Balancing Weight

Weight is a devilish issue in our culture, preoccupying women, men and youth and making life miserable.  There are countless weight programs out there with a dismal track record in the long run.

One of the reasons healthy weight maintenance is difficult is that weight is often the symptom of something else: depression, grief, boredom, insufficient digestive enzymes, low hormones, poor sleep, wrong exercise for your body type and not knowing how and when to eat what.

On top of that are the foods that create addiction, whether inherently or by design: fast food, junk food, processed food, caffeine, white sugar, ordinary salt, fried food, white flour and sodas, diet or otherwise.

What to do?

I’m not going to offer a magic fix as there isn’t one.  Each individual is unique in their reasons for battling with weight and the first step is to identify those reasons, prioritize them and make a realistic plan for dealing with them.

Here is my list of issues that I explore to develop a program for someone who wants to lose or gain weight.  You can do most of these yourself:

1. Determine your body type and whether you are eating, exercising and sleeping in harmony with your type. A website where you can do this for free is: banyanbotanicals.com.  A book that is a one stop shop for finding and nourishing your type is Perfect Health by Deepak Chopra.  (We have lots on hand for a discount price.)
2. Sleep is probably one of the most important factors in weight loss. Target this one if you get less than 8 hours in total and less than 2 hours before midnight.  Cultivate an evening routine that helps you get to sleep and stay there until morning!
3. Exercise: too little OR too much can be the culprit. Don’t exercise hard if you are exhausted.
4. Food tips are countless, but some new ones are: avoid wheat (the only grain that leads to weight gain, the rest help you take it off); decrease fruit (too cooling and it can lower the metabolism); minimize milk/dairy (designed to grow a calf 500 pounds in a year—go figure); not too much raw food (same reason as fruit); the rest you probably know…
5. Screen for low thyroid by taking your oral temperature with a digital thermometer several times daily. If the numbers are consistently lower than 37 degrees C, then consider seeing your doctor for blood tests.  If your thyroid is low, you can take hormones or use natural methods to improve it.
6. One of the biggest determinants of eating is our mental-emotional state. Take some time to reflect on what is going on in that department; the reasons; the solutions.  Consider seeing someone to support our healing process.  We have several practitioners at our clinic who do this kind of work if you are local.
7. As for digestive enzymes, the quickest and cheapest way to find out if you are deficient is to take some. They are available at health food stores and some pharmacies.  Take 1 or 2 tablets/capsules 10 minutes before meals and see if your energy and digestion improve: less bloating, freedom from cravings and better bowel movements.
8. Other tests you might consider: iron, B12 and vitamin D as these can also intersect with weight issues. We offer hair tests to screen for toxic and deficient minerals which can also be a factor.

That should give you a good start.  I wish you luck with moving toward your ideal weight and a Happy New Year!

katherine

ps   We are offering our first online retreat called Catching Our Feet from Friday Jan 25 at 4pm to Sunday, Jan 27, 2pm, where you obtain guidance in developing a healthy routine at home and opportunities to ask me questions directly.  It’s a sliding scale, affordable price and tornado victims join for free.