Welcome to the new year!
A fresh calendar start always seems to trigger goal setting and resolution making. In years past, weight loss seemed to be one of the primary topics of these resolutions. People often set new goals to get on a diet, lose a few inches off the waistline, or reduce pounds on the scale. In recent years, the health and wellness community has broadened from its narrow-minded focus on weight loss and begun to focus more on overall wellness and health. But the reality remains that there are individuals that would feel more comfortable at a reduced weight and a new year seems like the time to do it.
Unfortunately, in some situations, this is easier said than done. Some people seem to be able to make a few small changes in their eating habits and jump down two pant sizes instantly. Others invest hard work, discipline, and implement restrictive eating patterns and still can’t seem to get the scale to budge even a little bit.
Maybe that’s you. And maybe, on top of the inability to lose weight, you find yourself feeling heavy, sluggish, bloated, tired, and lethargic. This could be a sign of underlying issues that are contributing to your inability to lose weight. If you find yourself asking “why can’t I lose weight?” or “what is the best diet for weight loss?” then this blogpost is for you.
There are three, often overlooked, conditions that can play a significant role in an inability to lose weight. If you’re looking to lose weight naturally, read on!
Promoting effortless weight loss requires:
1. Balanced Blood Sugar
Let’s say your blood sugar or glucose is high. Here’s what happens as a result. First, your pancreas is triggered to produce more insulin to move all that sugar out of your blood and into your cells. Why does that affect weight loss? It’s a problem because your body only burns fat when it senses insulin levels dropping. If it’s supplied with too much sugar and too much insulin, your body will begin to store that sugar as fat that never gets burned. For a while, you may not detect these changes in your body. You may not even realize that your body may be in a chronic state of insulin production because of your chronically high blood sugar levels. But what you will notice is that weight loss becomes increasingly hard to achieve.
On the flipside, stable blood sugar means your cells don’t get flooded with insulin, which gives your body time to burn fat for energy in between meals. The result? Excess weight melts away. So remember, it’s not just about calories - what you eat could have a big impact on your weight loss efforts. That’s why it’s important to cut out processed grains and excess sugar that is so prevalent in American diets and replace them with whole foods that help stabilize the blood sugar.
This will help tremendously in your weight loss efforts.
2. Healthy Gut Function
So we’ve established that blood sugar has a direct effect on weight loss. But maybe you already knew that. What you may not know, however, is that new research shows that poor gut health leads to impaired glucose tolerance and can increase the risk for insulin resistance. It’s a domino effect that is often overlooked and has a direct correlation to weight loss.
Additionally, the gut microbiota of individuals who are overweight show patterns of dysbiosis compared to healthy individuals. Unfortunately, this is linked to inflammation and increased blood sugar levels. Equally, these factors are linked to being overweight or obese.
If you are dealing with Leaky Gut syndrome, digestive issues, autoimmune conditions, or excess inflammation, it’s much more effective to fix what’s going on under the surface rather than trying yet another diet.
3. Remove Inflammatory Trigger Foods
Food will either fuel health or fuel disease. Food can actually fuel disease by damaging the balance of the microbiome. Two of the most harmful offenders are processed carbs and sugary foods which feed the more pathogenic types of bacteria as well as Candida albicans.
Then there is the issue of underlying food sensitivities. Sometimes even the foods we’ve classified as “healthy” can lead to gut-damaging inflammation. Grains, even gluten-free grains and whole grains, contain amylose sugars that “bad” bacteria and fungi love to binge on. This only feeds inflammation.
There isn’t one diet that fits every single person. Some people can eat sprouted grains or mix up a batch of gluten-free waffles and feel amazing while it might cause someone else to have a stomach ache the rest of the day. Every person has slightly different needs in regards to food. But one thing is for certain across the board: Highly processed, artificial, sugary, inflammatory foods are always going to cause problems.
Additionally, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin, relieve pain by blocking the enzyme cyclo-oxygenase, but also inhibits it from doing its important job of protecting your stomach from the corrosive effects of its acid. The result can be an increase in intestinal inflammation and consequent permeability. Research estimates that 65% of people who consistently use NSAIDs have intestinal inflammation and 30% have ulcers. If left unchecked, gut permeability can trigger an autoimmune response.
If that’s you, immediate attention needs to be given to repairing the damage.
If you’re interested in healing your gut and uncovering underlying problems that may be contributing to an inability to lose weight, let’s chat. I’ll confirm you’re a good fit and we’ll see if my “test, don’t guess” style of practice is right for you.
My process has been proven with clients across the country and includes a full gut health detox and reset, lifestyle & nutrition plan, and recipe book.
Click here to set up a free consultation to get the process started.
