Looking Back to Move Forward

“A [healthy] being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives - of approving of some and disapproving of others.” – Charles Darwin

As we near the end of 2011, I feel that one of the most important things a person can do is to reflect. We will all undoubtedly have resolutions and goals for the new year, but before we dive into those, let’s look back at how we did this past year. Do you remember your resolutions from January 1^st, 2011? Do you still have them written down somewhere? If so, take a look and see how you did. If you cannot find them, take some time to think about what you were focused on last year at this time. Maybe you had the same resolution that you have had for the past five years. Maybe you had a new resolution. Whatever it was, commit some time to reflecting on your success (or lack of success). Take each goal and ask yourself three questions:


1) What worked?
2) What didn't?
3) Why?

If you thoroughly examine these three questions for each goal, you will be fully equipped for succeeding in 2012. Many times we set goals for ourselves without any type of plan or forethought. Then, regardless of outcome, we never look back and learn from our experience. If you fail to achieve a goal, you have a huge opportunity to learn and try again. If you succeed, you again have an opportunity to learn and apply those lessons to other goals. Either way, if you are not using your past experiences as success training tools, you are wasting time and potential. 

Only once you have determined what works and what does not should you set your goals for next year. You now have the ammunition for battle, and are ready for devising a plan of attack. Start by writing down EXACTLY what you want to achieve. Do you want to lose 20 lbs. this year? Do you want to increase your income by $10,000? Whatever it is, write it down and try to be as specific as possible. Next, write down how you are going to achieve these goals. This part can be vague, but make sure to use the principles and ideas that you have learned from reflecting on last year. If your goal last year was to lose 20 lbs. and you only lost 5 lbs. (or none at all), then you should have a very good idea of what went wrong. Did you not plan your time well enough to get to the gym? Did you leave too many junk foods in the house as temptations? Did you fail to enlist your friends and family in your efforts? Whatever it was, my guess is that it was an unexpected barrier that can now be planned for.

Whatever your goal is, writing down ideas for achieving those goals will set you up for success. It does not mean that it will be easy, or that you will reach your exact goals, but the more you reflect and the more you learn from your experiences, the faster you will reach your goals. And please believe that you truly can do anything you put your mind to. If you want it badly enough, you can and will make it happen. The first step is just deciding what it is you want...

Happy New Year everyone, see you in 2012!!

Why am I Not Losing Fat?! (FINALE)

Over the last month, we have been diving deeper into the challenges that people have in losing fat. To reiterate, the first step is always to determine if your eating, exercise, social support/environment, and mental focus are in line with your goals. If you are on track in all these areas, but are STILL struggling, this series is meant for you. We have now reached our fourth and final part to this series. If you have not read the previous articles, you can find them here: part 1, part 2, and part 3. If you have worked your way through these already, it is time to learn about what I feel is the most under-appreciate issue even though it may affect almost all of us. Today we will be discussing the importance of your digestive system.

Fat Loss Barrier #4: The gastrointestinal system

A properly functioning gastrointestinal system is critical for overall health and well-being, yet it is often disregarded, ill-treated, and otherwise ignored unless it starts making a lot of commotion. If your gut is not in good health, it could lead to problems in just about every part of your body including, but not limited to, your nerves, brain, lungs, arteries, joints, bones, eyes, and hair. As you may guess, poor digestion can also have a huge influence on fat loss.

Consider the following about the gastrointestinal system:

• The gastrointestinal system comprises 75% of the body’s immune system.
• There are more neurons in the small intestine than in the entire spinal cord.
• It is the only system in the body that has its own, independently operating nervous system.
• If you stretched out the gastrointestinal system in its entirety, it would have the surface area of a regulation-sized tennis court.
• There are over 400 species of microbes living in your gut, totaling over 15 pounds of mass and containing more bacteria than there are known stars in the sky.

Suffice it to say, if the body allocates this many resources to one particular system, it must be important. In fact, we should start treating our gut with the utmost respect if we are interested in weight loss, muscle gain, or overall health.

My guts feel fine…I think

While your intestines do a lot of amazing things, the one thing they do not do is feel pain. There are no pain receptors in your intestines, so it is not always easy to know when your guts are not happy.  Instead we have to wait until things get bad enough to present symptoms to tell us. This would be the equivalent of stepping on a nail and not realizing it until your foot goes numb and starts changing color. These symptoms can include gas/bloating, feeling like you have a heavy stomach after meals, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, bad breath, and foul-smelling stool.

As we mentioned before, however, many other symptoms typically aren’t manifested in our GI systems. Often, things like hormonal imbalances, migraines, allergies, eczema, and autoimmune disease can be traced back to GI system problems. And this is not all. Everything from a compromised immune system, to a problematic stress hormone situation, to an altered sex hormone system, to blood sugar irregularities can be related to gut problems. These problems can even feed back to cause more gut problems. Once you’ve hit this point, your gut has become seriously damaged and is in need of help quickly.

What to do

One of the best ways to stop a vicious GI-related cycle is to control inflammation and identify food sensitivities. The most effective way to do this is to start with an elimination diet for 3-6 weeks. A good elimination diet means removing foods to which many people are sensitive, including: wheat & gluten-containing foods, soy, dairy, corn, the nightshade family of vegetables (e.g. bell pepper, tomatoes, eggplant), and legumes. It could also possibly include a few other items (eggs, pork, citrus), but this is a good place to start.

You may be asking, “What’s left to eat?” Good question. You’ll eat a lot of vegetable matter, poultry, fish, lamb, beef (grass-fed), and certain fruits (i.e. blueberries, apples). This may seem restrictive, but it is truly amazing how effective it can be for those people who actually follow the diet. It can be life-changing. As a general rule, the more strict you can be, the better. When you are ready to start, it may be best to find an expert to help guide you through as it can be challenging to know all the foods that you should avoid. If nothing else, track your own food so that you know if you are keeping to it.

Once you have followed three weeks of a strict elimination plan, you will then want to reintroduce one food item at a time. Keep it in your diet for two days and see what happens. Pay careful attention to any symptoms experienced, such as joint pain, headaches, sinus issues, foggy thinking, fatigue, nausea, skin issues, and/or poor sleep. Almost anything can resurface that otherwise disappeared during the previous three weeks.

If there are any “positive” reactions to a food — meaning certain symptoms reappeared — that means the food is a problem and must be avoided for a period of at least 6 months. The reason you want to avoid them for 6 months is because you may only be having an acute reaction due to gut inflammation. If after 6 months, you do not have the reaction, you can add them back in without concern.

In the meantime, you might consult with a doctor that understands gastrointestinal function and can recommend gut-repairing nutrients. Please, please, please, do not take detoxifiers or fiber supplements. These are usually full of the items that are hurting your gut and only appear to work (if at all) because one response your body has to irritants is to push everything out. Remove the foods, eat clean, and start testing foods. While this may seem simple, it is not necessarily easy. You must stay on track to know what is problematic for you. If you do, you will see profound effects.

Conclusion

We have come to the end of our series and I hope that all of you have learned something that you will start working on today. Fat loss is not always easy, but in the grand scheme of things, is there anything worth spending more time on than your health? Health and fitness is a lifelong journey full of trial and error, and while there are many theories as to how to be in the best health, sometimes it just comes down to what makes you look and feel the best. Be mindful of your environment, how you feel, and how different things affect you. The more aware you are, the more quickly you will learn what is good for your body and what is not. And it is through this self-exploration that you will discover your best self and your best health. 

Why am I Not Losing Fat?! (Part 3)

We are back again to tackle our next limiting factor in the quest to lose fat. We have already talked about the oxygen delivery system and the blood sugar management system, which, if you have not yet read, you can find in Part 1 and Part 2. Today we look at the third most common issue with losing fat: stress.

Fat Loss Barrier #3: The adrenal system

The adrenal glands are your body’s primary defense for managing stress. When the adrenal glands are activated, they produce a number of hormones that help your body deal with both acute and chronic stressors. One such hormone is cortisol. Cortisol’s primary function is to increase blood sugar levels so your brain, muscles and organs have enough fuel to get you through a stressful situation. This is very important for survival, but it can cause some serious issues when it becomes chronic. Chronically elevated cortisol levels increase blood sugar levels, which then elevate insulin levels. As we talked about last time, this can stop you from burning fat no matter what exercise or diet program you follow.

Chronic stress - it’s everywhere

There are many chronic stressors in today’s society including mental/emotional stress, food sensitivities, blood sugar imbalances, infections, excessive exercise and anything else that the body perceives as a stress. Each of these things can not only cause overactivity of the adrenals (possibly resulting in chronically elevated cortisol levels), but also underactivity. This can result in other problems such as waking up in the middle of the night, feelings of irritability or extreme hunger, or low energy.

All of these stressors have to be managed by the adrenals, so it is not always easy to know what exactly is causing adrenal dysfunction. Any time you are trying to lose weight though, it is best to remove as much stress from your life as possible. Easier said than done, but better to know what could be holding you back than feeling frustrated and discouraged.

I want to highlight a few stressors that are often overlooked: exercise and food sensitivities. Exercise, while beneficial when used appropriately, can be just as stressful as work/life stressors when done in excess. Many times people think that they just need to exercise more and they will lose weight, but this is not always true. Exercise must be done just enough to produce an adaptive response, followed by adequate recovery to avoid overloading the system. If you are not recovering from exercise, it is actually working against you reaching your goals.

Food sensitivities may be one of the most common forms of stress, but are usually not even considered when trying to remove stress or lose weight. If you have ever felt bloated, constipated, or experienced any upset stomach or digestive issues, you probably have a food sensitivity. This is different than a food intolerance, but can cause just as much harm over the long run. Chronic bloating can lead to a host of other issues, including adrenal dysfunction. It is a stress on your digestive system, and your body does not like having its food delivery system messed with (more on this next week!). So while work and life stress is going to be an important thing to deal with, don’t forget about some of these other stressors as well.

Test and Treat

If you think that stress may be a factor in limited fat loss, it would be best to get your adrenals tested. The most effective way of assessing adrenal gland function is the Adrenal Salivary Test. You will have to set up an appointment with your doctor to take care of this, but it can be very revealing. If you want to do a quick at home test, try this: Lie down for 5 minutes, then take your blood pressure. Then stand up and take your blood pressure again.

If your systolic pressure (the first number) remained the same or decreased, you may not have optimal adrenal function. Ideally the number would go up as your body should now be working harder to pump blood. If it goes down, it means that your system is not responding as it should. This is just a quick test, but to find out more about your adrenals, talk to your doctor about the Adrenal Salivary Test.

If you do find that your adrenals are not functioning as well as they could be, start by determining what could be stressing you out. Remember, stress is not always emotional (food sensitivities, infection, over-training) and it does not have to be negative (juggling children, work, family, etc.) You need to first decide how to best manage the stress you have now before trying any other methods.

Once you have adjusted your current stressors, there are a few other things that may help as well. You may want to talk to your doctor or possibly a naturopathic doctor about specific herbs called “adaptogens” because of their ability to assist the body in handling stress. The most common are ginseng (can come in various forms) and licorice root, and they can be beneficial for both overactive and underactive adrenal glands. You may also want to talk with your doctor about phosphatidylserine (PS). This compound is best known for its ability to lower cortisol and can also be used for both overactive adrenal glands and underactive adrenal glands. You can take it in supplement form, or it can be found in mackerel and herring, if you are not one for supplements.

Almost there

We have come to the end of our third segment on why you might not be losing fat. Again, if you haven’t looked at your diet, exercise, social support, and your motivation, start there. If those all seem to be good, this series should help to weed out any last issues in trying to lose fat. These are not necessarily easy things to fix, but it is important to remember, it takes YEARS to put on weight, and it can take years to take off weight (especially when it is fat, not just generic weight). Keep up the good work, and check back next week for the final topic of the series: the digestive system!