Cathy’s Wealth of Health: The Obesity Epidemic
Editor’s note: given the current rage with drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as my own ongoing struggles with weight loss, it seemed like a perfect time for this article. – Mark
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
The Obesity Epidemic
Today 2/3 of adults and 1/3 of children are overweight or obese. Since the 1960’s, the numbers have tripled! We are obsessed with dieting strategies, yet keep getting fatter and fatter. What’s up with that? Obesity is quickly taking over the leading position that smoking has held for preventable deaths caused. Yet, we have such a hard time losing weight and keeping it off, even though it is killing us.
In the 1960’s we began to hear about low fat foods for weight loss, but unfortunately this was not a good solution. The fats were substituted with refined carbohydrates. Then in the early 1970’s high fructose corn syrup was created and became a cheap, sweet, food additive used in a huge proportion of prepared foods. This science project has a higher proportion of fructose than occurs in Nature, and our bodies end up converting it into fat. Unfortunately, our brain’s pleasure areas are highly stimulated by these unhealthy foods, causing a true addiction to bad foods. Refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats are highly addictive. The best carbohydrates are from vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans. The healthy fats come from nuts, seeds, coconut, avocado, olive oil and fish. The worst fats are the hydrogenated oils or trans fats (another dangerous science project), which contribute to many diseases including heart disease and cancer.
Portion size is another big issue with weight loss/maintenance. If you realize that your stomach is about the size of your fist and can receive about the amount of food your open palms together could hold, that puts a huge meal into context. The best approach I have found is to emphasize non-starchy vegetables, fresh fruits and lean proteins; small amounts of whole grains, beans, seeds and nuts; and stay away from the whites: flour, sugar and salt. Some people like to count fiber grams, aiming for 25-30 grams per day. That is a way to assure that you eat lots of vegies, fruits, whole grains and beans. The fiber helps to lower the blood sugar and maintain a full feeling. Beginning the meal with soup is another way to fill up on a low caloric dish before the more caloric main dish.
In recent decades with the technology boom, kids are no longer encouraged to go outside and play and instead are sitting and staring at a screen many hours of the day. It is essential to move more to lose weight. Getting into the habit of doing something active on a daily basis is one of the best strategies for health as well as weight loss. Walking, gardening, bicycling… find something fun to do, so you will do it regularly.
Waist size can be a useful measure of how bad our weight problem is: for a man, over 40” and for a woman, over 35”, both signal a potential pre-diabetic imbalance. That “belly fat” is a killer, literally. It makes unhealthy hormones and contributes to heart disease, diabetes, and insatiable hunger. That is the reason that we pear shaped gals have a health advantage to the apple shaped bodies. Ultimately our goal is to reduce the belly fat, normalize hormones and regulate the blood sugar. This will all contribute to encouraging and maintaining weight loss.
Then, there is the whole “food as love/food as hate” issue when it comes to weight loss. I am from a family of multiple eating disorders. One of us nearly died many times due to anorexia nervosa. All of us have struggled with body image no matter what we weighed. Spotting the addictive trigger foods and strictly avoiding them is necessary for recovery. It may be foods that you are allergic to that you crave. Wheat, corn, dairy products and sugar are potential allergy causing foods to evaluate. Then, when you slip and eat that cake, learn to get back on your healthy path right away. Don’t wait until Monday to resume your healthy habits. For getting in touch with the emotional reasons for overeating, and healing your relationship with food, I suggest the works of Geneen Roth, especially Women, Food and God. Clearly men suffer with eating disorders as well, but females still greatly out number the males in our culture of glamorizing thinness.
Ear acupuncture may help curb cravings in the beginning. Julia Ross’ book, The Diet Cure, provides some supplements and amino acids that may help your journey as well. The Chinese would encourage you to use herbs to strengthen the digestive system to make it function more efficiently, thus normalizing appetite and weight. Fennel seed or anise seed tea is useful as a regular beverage to reduce the appetite and promote digestion. A probiotic supplement first thing in the morning may be another beneficial tool to improve digestion. Have you tried the delicious, low calorie, probiotic beverages from the Ventura, California, based company, KeVita, recently named as one of the 25 most innovative consumer products by Forbes.com. Look for them wherever they sell fresh juices.
Michael Pollan’s sage advice from In Defense of Food is poignantly simple: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
REFERENCES:
Ultra-Metabolism by Mark Hyman, MD. This provides a simple, whole foods approach to weight loss, utilizing foods to regulate the blood sugar and promote health.
The Diet Cure by Julia Ross, MA. This looks at brain chemistry contributions to food cravings, weight problems and mood swings.
Releasing Fat by Ray D Strand, MD. Explores living a healthier lifestyle for permanent weight loss by managing blood sugar and making wise food choices.
Food Rules by Michael Pollan. Simple ways to think about foods and eating responsibly for your health and the health of the planet.
Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth. She has pioneered ways to develop a healthy relationship with food.
This Second Edition of In Harmony with the Seasons includes a new introduction and seven additional chapters offering Tools for Sanity. It brings us current in the author’s life, adding lessons learned and knowledge acquired since the First Edition’s publication.
In Harmony with the Seasons is a collection of writings on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that represents the culmination of a life spent as a teacher and practitioner of this medicine. Practical advice is given about relieving common health complaints, using foods, herbs, and lifestyle adjustments. To be in harmony with the seasons is to be connected to the natural world, and thus, our own bodies. Nature heals. This collection will give you tools to facilitate that process. TCM Practitioners will enjoy the Chinese dietary guidance, based on organ (Zang-Fu) imbalances. Plant lovers and gardeners will be interested in the botanical families of foods and herbs. Using the lens of TCM, these articles are intended to inform and inspire individuals on a quest for better health, physically, emotionally and spiritually.