"I'm healthy, Doc. I just need to lose weight!"
The majority of people who come to my Wellness seminars are overweight and seeking a long-term and effective solution, most having failed previous attempts with fad programs and diets. After attending my seminars, most then schedule a Wellness Evaluation, at which time, using a Functional Approach, I uncover other medical issues that need to be corrected.
It is almost never the case that a person can be overweight without having other health problems, some of which have been glossed over by being described as “mild”, or “borderline”. Many are surprised to hear these findings, but most will admit that they have actually been suffering in other areas for months or years, blaming it on “getting older”.
With the conditions of being overweight or obese now afflicting over 70% of our population, this becomes the primary cause of so many other degenerative, inflammatory and dangerous conditions. Most people understand that being overweight can increase the risk of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, but few realize the association with various cancers, including breast cancer and colon cancer.
But why does this happen?
Excessive body fat causes metabolic changes for sure, slowing metabolism, storing fat including the very dangerous white fat inside our abdomens and around our organs, raising blood pressure and lowering important hormones, such as testosterone.
Even more dangerous is the long term risk of inflammation.
Being overweight creates stress on the body in many ways, but the chemical effect of being overweight is excessive fat circulating in the bloodstream, excessive sugar circulating in the blood (even for just short periods of time).
Our bodies are designed to try to correct these issues, but a constant exposure makes the body work overtime and causes the release of “the stress hormone,” Cortisol. Cortisol, while essential to us in the usual amounts, is dangerous when constantly elevated.
For example, Cortisol will interfere with sugar metabolism:
Causing high sugars
Raising blood pressure
Interfering with sleep (did you check out my last post on insomnia??)
Interfering with thyroid hormones
Overstimulating the pancreas to release too much insulin
All of these combine to cause many malfunctions, and start a vicious cycle of more and more fat accumulation and worsening long term health.
Even more important, this unbalance, leads to inflammation.
The inflammation may be felt in various ways such as joint pains. Inflammation may be seen by its affects on skin and hair, such as loose skin, wrinkles and hair loss. But most important for long term health -- the hidden affects of inflammation on all of our organs, things we do not see or feel until it is too late.
Inflammation can lead to autoimmune conditions such as arthritis, eczema and psoriasis, but what about the other organs? Inflammation in arteries leads to heart attacks and stroke, “hardening of the arteries” with ultimate dementia or in the least memory issues, and hypertension, fatty liver and cirrhosis. Many studies have shown the direct relationship between chronic inflammation of our organs with cancers, including breast cancer, liver cancer, prostate, and colon cancer, among many others.
So when people are seeking help with weight loss, most of the time, they are unaware of the other conditions that are occurring, or at least not making the connection between those and being overweight.
Once the inflammation and damage starts, it requires a Functional approach to correct these issues: find and correct the underlying condition causing the symptoms, and even the silent damage that has already occurred.
Clearly, weight loss is critical, but the damage now causing symptoms needs to be corrected at the same time, and the entire body needs to be put back in balance.
Taking a functional approach results in better long term weight loss success, and reversal of the chronic degenerative conditions—“aging”—that will otherwise continue until it's too late.
Taking a functional approach to your health and losing weight does NOT need to be difficult and it can be done, as long as you have the motivation. I can help to create a customized program unique to YOU and your unique circumstances. Why not schedule a wellness consultation today? If you are ready to make the first step in your journey, please contact my wellness team at (732) 254 - 1003 today.