With Summer just around the corner many people are in a rush to lose weight in time for the often dreaded bathing suit season. If you’re one of those individuals, no matter the amount of weight you are hoping to lose, this article will provide some advice that can help propel your weight loss efforts forward.
When it comes to weight, the most important part contributing to your success or failure is your nutrition. We are constantly bombarded by the “new” weight loss diet promising large losses of weight in a short period of time. The issue with the majority of these programs is that they set you up for failure right from the start as there are not maintainable long term programs and thus eventually most people creep back up to their original weight and in some cases to a heavier weight. Instead of some gimmick, we will be discussing some core weight loss information that is essential for your success in weight loss regardless of your age, build, or current weight and helps increase your chance of maintaining your weight loss for life.
First and foremost, let’s talk about inflammation weight. Inflammation weight is exactly as it sounds, when you consume foods that are inflammatory for you (different for everyone), your body will increase the amount of fat storage in order for it to protect its organs from inflammation mediated damage. Thus, in order to successfully lose weight we need to avoid all inflammation causing foods. What are those foods? While there are some basic foods that increase inflammation in general, (such as peanuts, grain-fed beef and pork, sugar and artificial sweeteners, anything packaged and processed, fried foods, gluten, among others) there are many other inflammatory foods that are individual-dependent. We are all individuals and are bodies respond differently to different foods, so for someone something as seemingly benign as a banana might be inflammatory while for someone else it might not be. Understanding which foods are inflammatory for you is based on, for one, any underlying condition that you might be suffering from, as well as your food allergies, food sensitivities, and food intolerances. As suggested, some foods can actually worsen certain medical conditions and thus create more inflammation in the body. Food allergies stimulate an immune response that is easily recognizable as they create an anaphylactic response (think hives and throat closure). Food sensitivities also illicit an immune response, albeit a delayed response hence why they are tricky to figure out and in many cases can go unnoticed until removed – best way to determine is through an IgG Food Sensitivity Test. Food intolerances do not illicit an immune response but are actually due to a dysfunction in enzymatic activity – best example being lactose intolerance which is due to low or no lactase enzyme (which usually breaks down lactose). Thus identifying and removing all of those inflammation causing foods from your diet is absolutely crucial to your weight loss efforts.
Second, the most common mistake I’ve seen in my practice with those attempting to lose weight is to reduce the amount of protein that they ingest in efforts to reduce their total caloric intake – this mistake may work in the short term but has a very poor long term success rate. Making sure that you are eating enough protein in your diet will actually increase the speed of your weight loss! The amount of protein that you need to be consuming is based on your current weight. So first figure out your weight in kg then multiple your weight by 0.8 – this will give you the minimum amount of protein that you should be eating per day. Ideally you want to be eating at least your weight in kg (i.e. multiplied by 1.0) for more optimal weight loss, but if you’re not even hitting your minimum protein requirement then you’re minimizing your weight loss potential. Let’s be clear too, protein does not only mean meat either, in can also include eggs, organic dairy (if it’s not inflammatory for your body), nuts and seeds, beans (sprouted is best for digestibility) mixed with a grain, and quinoa (a seed not a grain). Note that I’ve said beans need to be mixed with a grain – the reason being is that beans are not a complete protein and need to be mixed with a grain like brown rice to make a complete protein – otherwise, especially if you’re vegetarian/vegan you will not be ingesting all of the building blocks necessary for proper maintenance and function.
While the topic of nutrition and weight loss is large, these are probably the most important tips to add to your weight loss efforts right from the start in order to ensure long term success. If you require additional guidance or would like to determine which foods are contributing to your inflammation weight, contact Dr. V for an appointment today.
