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Watching That Weight (The Common Weight Gain Story)

15 Jun 2007 04:44:57 PM

By Graeme Bradshaw

 Are You Overweight?

Many people, both men and women, find their weight going up by a kilogram every year or two during their 40’s, as their metabolism slows - but commonly the problem starts much earlier.

The common weight gain life story - Does it sound like you or someone you know?

The Modern Child – The parent gives the child what it wants and this commonly results in 35 per cent of calories from sugar, 40 per cent from fats and fast food. Such a child will have less than one fruit daily on average, and one vegetable serve daily. He craves sweet, fat and salty foods only - real foods are unappealing. She follows parental models for high carbohydrate or high fat diets; comfort foods are established as normal, for example regular French fries or candies. Refined carbohydrates such as white bread, biscuits, white rice and noodles are the main part of the diet. Establishes a high Glycemic Index diet - sweets, sugars and carbohydrates that release sugars quickly are demanded as normal daily diet. The rest of the story is how this high GI diet slowly causes obesity over the years.

The Adolescent Stage – Fitting in with peers - pressure to be thin and model-like, she skips meals and avoids meat and consumes noodles or pasta and sugary starches only. Her iron and protein derived amino acids are low - affecting her energy levels (anemic) and moods (especially from low tryptophan, the amino acid for brain serotonin which is the natural anti-anxiety and antidepressant). His mood swings and poor self-image are associated with the bad eating habits, foods that give a quick upper - sugar, cola, fast foods The poor nutrition contributes to the start of stimulants abuse - tobacco, cola, marijuana. All disturb the appetite.

The 20’s Phase – Life as entertainment - alcohol, drugs, parties. Typically away from home fast-food consumption and fast living increases. Women often go on fruit or vegetable fasts or other fad diets – proven to end up in weight gain from affecting the metabolism. Men eat junk food; few cooking skills of real food developed. The minerals are commonly too low - such as chromium (deficiency causes cravings for more sugar, causes poor fat burning, raises cholesterol) and magnesium (deficiency causes irritability, fatigue and a slower metabolism as well as allergies - click for allergies questions here) During these phases many people become hypoglycemic – i.e. suffer low blood (or brain) sugar levels easily - and this stimulates a craving for High Glycemic Index foods – such as alcohol. In addition, you are probably consuming the 70kg of sugar each year (on average that’s how much people eat) and this cause most of today’s chronic illnesses, the warning signs being weight gain and hypoglycemia.

The low blood sugar jags (of hypoglycemia) result in mood swings and fluctuating energy levels.  Click for low blood sugar questions here.

The only way to balance these issues is to reduce the high GI foods, and include a breakfast containing protein, such as eggs, and to snack on healthy low GI foods such as nuts in the afternoon. More will be written on the Diet for Hypoglycemia another time.

The 30’s – Life in the machine - the busy schedule, work, kids and skipping meals. Often on fad crash diets for her. Nutritional deficiencies become entrenched: especially: B complex – B1, B2, B3, B6 (are all needed for energy metabolism); EFA’s – Omega 3 fish oils (moods), Omega 6 vegetable oils (e.g. GLA for hormone balance) are often low. These with the mineral deficiencies mentioned above and the High Glycemic (sugary/refined white carbohydrate) diet are initiating the first stages of diabetes – called insulin resistance. (Click here for insulin resistance questions)  By the end of the 30’s the belly is becoming fatter as a sign of problems brewing.

The 40’s – Forty, fat, fatigued and fizzing out. Feeling that youth has disappeared, this is middle age! Problems with insulin show as a burgeoning waistline, the metabolism and hormone levels reduce significantly now. This is the time to sit up and take notice – as illness and obesity are harder to correct later. Often with excess work the adrenal glands, which give you your motivation and vitality, go into the fatigue stage – caffeine cravings and addictions may then become entrenched as a means of boosting energy artificially.

The thyroid may slow prematurely.  Wrecked adrenal glands from stress? Find Out If This is You.  Click here for common thyroid symptoms.

Bouts of depression (click here to find out if you have depression) from low serotonin levels may be coupled with cravings for alcohol. Gestational diabetes and high pregnancy weight gain are other signs of diabetes underway. Gout, hypertension, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are signs men commonly develop as precursors to insulin resistance (a pre-diabetic condition) as their weight is going out of control.   Click here to find out if you have pre-diabetic condition.

The 50’s – Oh dear! The time for the diagnosable illness looms. Pancreas and thyroid are off balance, cholesterol is high, blood sugar levels indicate a diabetic state, obesity is pushing up blood pressure and blood vessels are already 50 per cent blocked (an average situation nowadays by 55). Is obesity here to stay? Do you now have a chronic illness causing stubborn weight gain? The doctor says the medicine he is prescribing is not without side effects. And now you feel you’re too tired to start exercise.

Major life changes towards real priorities/food/lifestyle seem might seem like too much effort now. The doctor continues to prescribe further medicines to counteract your growing nutritional and lifestyle problems.

Take action today –

If you are overweight or suffering any of the habits or symptoms above, take steps today to reduce your weight before you encounter the plethora of problems that are associated with excess weight, a sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition. It really is a matter of life (quality of life) or death.

Are you overweight?

The most common way of measure obesity currently is the Body Mass Index – BMI, which measure weight in relation to height and determines the amount of body fat. A person is considered overweight when his or her BMI is 25 or higher. While BMI is not a perfect measure – it is best to assess body fat percentage – it is a worthwhile starting point to gage how much weight you might need to loose.

To calculate your BMI divide weight by your height squared. Or go to http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi for an automatic calculation.

 
Recommendations:

• Decide it is time to act on your weight problem and to avoid sugar and follow a low glycemic diet (click to see GI list)
• If you have young children, prevent the sugar cravings and later health problems with a low GI diet – proteins and vegetables as well as wholegrain foods, rather than excessive sweet carbohydrates.
• Balancing your diet and metabolism to overcome cravings and to correct deficiencies will require some expert assistance.
• Use weight loss products (consult Graeme or staff at IMI first)
• Get a nutrition coach/consultant, several options at IMI. Proven that a nutritional consultant increase success rates and helps long–term maintenance of weight loss.