Weight loss, metabolism boosters, and more! Episode 95

This week, I’m starting off with two clinical insights. The first is about a young woman who just came off the pill and I’ll spoil the ending for you… “Don’t Give Up Too Early”. After coming off the pill, the bottom has come out, and everything including her hormones and mental health has hit rock bottom. Too often, people who have these horrible effects can’t even go to their doctor because they don’t have any solutions beyond more pills. When you’re in the middle of an awful situation like that, they feel like it’s the end of the world.

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From my perspective, we have work to do on multiple fronts. We have to strengthen the microbiome, restore hormone balance, regulate anxiety and depression, and more. There’s no quick fix here, no matter how bad someone may want one. With this patient, when she didn’t feel better immediately, she ran to another provider to see if someone else had the quick fix that I know doesn’t exist. You have to give your body time, space, and energy to heal. If all your energy is going into chasing down a miracle cure that doesn’t exist, you’re not using your energy to heal your body. 

The second insight is about weight loss programs. I was doing a consult with a client who brought her mom, they wanted to talk about a weight loss program. It’s a system that works with reward packets based on successes that include a certain number of calories. The good news is she had lost 20 pounds. However, the only time you’re truly eating healthy is when you’re eating from God’s Garden. In addition, it should be intuitive and natural. My conversation with her was about the fact that every single program works because it cuts out sugar and processed food. That’s the commonality that works, regardless of the rest of the program. As for the rest of it, you have to ask, is this natural, intuitive, and sustainable? If they’re not, they’re only providing short-term results.

Tonight, I want to dive into metabolism. Metabolism is the process that cells use in your body to produce and use energy to keep the host alive. It’s a biochemical reaction the body has to maintain life. We are literally using energy to sustain ourselves. It’s a lot more than just weight. It includes your ability to heal, to think, to be creative, and more. Being healthy itself is a metabolic activity. The body takes in nutrients so it can do the things we need it to do. What we take in determines how well that process works. If we have body parts that aren’t working or are taken out, it’s going to affect how well those systems work. The better those systems work, the better the healthy body will move forwards.

We usually think of metabolism as burning food, which is part of it, but if the food doesn’t have nutrients, we’re overfed and undernourished. If our body is filled with empty calories and nutrients, our body can’t do anything with them. The old school of thought is that a fast metabolism will make you skinny. That may be a factor, but there are a lot more reasons why a person does or does not lose weight. A very healthy body with a good microbiome will always have a faster metabolic process because the machine is well taken care of. A slower metabolism is someone whose system isn’t working as well, so their body isn’t taking nutrients in or absorbing them. We’ve always heard that muscle burns more fat, which is somewhat true, but the bottom line is that muscles use more fuel. When your muscles are looking for fuel, they can burn fat cells and convert them into ketones which you can use for energy. That process also applies to healing a cut. In diabetic people, we see ulcers and other inabilities to heal because the body isn’t functioning properly, so the metabolism can’t do what it was meant to do. People may say they’ve always had a slow metabolism, but it’s still a result of choices and decisions, not just a predetermined outcome. Our metabolisms are up to us.

There are eight things we’re going to discuss that aren’t food that may still be stopping you from losing weight. Even if you have a good, clean diet, you may not be losing weight. These could be the answer to why.

1. Inflammation

This is a beyond food issue, even with the right foods, you can still have inflammation. Things like bacteria, fungus, mold, and viruses can be causing inflammation. When your body is stressed, it produces cytokines which creates insulin resistance. Your body then produces more insulin which causes weight gain. Many people lost weight during the virus and then when the cytokine storm hit, they gained it all back and then some. Everyone should be having their fasting insulin levels and their insulin resistance checked. It’s essential information, especially if you’re having trouble losing weight. 

2. Nutritional Deficiencies

Our soils are toast, our land is overfarmed, basically, we’re eating too much food that doesn’t have enough nutrients. I look at people with thyroid issues all the time, especially women, and ask where they’re getting their iodine. Either they don’t know or they say they’re eating seafood once a week. It’s just not enough. If you drink alcohol, you’re likely magnesium deficient. Too many people depend on a generic multivitamin, which is just an unrealistic way of getting everything the body needs. One huge magic pill isn’t going to do everything you need. We do use a whole food multivitamin called Catalyn which came from the 1920s as a way to supplement the things that were missing from the diet. Now, though, we use it as a catalyst to get your body moving in the right direction and able to absorb and use the other things we’re putting in there. 

3. Microbiome Dysfunction

We’ve talked about this several times, but it’s so important. When you eat food, your microbiome breaks it down and sends nutrients throughout the body to be used for energy. When you’re on antibiotics, your microbiome takes a beating. Even if you’re eating well, you need to intentionally restore your microbiome. There’s an antibiotic called Cipro that is very powerful. Within hours, it wipes out 60%-90% of your microbiome. Even if you feel that you had to be on it, you still need to do the work of restoration. I’m seeing a client who’s had diarrhea for over seven months after taking it. It’s a process and you need to focus on it.

4. Social Network

If you’re going to meet up with your friends and they always want to go to the pub and then go out to eat afterward, that is going to knock you off of your weight loss goals. If your friends call you to go meet up for yoga and get green juice, that is going to push you towards your weight loss goals. Your work and family atmosphere are both included in that. You become who you spend the most time with. 

5. Liver Toxicity

This is a broad one, but it’s important to pay attention. By the time it shows up on your lab work, you’re way downstream on the issue. This is where you have to pay a lot of attention to the outside world and the environmental toxins you’re letting in. I saw a client who had a bad reaction about 24 hours after a hair dye. She had sties in her eyes and swelling in her lymph nodes. Liver issues are cumulative, so even if you’ve never had an issue before, it’s possible issues are catching up to you. Chinese medicine teaches us that the better you treat your liver, the better your health. Fear, worry, and concern are emotional factors that can affect the liver greatly. In Chinese medicine, it’s believed that those things are held right in the liver itself. It’s fascinating watching what happens when people release those things from the liver. Taking one or two Milk Thistle Forte a day is good for everybody. 

6. Mitochondrial Issues

The mitochondria are the powerhouses of the human body and they help determine our longevity. As toxins, viruses, and other things beat down our mitochondria, that is the process we know as aging. Some of us have beaten down our mitochondria with toxins and chemicals, that we have aged beyond our years. Places like golf courses and nail salons are hotbeds of toxins that weaken your mitochondria. Even synthetic supplements that aren’t whole food, if you take too many, can be toxic. Your ability to heal and regenerate is slowed by this. However, when you begin to fix your health and work on all the things we’ve discussed, you can reverse the process of aging by strengthening your mitochondria. 

7. Stress

This could really be number one, it’s so common. When we’re under stress, the body releases cortisol, the stress hormone. In the short phase, it can reduce inflammation. However, if we’re under prolonged stress, it typically has the reverse effect. In addition, it signals your fat cells to collect and draw in food. It also increases insulin production. When you eat under stress, even good food, you’re gaining weight. Even things like eating in your car, having rapid-fire conversations while eating, flipping through social media while eating, and other things that take away your attention from eating are considered eating under stress. We can address this stress by doing something as simple as taking a few deep breaths before we begin eating. 

8. Genetic Profile

Some people have a predisposition that makes it hard to metabolize carbohydrates. I put this last because, although it can be a factor, it’s not a predisposition to being overweight. It’s something, if you understand and address it, that you can overcome by having a strategy.

And last, but not least, this week’s strategy to become superhuman is…

Be Mindful Of Where You Put Your Energy

Your energy is a finite resource. Make sure that you’re putting it to the best use for yourself, your healing, and your growth. 

What’s Next?

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Dr. Bart Precourt

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