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As we move towards the holiday season, the new year is just around the corner. After indulging in lots of food throughout the holiday season, many make the resolution to lose weight, and with it the hoard of marketers who try to capitalize on those. Typically, right after December 25, in place of the holiday commercials, we begin seeing commercials for the latest weight loss product or program to help those who overindulged during the holiday season to shed those excess pounds.
Many people resolve to change their eating, workout and lose weight. They clean out their cupboards and pantries, replacing unhealthy junk food with the foods that are touted as “healthy” by the marketing gurus on Fifth Avenue. People start these new diets with motivation and optimism, only to fall off the wagon and completely abandon these diets within a few weeks.
So, how can you get off the diet roller coaster and begin to lose weight for good?
Stop dieting and learn what works for your body!
Diets do not work in the long run. Every person is unique in what their body requires metabolically. We all require different amounts of carbohydrates, protein and fat to thrive. Many people who do Metabolic Typing to discover which type they are, find that once they begin eating the right mixture of micronutrients for their body, the weight loss comes naturally.
Clean up what you’re eating!
Once you’ve discovered your metabolic type, it’s a great time to clean up what it is you are eating. Moving away from factory processed foods and to a diet of whole, unprocessed foods is the way to go to improve health and help the body restore health….and lose weight! We have fallen into the belief that healthy food must taste bad, and that simply isn’t true. There are plenty of amazing nutrient rich, whole food recipes that will delight your taste buds.
Do some testing
Make sure that your hormones are balanced, that your body is detoxifying the way it should be and that your digestion is functioning properly. Doing some basic functional lab tests can give clues as to if there is any dysfunction occurring in those areas. If there is dysfunction occurring, it can cause issues such as brain fog, fatigue, lack of motivation, weight gain and more! Talk to me about how to get tested!
Manage your stress!
When stress becomes chronic, it will be much more difficult to lose unwanted weight. When you encounter stress, the body releases the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone actually causes you to be more hungry. It’s the body’s way of encouraging you to get more fuel in case you have to fight and enemy or run away. Stress also causes cravings for junk food, and encourages the body to store extra calories in case it needs extra energy at a later time.
So if you are dealing with increased stress, it will be much more difficult to shed unwanted pounds. Find a way of reducing stress that works for you. Gentle to moderate exercise, meditation, deep breathing, gardening, walking in nature, visiting a spa, coloring and laughing all are ways that you can reduce stress. Taking time away from technology and the news can help as well. Energy healing techniques such as EFT are also powerful ways of reducing stress.
Make sure you are getting enough sleep!
When sleep deprived, most people tend to crave unhealthy foods and overeat. Being sleep deprived also increases the stress hormone cortisol, which can actually rev up your hunger.
Give yourself permission to be less than perfect
This is so important as you begin to change your way of eating. Unless you have to be at 100% clean eating because of a food allergy or intolerance, your goal for your new way of eating should be to eat 85-95% high quality, nutrient rich foods. That means that there will be 5-15% of your food that will not be so clean and healthy. It is going to be extremely difficult to try to eat 100%, and although some do manage to consume 100% of their food this way, most people will not….and that’s okay! It truly is about the majority of food that you’re putting into your body.
And there will be some times when you are going to have to eat meat that is not pastured, or non-organic produce or packaged or processed food. There might even be a time or two when you have to eat fast food. As long as you are getting the majority of your food from the whole, clean, real food category, an occasional fast food meal is not going to be a deal breaker for your health. So let go of the need to perfectly follow your new way of eating, and it will take some pressure off of you. We already know that stress can prevent you from losing weight, so don’t stress yourself out if you are less than perfect!
Don’t focus on weight loss
Focusing on overall health and taking the focus off of weight loss is a much better bet when it comes to helping you shed those unwanted pounds. As you restore balance within your entire body, the weight will naturally fall off…and you will truly experience much better overall health as well!
