If you can identify specific nutrients
your body desires, you may be able to
find healthier and equally satisfying
alternatives.
The Dangers of Drastic
Weight Loss
I recently attended to a patient who was
overweight and desperately wanted to get
thin. She narrated the focus and intention
she would put into each new attempt
always so sure that she would finally make
it work. She would weigh herself, measure
herself, write down her goals, stay up late
reading about the diets she was going to
start, and then commence with lots of
enthusiasm. She would lose weight but
after a few months later, she would gain
more weight than before and look for
another “crash” diet.
your body's "engine" runs on average,
over time, determines how many calories
you burn. If your metabolism is fast, you
will burn more calories at rest and during
activity. A high metabolism means you'll
need to take in more calories to maintain
your weight. That's one reason why some
people can eat more than others without
gaining weight. A person with a slow
metabolism will burn fewer calories at
rest and during activity and therefore has
to eat less to avoid becoming overweight.
Healthy Diet and Exercise
If you could choose between diet and
exercise, diet would have far more
influence on your weight than exercise,
but of course you should do both.
Most people don’t understand this fact.
They believe that if they are exercising
appropriately then they really don't have
to be careful with their food choices. This
is a fallacy. When you consume healthy
foods, your body digests and metabolizes
the food to create energy. Simply
metabolizing proteins and other nutrients
found in healthy food burn calories.
Junk food however, is the opposite.
It takes less energy for your body to
metabolize and store junk food, which
tends to be high in fat and carbohydrates,
as compared to healthy food which tends
to contain more nutrients. This slows
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down your metabolic rate increasing the
risk of obesity.
The optimal way to lose weight is to
follow a lower calorie diet based on the
healthy eating pattern and incorporate
daily physical activity into your lifestyle.
It is important to make small changes in
your diet and lifestyle rather than losing
5kgs in one week through a "crash" diet or
"fad" diet. Always seek professional advice
from a nutritionist to get a personalized
diet plan. Successful weight loss involves a
permanent lifestyle change; otherwise, you
will easily regain the weight that you lost.
Food Cravings and Obesity
Cravings can easily wreck any healthy-
eating resolutions, and eventually any
long-term weight loss goals. Just about
everyone gets hit with cravings, though
women experience them more often than
men. Craving is the body’s way of crying for
nutrients. Your body often knows exactly
what it needs, if only you knew how to
listen. Your body needs vitamins, minerals,
essential fatty acids, essential amino acids,
and so on to function properly. Your brain
constantly monitors your blood sugar and
your supply of essential nutrients.
Excessive hunger and food cravings,
including sugar cravings, are caused
primarily by a deficiency or an imbalance
in some essential nutrient. It is therefore
important to observe your eating habits
since they have a great impact on your
overall health and weight management.
Multiple studies have found several
negative effects of food cravings including
weight gain, slow metabolism and
increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
I really find it strange that people can fail
repeatedly in their weight loss journey.
It’s also amazing that we don’t seem to
wonder why smart, capable, educated,
successful, motivated people who really
want to lose weight just can’t do it. I think
that we can all agree and the research
is very clear that people are genuinely
motivated to lose weight. They’re spending
enormous sums of money to do it. Few
things are more desirable in our modern
culture than being slender. So why can’t
people succeed?
I want us to understand that the main
problem is our approach to weight loss.
For many of us, it’s easier to think about
starvation techniques such as crash diets
to see rapid weight loss in a short period
of time, than thinking about making long-
term sustainable lifestyle changes.
But rapid weight-loss as a result of “crash”
dieting is not without risk that must be
considered in relation to any possible
rewards. Crash diets and other calorie-
restricted diets slow your metabolism.
With such diets, your body is forced to
break down muscle to use for energy. The
lower your muscle mass, the slower your
metabolism. With less muscle and a slower
metabolism, it then becomes a lot easier to
regain the weight faster than you lost and
this also affects your metabolic age.
Metabolic age is a measure of how well
or poorly your body is functioning relative
to your actual age. If your metabolic age
is higher than your actual age, it means
your body is not in good health. Food
is fuel and better fuel makes the engine
run more efficiently. Keeping your daily
calories in check along with the right
mix of macronutrients will help you
lower your metabolic age. Other possible
side effects from very rapid weight-loss
include abnormal heart rate and rhythm,
low blood sugar, dehydration, hair loss,
weakness, and constipation among others.
Kepha Nyanumba is a Consultant
Nutritionist working with Crystal
Health Consultants Limited. You
can commune with him on this
or related matters vide email at:
Ke p h a n y a nu m b a @ g m a i l . c o m ,
follow him on twitter: @knyanumba
or Blog: kephanyanumba.blogspot.
com.
Why Do We Crave?
The impulse to reach for a chocolate bar
or junk foods everyday is not a simple one
to understand. Food cravings start in the
brain, unlike hunger, which begins in the
belly, and are stimulated by things like
stress, memory, and routine far more often
than by the amount of time since your last
meal. Hunger comes on gradually and can
be easily satisfied. Cravings are sudden,
specific, and more difficult to appease.
The common objects of cravings include
fatty, sugary and salty foods. This is because
eating such foods causes our brains
to produce compounds, which trigger
pleasure and even mild euphoria. Many
highly processed fast foods are carefully
engineered to release those compounds
(opioids) and keep you reaching for more
junk foods.
But just because cravings are complicated
doesn’t mean that they can’t be managed.
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