If you have ever searched for weight loss programs, you know that there is a lot of confusing and conflicting information out there. This 5 step wellness-based weight loss program addresses the underlying causes of obesity to provide you with real solutions.
Medical and Popular Weight Loss Programs Found Lacking
As I discussed in my last article, the American Medical Association recently declared obesity to be a disease. A new disease always translates into new drugs and new insurance covered medical procedures. Declaring obesity as a disease was no exception. This has brought about a rapid increase in new weight loss pills and weight loss programs. Even popular weight loss programs that are not covered by insurance are benefiting from this. While many people actually lose weight with these popular and medical weight loss programs, they often fail to produce healthier individuals who know how to live a lifestyle that keeps the weight off. Giving calorie restrictions and appetite suppressing drugs to an obese patient may result in weight loss but they do not address the underlying CAUSE of obesity. Similarly, giving a heart disease patient a cholesterol lowering drug like Lipitor, will lower their cholesterol levels but will not lower their risk of heart attack and stroke because Lipitor does not address the CAUSE of heart disease. (See: Heart Disease and the Cholesterol Myth).
As with any medical condition, the treatment is not designed to correct the cause. It is designed to counteract, or cover up, the symptom. In the case of obesity, the symptom is hunger. Similar to a pain killer drug masking the symptom of pain so that you are less aware of it, the majority of weight loss pills and diet pills mask the symptom of hunger so that you are less aware of it. When nutritional needs are not met, the brain will produce feelings of hunger which lead one to eat more. However, even when eating sensible portions (not overeating) of nutrient-poor foods, the hunger signals start again very soon. Food that is processed and packaged in a box – most diet food – is severely lacking in real nutrients. Consuming this food may fill the stomach but it does not feed the body. Your body has not received the nutrients that your brain knows that it needs. Thus, hunger is stimulated again and more food is consumed.
Additionally, traditional exercise for weight loss is usually based on the outdated concept of simply burning more calories than the amount of calories consumed. While there is some truth to this, it is incomplete. We can metabolically condition our bodies to burn fat and build muscle or to store fat and break down muscle. First of all, there is a difference in the quality of the calories we consume. For example the nutrient-dense calories of a kale, spinach, and blueberry green smoothie are far more effective at stimulating weight loss than are the nutrient-poor calories of a typical, processed, boxed diet meal. Second, the type of food we eat and the type of exercise we do will stimulate different hormones and produce widely different metabolic effects. For example, spending an hour on the treadmill followed by a diet meal in a box will actually stimulate production of the hormone cortisol, which leads to increased fat storage and breakdown of muscle tissue. While spending 15 minutes on short burst, high intensity exercise followed by a nutrient-dense, whole food based protein shake will stimulate hormones that build muscle and burn fat for up to 36 hours!
Obesity is an Epidemic of Poor Lifestyle Choices
The key to cutting through this confusion of weight loss programs is understanding the root causes of obesity and weight control issues. Once the cause is known, the cure becomes clear. Suppressing appetite doesn’t work because hunger is only a symptom of a much larger problem. The average American is chronically hungry due to consuming the nutrient-poor standard American diet. Thus, we pack in the food and pack on the pounds. This is a result of the lifestyle choices we make about the type of food that we eat. The general confusion about healthy food is understandable. There is a lot of conflicting information about what is healthy.
We make lifestyle choices regarding physical exercise everyday as well. Unfortunately, the average American participates in little to no regular exercise either. Exercise is essential to a wellness lifestyle. Exercise increases blood flow to deliver oxygen to the tissue cells of the body for proper metabolism and detoxification. Exercise increases muscle and joint flexibility and helps to keep joints healthy. Exercise stimulates the immune system producing greater resistance to sickness and disease. Further, the right type of exercise will condition the hormones of the body burn fat and build muscle. Again, we see that it comes down to a lifestyle choice. We choose whether or not we will exercise and we choose how we will exercise. It is a choice.
Additionally, we make lifestyle decisions everyday regarding our mindset. We choose the thoughts we think and the words we speak. This choice will either empower us to a healthy weight and amazing wellness or it will limit our weight loss results and limit our overall health.
Let’s dive into the wellness based weight loss programs and find real solutions to the obesity problem.
Wellness-based Weight Loss Programs
There are several components of wellness based weight loss programs. While each element functions independently of the others, when they are combined and practiced together, there is a synergistic effect making the total program much more powerful and effective. As we look at each of the five elements of real weight loss programs, think about how you can begin to incorporate each aspect into your daily routine. Start where you are and begin building healthy, wellness habits on a daily basis. You don’t have to completely change your lifestyle overnight. However, you will see that, as you build health and wellness, you will naturally crowd out sickness, disease and extra weight from your life.
1. A Wellness Mindset for Weight Loss
This is certainly the most important aspect to losing weight and being successful in your wellness journey overall. A negative mindset will cause defeat before you ever start. Whereas a positive, wellness mindset serves as the basis for powerful, long lasting results.
Maybe you think that it is impossible for you to lose weight because everyone in your family is overweight. This thinking will most definitely limit your results and it must be reversed. Instead, focus on this thought: “Even though it seems everyone in my family is overweight, I am committed to changing my lifestyle to lose weight and feel great!” Maybe your aversion to hard work gets in your way. Focus on this thought: “I know that losing weight is hard work but I am committed to finding the most effective lifestyle changes to produce lasting results. I will be more energetic, more positive and my life will be easier when I reach my ideal weight!” Perhaps you have limited yourself by thinking that you could never eat vegetables because you do not like their taste. Focus on this thought: “I have not eaten a lot of vegetables in the past but I will commit to finding many delicious recipes that include a variety of nutrient-dense vegetables.”
When you reverse your limiting thoughts that are holding you back, turning them into positive empowering thoughts that propel you forward, you will experience amazing breakthrough results. However, some people are simply not ready to change. No matter how much physical effort they put into weight loss, it just doesn’t happen for them. You must reach a place emotionally where you will no longer tolerate your current lifestyle that is making you sick and overweight. Only then will you be able to turn you mindset around and achieve amazing results.
Action Step:
Identify at least one negative or limiting thought that you regularly dwell upon. Then re-think that thought into a positive, empowering thought. Write it down. Then, every morning and every evening, stand in front of your mirror and speak out loud three times that new empowering thought. After thirty days, take a time to review how your thought life has changed. You will be amazed at how much better you feel emotionally and physically! Continue making this a lifelong process to create an empowering wellness mindset.
More: 4 Keys to Unlocking a Wellness Mindset!
2. Addressing Toxicity for Weight Loss
The standard American lifestyle exposes us to toxins on a regular and continual basis. From our personal care products and cleaning products to chemical-laden processed foods. The problem with toxicity is that it interferes with our healthy metabolism. Toxicity can prevent us from conditioning our metabolism to burn fat. Toxins tend to be stored in the fat cells of our body. The more toxins we have, the more difficult it is for our body to burn off those fat stores. If you have struggled with weight loss in the past, chances are that you need to address the issue of toxicity in order to experience breakthrough results.
The first step to detoxification is to stop toxifying your body. Ditch the toxic personal care and cleaning products. Trade up to non-toxic, natural alternatives. Peruse the Natural News Store or the Wellness Achiever Store to find plenty of non-toxic alternatives.
The second step is detoxification. This is best achieved by dumping the processed foods – including packaged diet foods – and implementing a consistent, healthy, nutritious eating plan.
Action Step:
Identify three areas of toxicity in your lifestyle right now and set your mind on finding a non-toxic alternative.
3. Optimize Your Nutrition For Quick Weight Loss
If you follow the standard American diet full of processed and fast foods, you are literally digging your own grave with your spoon. The standard American diet is toxic, inflammatory and nutrient-poor. Everyone knows that this has to be changed in order to effectively lose weight and gain health; however, there is much confusion over how to achieve this. Diet and nutrition doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, the easier you keep it, the more successful you will be. Here are a few key considerations.
1. Eliminate Sugar, Grains, and Refined Carbohydrates
When you consume sugar, your body releases insulin, a hormone that helps guide sugar molecules into your cells where it is turned into energy. However, when you consume excess sugar, including grains and refined carbohydrates which your body quickly converts to sugar, your body produces excess insulin in an attempt to deal with this onslaught of sugar. This leads to insulin resistance causing excess inflammation throughout the body. This leads to accelerated aging, elevated cholesterol, hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes, osteoporosis, thyroid problems, and many other metabolic syndromes. Additionally, this results in elevated levels of cortisol which causes your body to store fat and break down muscle.
White sugar and refined carbohydrates must be completely eliminated from anyone’s diet who desires to lose weight and conquer obesity. Even healthy, unrefined grains, such as whole wheat and brown rice should be eliminated until your healthy, goal weight is attained. Once you are maintaining good health, unrefined grains can be consumed in moderation.
2. Maximize Anti-inflammatory Foods in Your Diet
Most sources of inflammation stem from an acidic and inflammatory diet and reversing this is key to healing inflammation and losing massive amounts of weight. The first consideration in an anti-inflammatory diet is eliminating the inflammatory foods discussed above. The second facet in incorporating as many alkaline foods as possible into your daily diet. This includes all vegetables (the less cooked, the better), low sugar fruits (berries and green apples), most nuts and seeds (almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds), and healthy fats (coconut milk, coconut oil, avocados, olives, olive oil {not for cooking}, grape seed oil {okay for cooking}, saturated fat in organic grass fed meats, clean fish oil)
3. Eliminate Unhealthy Fats and Maximize Healthy Fats in Your Diet
Research shows that trans fatty acids cause increased systemic inflammation by altering your body’s normal metabolic processes. There is much confusion as well as much hype about fat in our diet. The FACT is that every cell in your body is composed of an outer layer of fat and nerve and brain cells are composed of nearly 100% fat. Therefore, your body requires fat. It is not about whether or not you consume fat, it is about what kind of fat you consume. Consuming damaged, easily oxidized fats will cause an inflammatory response, continuing systemic inflammation in your body and making weight loss impossible. Examples of unhealthy fats to remove from your lifestyle include trans fats, fat in fried foods, vegetable oil, canola oil, fat in commercial meats and dairy products, and overheated healthy fats (such as cooking with olive oil).
Maximizing healthy fats counteracts this inflammatory process and leads to amazing weight loss results. Contrary to popular belief, fat does not make you fat. Healthy fats give your body what it needs to remove toxic, unhealthy fat cells and rebuild a healthy, vibrant, body that is a fat burning machine. Look to include plenty of coconut oil in your daily weight loss program. Coconut oil is extremely versatile and has many uses. Grape seed oil can also be used for cooking in place of canola or vegetable oil.
Action Steps:
First, go through your pantry right now and throw out all of your unhealthy damaged fats listed above. They are not healthy for anyone.
Second, gather up all your sugar, grain products, cereals, pastas, pastries and any other refined carbohydrates and donate them to a food bank.
Third, make a plan to include anti-inflammatory, raw vegetables in every meal of the day. Green smoothies are a great place to start.
Visit the Wellness Achiever Store for wellness and nutrition products to support a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet.
4. Practice Metabolic Conditioning Exercise for Maximum Weight Loss
While low intensity, long duration exercise (such as jogging or going for a run) has some great health benefits such as reducing blood pressure, lowering resting heart rate, and aiding in detoxification, it also comes with some rather negative consequences. It raises stress hormones like cortisol which stimulates appetite, is catabolic (breaks down muscle), increases fat storing, and slows down or inhibits exercise recovery. It decreases testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH), both necessary to build muscle and burn fat. Additionally, it has been shown to decrease immune function after exercise. Who wants to invest precious time and energy into exercise with results like that?
However, metabolic conditioning exercise produces the opposite, more desirable results. It is characterized by high intensity, short duration exercises. It results in increases in growth hormone and testosterone and decreases in the stress hormone cortisol. This supercharges your body’s fat burning and muscle building/toning, stops inflammation and reverses metabolic syndromes (diabetes, obesity, syndrome X, heart disease). Best of all, it can be accomplished in as little as 12-15 minutes per day!
You will be astonished at the amount of fat you will lose and the health you will gain by incorporating this high intensity exercise into your lifestyle. In just 60 to 90 minutes per week, you can get all the exercise you need to burn fat and create amazing muscle tone.
Action Step:
Read Busting the Top 4 Exercise Myths and implement a metabolic conditioning exercise routine today. Start with 12 minute routines, 3 days per week and build up to 6 days per week.
5. See Your Chiropractor
All of these weight loss programs are extremely limited when your nervous system is stressed. A stressed nervous system negatively affects every aspect of weight loss including metabolism, hormonal balance, assimilation of nutrients, and oxygenation of tissues from exercise. Your nervous system is responsible for controlling and coordinating the function of every organ, tissue and cell of your body. Your body’s ability to assimilate the essential nutrients from your diet is dependent upon an optimally functioning nervous system. Your body’s abilities to burn fat, build muscle and to detoxify are all dependent on the proper flow of nerve energy from your brain to those organs and tissues. To get the best results from these weight loss programs and your radiant wellness lifestyle, it is essential to incorporate regular chiropractic care to remove interference from your nervous system.
Action Step:
If you already have a chiropractor, discuss your new commitment to lose weight by adopting wellness weight loss programs. Ask your chiropractor to develop a care plan for you that will optimally support your nervous system during this time. If you do not have a chiropractor and need help finding one, feel free to contact me through my About page and I will be happy to assist you in finding a chiropractor who will help you achieve your weight loss goals through an optimized nervous system.
More: Innate Healing Power of Your Body: Medical Proof
Are You Ready For Change?
It is okay if you are not. Bookmark this page and when your mindset is ready, come back and start here. But if you are tired of your lackluster body and puny weight loss results, then start implementing these weight loss programs today!
Did you find this article helpful?
Please share this information with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter. Please also go to the source of this article WellnessAchiever.net and subscribe for regular email updates. You will see a box on the right side to enter your email address. See you there!