DO WEIGHT LOSS DIETS WORK?

 

Although I think it’s probably best if I don’t get started on weight loss diets – and particularly those advocated by corporations – unfortunately, today there is no way of avoiding it. In fact, weight loss is often the first thing people think of when the word ‘diet’ is mentioned. So, here goes…

 

There are so many weight loss diets, from low carb to high protein, high fat and low calorie, including HCG and mono diets such as the grape or cabbage diet, and most dieters are likely to have tried several – often more than once. So, that alone should tell you all you need to know about whether they work. It is ironic that people continue to buy diet products, even though they don’t work. This is because the dieter is more likely to blame himself for failure rather than the product. These products represent hope, and most dieters have lost faith in themselves.

 

Obesity epidemic

Forty years ago, weight was not a big issue. Now, one in two children and two-thirds of adults in The US are overweight and the UK is catching up fast. The introduction in the 1970’s of high fructose corn syrup, a cheap sweetener that replaced sugar, heralded the first wave of obesity. (High fructose corn syrup interferes with appetite and blood sugar regulation and metabolism.) People haven’t become fat today because they have suddenly become greedier or had a will power bypass. In fact, the number of people on weight loss diets at any one time is staggering. A BBC report in 2004 put the number of Brits trying to lose weight at one in four, with the number rising to a phenomenal two-thirds in 2016, according to a report in the Huffington Post. So, what is going on?

 

Weight gain is a sign something is wrong

It is important to grasp that weight gain is a symptom of a metabolic disturbance. It is not the cause of heart disease or diabetes. It is the changes in your body that cause you to gain weight that can also lead to the development of degenerative disease. This is why enforced weight loss does not result in improvements in health or longevity.

 

Weight gain is linked to nutritional deficiencies. Limiting calorie intake places further stress on the body and can also slow metabolism, increasing the tendency to gain weight when you start eating normally again. Some people are engaged in a daily struggle against themselves, involving self-hatred, low self-esteem, guilt, gym and exercise compulsion, food restriction and denial just to maintain a normal weight. But, in spite of all this and the greater emphasis on healthy eating today, more people than ever are overweight.  Here are some of the causes of weight gain:

 

  • Hormone disrupting chemicals in foods
  • Modern gluten and pasteurised and homogenised dairy
  • Genetically modified foods
  • Hormone and metabolism disrupting pesticides in non-organic foods
  • Blood sugar imbalances from chemicals, EMFs, sugar, high fructose corn syrup
  • Exposure to TV and computer screens interfering with hormones linked to circadian rhythm
  • Lack of sleep disrupting insulin sensitivity and metabolic hormones
  • Over-methylation causing low histamine levels
  • Leaky gut and chronic inflammation
  • Stress
  • Gut dysbiosis
  • Lack of exercise
  • Imbalances in macronutrient intake (ratio between carbs, fats and proteins)
  • Processed foods and a diet high in cooked foods
  • Lack of digestive enzymes
  • Liver and gall bladder congestion
  • Modern grains and refined foods
  • Hybrid foods that have been bred to be high in starches
  • Some medications, especially synthetic hormones such as HRT and the Pill
  • Under-active thyroid (usually toxicity or methylation deficits)
  • Damage to energy production in cells by EMFs, chemicals and heavy metals
  • Immune system damage from antibiotics, causing chronic infections, sluggish metabolism, dysbiosis and inflammation.

 

If you want to get off the weight loss treadmill and just get on with your life without even thinking about weight, you need to reset your metabolism. It is interesting that Dr Gabriel Cousens, author of the book ‘There is a Cure for Diabetes‘ is achieving normal blood sugar metabolism in Type 2 diabetics with a high carb, raw, vegan diet, in which carbs are not obtained from grains, but vegetables.

 

For me, there are several problems with most weight loss diets. They:

 

  • do not present the diet for which our bodies were designed
  • restrict food intake which slows metabolism, increasing the risk of future weight gain
  • may work by coercing an already abnormal metabolism into shedding weight rather than balancing the metabolism
  • and they usually worsen the metabolic imbalances.

 

The reality is, weight gain is a whole body issue. You are not going to burn stored fat until your glycogen stores have been exhausted, and this is unlikely to happen if you are eating three meals a day and leading a sedentary lifestyle.

 

You need to eat less and go for longer without eating. You need to move about more, get adequate sleep and detoxify your life. You need to eat the diet that’s right for YOU.

 

In my next blog, I am going to be talking about raw food diets, popular amongst the Hollywood set and catching on fast amongst the health conscious.