Your Wedding, Your Health

Photo by Natalie Rodriguez of
Unique Photography

This is fantastic – especially if it means you regain your self-esteem and improve your overall state of health in the process. Sadly, however, this is not usually the case for most people embarking on a ‘quick fix’ weight loss program. Most will lose weight through deprivation of essential nutrients only to gain it all back, and more, once the wedding is over.

We all know that diets don’t work so why do we continue to turn to fad diets for long term weight loss? Why is 65% of the world’s population now medically overweight or obese? Well, there are many reasons for this epidemic so let’s look at three of the most prevalent and, if you continue to read on, you can find out how not to be a statistic and how you can lose weight in time for your wedding but keep it off as well:

1) Fad diets– focussing on deprivation, a fad diet will put your body into ‘survival mode’ making weight loss efforts futile.

2) ‘Low-fat’ foods – may be low in fat but also low in fibre (you need more to feel full) and very high in sugar and carbohydrates. You eat more to feel satisfied resulting in higher consumption of carbohydrates and sugar. Excess carbohydrates and sugar are stored as fat.

3) Lack of education – many people lack a basic understanding of how their body works. It’s much easier to read the latest Hollywood diet than to learn a bit of physiology

Obviously planning a wedding leaves you short on time so below are some brief yet vital things you need to know about how your body works:

SURVIVAL MODE: In prehistoric times, when food was hard to come by, our bodies were programmed to treat each meal as our last. It was built to store fat so we had energy stores to draw if we didn’t eat for an extended period. Our bodies take millions of years to evolve and we are still at this stage in our biological programming. Now, even though food is readily available, our bodies are still storing fat automatically, for survival. Eating regularly can reprogram your body to believe food is plentiful so fat doesn’t need to be stored.

At least 40 internal systems interact to prevent starvation so diets focused on deprivation and/or starvation are destined for failure.

PROTEIN CONSUMPTION: Protein triggers your brain to feel full and carbohydrates trigger your brain to feel dissatisfied. Not only this:

- Protein builds lean muscle mass increasing your metabolism. Muscle is a ‘furnace for fat’ so the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you burn at rest. Your metabolism is 100% controllable by YOU! You can increase your metabolism by eating a targeted amount of protein specific to your body shape and incorporating some weight training (if desired).

- Protein creates more diet-induced thermogenesis (heat) when digesting your food, than carbohydrates or fat, and this heat is energy from the food that is not deposited as fat.

- Protein curbs sugar and carbohydrate cravings.

Photo by Natalie Rodriguez of
Unique Photography

We must focus not only on fat burning but also on maintaining lean muscle mass for long term weight management.

OVERALL NUTRITION: A healthy body loses fat. An unhealthy body retains fat. Good internal health means your body can easily perform its vital processes essential for survival and functioning. Weight loss may be your main priority but breathing, liver / kidney / heart / brain function, nutrient absorption, digestion and waste elimination are more important to your body so unless it has sufficient nutrition to perform these tasks effortlessly, weight loss will be an uphill battle.

You can help your body by providing good nutrition through healthy food, lots of water, vitamin and mineral supplementation. Build a solid foundation for overall health and wellbeing through good nutrition and your body will work like a well oiled machine - weight loss will happen effortlessly and be easily maintained.

IN SUMMARY:

- Taking the ‘go it alone’ approach to weight loss has a 75% failure rate because most people have a limited understanding of how to work with their body when losing weight.

- Having a personal mentor and using nutritionally balanced meal replacements and supplements, increases your success rate by 300%.

Although you may be tempted by a fad diet or the like, remember that this is one of the main reasons for our overweight epidemic. Don’t be a statistic. Why not adopt a new way of thinking? Changing your mind-set takes time and education but it doesn’t need to be difficult and you don’t need to do it alone.

For more information on health and well-being and for a free personal weight loss consultation, please visit www.longterm-weightloss.org