Category: Weight Loss

Overweight and obesity are common health problems worldwide. Food plans that work – those that help people lose weight and help them keep the weight off – embody only a few simple principles. These weight loss secrets include eating five or six small meals each day, combining protein and carbohydrates at each small meal (food combining), eating at least five portions of fresh fruits and vegetables every day, and drinking plenty of water.^1,2

Water is essential to human life. In fact, our bodies are composed of about 70% water. All our biochemical reactions take place in a watery environment. Therefore, drinking plenty of water is a critical part of any healthy food plan. Actually, drinking enough water is the most important nutritional advice anyone can give to anybody.

So drinking enough water every day would seem to be a no-brainer. But hardly anyone does it. And the simple fact is that if you’re not drinking enough water your internal environment is toxic. That’s right – toxic.

Water helps flush away waste products of metabolic activities. Not enough water means that waste products accumulate, irritating nerve endings and interfering with normal physiology. Bottom line – your skin breaks out, people start to offer you Tic-Tacs, you become irregular, you develop allergies and asthma, you don’t sleep well or need extra sleep to feel rested, you are irritable and nervous, and you start having headaches. Any or all of these.

These are real problems, and the list could go on.3 The common solution – drink sufficient water. Once people begin drinking enough, they report that lots of physical problems automatically improve. They sleep better, headaches go away or are less troublesome, their skin clears up, allergies improve, and their digestive systems function more normally. All this from just taking the time to drink more water. Pretty amazing.

In terms of weight loss, drinking enough water helps support your exercise program and helps support healthy nutrition. If you don’t drink enough water, you won’t be able to build the new fat-burning muscle cells you’re hoping to build with exercise. If you don’t drink enough water, you won’t be able to properly metabolize carbohydrates. Instead of being used for energy, these carbs will be stored as fat. Drinking enough water helps ensure you get the weight-loss results you want to get.

How much water is enough? Recommendations range from six to eight to ten glasses per day. However, there is such a thing as water toxicity. You don’t want to overload an unprepared system. If you’re used to drinking no water, which is true for many people, start by drinking two or three glasses in a day. Get used to that for a week, and then drink four glasses a day for a week, and build up to six or so glasses a day.

A very good rule of thumb is this – if you’re thirsty, it’s already too late. Hikers know this. If you’re hiking and you become thirsty, you’re on your way to feeling light-headed and getting a headache. All of a sudden you lose your footing or take a wrong turn and get lost.

Hikers know they need to drink water throughout the hike to stay alert and keep their mind sharp. So hikers continually take small sips of water, all along the way.

We want to do the same – drink water throughout the day.

¹Daniels MC, Popkin BM: Impact of water intake on energy intake and weight status: a systematic review. Nutr Rev 68(9):505-521, 2010

²Dennis EA, et al: Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 18(2):300-307, 2010

³Roussel R, et al: Low water intake and risk for new-onset hyperglycemia. Diabetes Care 34(12):2551-2554, 2011

It’s well-known that one-third of American adults are overweight and an additional one-third are obese.¹ In addition, 17% of U.S. children and adolescents are obese.² Worldwide statistics are similar. These facts are strongly associated with ongoing epidemics in diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Diabetes may cause loss of vision, kidney problems, and loss of circulation in the legs and feet. Cardiovascular disease includes high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attacks. Being overweight or obese may cause diseases which require lifelong treatment. Personal action is needed to begin to restore good health, but it’s important to understand the specific nature of the actions to take.

What is not required is a drastic reduction of body weight to some idealized norm of “thinness.” It is not appropriate for people to attempt to force themselves to look like runway models. What does work is applying simple techniques and strategies to encourage a gradual loss of weight. Over time persons on such a plan will achieve a body weight that is normal for them. There are two key steps to reaching your normal weight.

The first step is to reduce your overall intake of calories by eating six small meals a day. If five small meals works best for your schedule and daily needs, that’s fine. The main point involves total calories. With six small meals, each one is about 300 calories – a little less for women and a little more for men who are taller and more heavily muscled. For men the daily calorie intake is between 1800 and 2100 calories. For women, the daily calorie intake is between 1700 and 1800 calories. By experimenting a bit, you’ll find your optimal calorie level that results in consistent weight loss. Make sure to combine complex carbohydrates and protein at each small meal. The numerous benefits of food combining include maintaining insulin levels in a normal range and improved cognitive/mental function.

For many people, this reduction in daily calories will have an immediate and dramatic impact. There may be real hunger pangs, and it will be important to remember that the next small meal is only a couple of hours away. The pounds you lose in the first couple of weeks will likely provide plenty of reinforcement to help you through the times when you are really hungry.

The next and simultaneous step is to begin a program of regular, vigorous exercise. Of course, if you haven’t exercised in a long time you’ll need to start slowly. Your goal is to build up to 30 minutes of vigorous exercise five times per week.³ Ideally you’ll be doing both cardiovascular exercise and strength training, and in the process you’ll build lean muscle mass. The result is an elevation in your basal metabolic rate which causes your body to burn fat even while you’re resting!

As you follow these two health-promoting programs, you will notice that you’re steadily and gradually losing weight. There will come a time, anywhere from 6 months to a year after you’ve begun your new lifestyle, when your weight loss will stop. For example, you’ll notice you only lost half a pound over the previous week or two. Then you’ll know that you’ve reached your “ideal” body weight. You’ve reached the weight that is normal for you. It is very likely that your new body mass index (a ratio between your height and weight) is now in the normal range or very close to the high end of normal. You’ve taken control of your health and your life, and the very good news is that you’ve built new habits that will last a lifetime.

¹Ogden CL, et al: Prevalence of obesity in the United States, 2009-2010. NCHS Data Brief No. 82. National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, January 2012

²Waters E, et al: Interventions for preventing obesity in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 7(12):CD001871, 2011

³Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Vital signs: walking among adults – United States, 2005 and 2010. MMWR Morbid Mortal Wkly Rep 61:595-601, 2012

America’s weight problems are now so well-known they’re even fair game for jokes at the Oscars. “Americans really know how to fill up a seat,” jibes Ellen DeGeneres, host of the 2007 Academy Awards.

The statistics are alarming. Sixty-five percent of Americans – 130 million in 2001 – are overweight. Fifteen percent of American children are overweight (up from four percent only 20 years ago). Healthcare costs related to overweight Americans has ballooned to $117 billion (that’s billion) in 2003. And the numbers keep going up. The scales don’t lie.

And yet, diet and weight-loss books fill our nation’s bookstores. Low-carb diets. High-protein diets. The cabbage soup diet. The grapefruit diet. The raw foods diet. Most people we know have tried one or more of these. The new diet works for a while, then we can’t take the deprivation any longer and break the diet. Then, horrifyingly, all the weight we lost comes right back, and we’re right back where we started. Or possibly even a few pounds heavier.
The very good news is that a real, long-lasting solution exists. The basics of this healthy approach to long-term weight loss have been known for decades. This solution is not a diet. It doesn’t have a catchy name. There are, though, a few “magic” secrets to this food plan that works.

• “Secret” Number 1 – eat six small meals throughout each day, separated by 2.5 to 3 hours
• “Secret” Number 2 – combine protein and carbohydrates in each meal
• “Secret” Number 3 – drink plenty of water (eight to ten glasses) throughout the day
• “Secret” Number 4 – eat two portions of vegetables each day
• “Secret” Number 5 – take one day off each week (a “free” day) and eat whatever you want, whenever you want

Why combine protein and carbohydrate at each meal? This critical combination feeds our muscles by providing the amino acids (from protein) necessary to build and maintain muscle tissue, and the carbohydrate needed to shuttle the amino acids into the cells. If the carbs aren’t there the protein doesn’t get used. There’s also a human performance benefit – eating balanced meals enables better cognitive/mental function. So we’re not only getting healthier on this food plan, we’re getting smarter!¹

Why eat six times a day? Studies have shown this approach results in a faster metabolic rate, a lower percentage of body fat, and reduced “bad” cholesterol levels, all while maintaining lean muscle mass.^2,3 Each meal contains approximately 300 calories (proteins and carbohydrates in each meal are in “portion” sizes). That’s it! This sensible, easy approach to food allows you to eat everything – there are no restrictions. And, on your free day you can indulge, or not, letting your natural instincts guide you.

¹Fischer K, et al: “Carbohydrate to protein ratio in food and cognitive performance in the morning.” Physiol Behav 75(3):411-423, 2002
²Jenkins JD, et al: “Nibbling vs. gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency.” NEJM 321(14):929-934, 1989
³Verboeket WP, et al: “Influence of feeding frequency on nutrient utilization in man: consequences for energy metabolism.” Eur J Clin Nutr 43(3):161-169, 1991

If you need to shed a few extra pounds, you’re not alone. Excess weight is possibly the largest health concern in the United States today. According to the Surgeon General, well over half of all adults in the U.S. were overweight in 1999. The good news is that your chiropractor can help you achieve your ideal weight and stay there. And it won’t involve feeling tortured by unrealistic diet or exercise regiments.

Even when hormones, metabolic imbalances or genes play a role, two basic methods are always recommended: increased physical activity and healthier dietary habits. Because chiropractic looks at you as a whole-including nutritional, environmental, emotional and physiological factors-your chiropractor is well suited to help you assess the best ways for you, as an individual, to approach both.

Increasing Physical Activity

According to the Surgeon General, 40 percent of Americans do not participate in regular physical activity. And, despite the multitude of proven health benefits resulting from physical fitness, a recent Mayo Clinic article reported that, sadly, only 22 – 48 percent of patients are advised by their primary care physicians to step up the amount of exercise they get.

Aside from motivating and helping patients to determine the kind of exercise best for them, chiropractic can remove some of the difficult road-blocks-such as pain from old injuries, impaired flexibility, misalignments and the resulting self-consciousness-that stop well-intentioned exercise participants from moving forward. When patients feel good physically, their chances of successfully meeting their weight goals increase dramatically.

You chiropractor may suggest the following: First of all, don’t be fooled into thinking that a hard workout is the only workout. Walking is one of the best ways to keep active. Also, it isn’t necessary to exercise for one, long stretch of time. Multiple short workouts (e.g. three 10-minute sessions) can be just as effective. And, finally, don’t forget to enjoy yourself! Exercise should make you feel good.

Re-evaluating Your Diet

As with physical activity, it’s important to implement dietary changes that support you physically and mentally, and that do not go to unsustainable extremes. There are an overwhelming number of diet schemes (and scams) out there, and it can be difficult to navigate a sane path to better eating alone. Your chiropractor, who studied nutrition as part of his or her training, can offer you personalized advice and support.

Because there are a myriad of serious health concerns associated with excess weight-such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke-the decision to lose weight can be a crucial one. Don’t hesitate to use your chiropractor as a resource. He or she can provide the necessary care and support for healthy weight loss.

Is a lack of sleep thwarting your best weight loss efforts? There is much evidence to suggest that a lack of sleep goes hand-in-hand with weight gain. But first, it is important to address why you aren’t sleeping well. Is your stress level or caffeine intake to blame? Or is your sleeplessness due to a common but very serious condition called sleep apnea? Sleep apnea can affect weight loss, hunger and hormone activity in a number of ways, thwarting your best efforts to maintain a healthy weight.

Simply put, sleep apnea happens when breathing is obstructed or ceases altogether while sleeping. Symptoms of the condition range from light snoring to waking up several times during the night, gasping for air. The most common form of sleep apnea – obstructive sleep apnea – affects approximately six percent of the population. But this number is expected to rise along with the increasing rate of obesity, because obesity is a chief cause of obstructive sleep apnea.

To make matters worse, those who are already overweight may gain weight more easily if they aren’t getting adequate sleep, fueling a vicious cycle. Several theories attempt to explain why a lack of sleep may encourage us to pack on the pounds. Some say that a sleep-deprived person simply doesn’t have the energy to be active during the day. They’re too tired to get to the gym or even take the stairs, burning far fewer calories than a well-rested individual would. Others believe the sleep-deprived attempt to make up for a lack of energy by consuming a greater number of calories. Additional evidence surrounding sleep deprivation and weight gain suggests the problem may be hormonal.

Hormone function is largely responsible for the way in which fat cells respond to the food we eat. Cortisol is a hormone that is usually released in response to emotional and physical stress. When we don’t get enough sleep, cortisol is released at an increased rate, making us feel hungry even if we’ve eaten enough.

And just because sleep apnea is most common among adults, do not assume that children are exempt from the problem. It’s no secret that the number of obese children is rising steadily; and it’s no stretch to imagine that some of these children will develop sleep apnea.

If you’re having trouble sleeping on a regular basis, you may be suffering from sleep apnea. Otherwise, a few simple tips and tricks just might help get you back on a regular sleep schedule. If you are already obese and suffering from sleep apnea, your chiropractor can discuss a sensible dieting plan with you, helping you return to a healthy weight and enjoy more restful, unobstructed sleep. And of course, never underestimate the importance of exercise. Exercising three to four times per week is crucial for restful sleep. And getting your workout in long before bedtime is helpful, leaving ample time for your heart rate and hormone levels to return to a resting state. Make sure your room is dark and the temperature of the room will remain comfortable throughout the night. If you’re one of those people trying to squeeze extra tasks and activities into your day, leave more for tomorrow and get some sleep. Adequate sleep will increase your productivity during waking hours.