult children, a Grandmother, and believes that optimal health should not be a secret! When she is not coaching, speaking and writing, you can find her practicing yoga and joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance at every opportunity.