Tag: weightloss motivation

It’s Not Your Fault

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It’s simply unfair.

Over one third of U.S. adults are obese [1], and listen – the cards are stacked against you.

It’s extremely hard, these days, to decipher what is healthy and what is unhealthy; what nutrients you need, and heck, what nutrients are!  One day, saturated fats cause cancer, and the next day they are the cure all.  Should I eat eggs or not?  What the heck is cholesterol?  But one thing is for certain, FOOD is good for you.  Food-like products…well, they really aren’t.  And I’m certain you already know this.

Take a look at the images below.

 

Which choice do you feel would be best for your body?  In other words, which could your body use to help make new muscle or help heal ailing joints?  Notice, I didn’t ask you which one you WANT, nor did I ask which one makes you hungry…that’s a topic for another post down the line, and believe me, the science behind that is amazing!

 

So, back to the topic at hand… According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Obesity results form a combination of causes and contributing factors, including individual factors such as behavior and genetics.  Behaviors can include dietary patterns, physical activity, inactivity, medication use, and other exposures.  Additional contributing factors in our society include the food and physical activity environment, education and skills, and food marketing and promotion.” [2]  See!  They are admitting that what and how you eat are directly being affected by your environment.  So, what’s the big deal?

 

Well, what are you constantly reminded of?  How many fast food joints surround your local grocery store?  How often do you see an advertisement from local farmers’ markets?  And be warned, unless you prepared your food from scratch – and by that I mean you started with real, whole food that you cleaned and cut and cooked your self – you forfeited your decision making abilities about your well being to whomever you bought it from.  Do you think they had your best interests at heart?  Do you think they care about you?  Or perhaps, more plausibly, do their core values center around making money?  After all, they are a business, right?

 

According to a 2016 article on NPR, “American kids see, on average, three to five ads for fast food per day.  And about 50 percent of all ads directed at children are for food.” [3]  Adds for fast food aren’t just on TV, either.  They are littering our landscape with billboard ads and popping up all over our internet feeds.  And it must be working, because BIG food industries (especially fast food companies) are spending BIG money on it!  According to Fast Food FACTS (Food Advertising to Children and Teens Score) 2013, a total of $4.6 BILLION was spent on all advertising by fast food restaurants in 2012 (and 8% increase over 2009).  McDonald’s spent 2.7 times as much to advertise its products as all fruit, vegetable, bottled water, and milk advertisers combined. [4]  When was the last time you saw a commercial about broccoli or kale?

 

The truth is, the food industry knows that you know what’s good and not good for you.  They know (if given the opportunity, exposure and choice) between their food products and actual, real food – you’d pick the food.  So they spend all this money to convince you otherwise.  They have brainwashed you into feeling “lost” without your Grande Caffe Vanilla Light Frappaccino Blended Coffee in one hand and that Grilled Breakfast Burrito Fiesta Potato in the other – all while trying to navigate bumper to bumper traffic with thousands of other hungry zombies on the way into work.  And, let’s face it – they are doing an excellent job.

 

Heading Healthy is a movement dedicated to the awareness, education and guidance of just how out of touch we are with ourselves.  Big food, big pharma, the medical industry, even some educational establishments all have one thing in common – investors.  Their goal is to make money for their shareholders, and you see what they are willing to spend to make sure that happens.  Who do you have backing you up in your corner?  That, my friend…is us.  We want to share the information with you, so that you can finally make informed decisions.  We’re not going to try and convince you of feeling one way or another, either.  We are simply going to submit the facts to you so that you can come to your own conclusions.

 

So, the next time you’re heading through the drive through, be aware.  Are you making a conscious decision that has yourSELF in your best interests…or, are you falling victim to a corporate monster marketing scheme that’s designed to make you hand over a few more bucks?  Take a hard look at that dollar (or card) as you reach over that counter (or out your car window).  Before you put it into the pocket of some shareholder, consider investing it back into yourself.  You’ll be a lot happier you did.

 

What Is Your Goal?

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Don’t say “to lose weight”.  I want you to think deeper.  How did I know that lose weight is your main goal right now?  As of January 2018, 70% of Americans were considered overweight or obese.  2/3 of Americans are diabetic or pre-diabetic.  “Lose weight” is the number one New Year’s Resolution every year, so we know a lot of people are worried about it.

When I ask a client, “What is your goal?” What I am really asking is for them to dig down.  “Lose weight” isn’t specific enough.  Even saying “Lose 40 pounds” isn’t much better. That number on the scale is a helpful tool in tracking progress, but it doesn’t really tell you much.

I’m looking for “I want a six-pack” or ”I want to fit into the clothes I wore when I was 18” or “I want to get off my medications” or “I want to no longer have diabetes/high blood pressure/high cholesterol” because those goals are simple trackable goals.  But let’s take that at step further.  All goals, without a timeline, are just dreams.  Make all your goals SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound).

Don’t get me wrong, I weigh myself every morning, and I write it down.  But I don’t put much stock in that daily number.  I use it to keep myself accountable, and to monitor trends over time.  But that number is based on so many things at once, it really won’t tell you anything on its own.

So find a celebrity you want to look like, or a fitness goal you want to be able to do.  Do you a big event coming in your life, or maybe someone you want to get healthy for? Figure out what you see as your best self, and let that start to help you define your goal.  For a timeline, it’s up to you, but set a date.  Here, at Heading Healthy we only recommend that you lose weight safely, but that doesn’t necessarily mean slowly.  Once you start feeding your body the right foods that it needs, and you commit to drinking more water every day, and moving as much as you can, you will forget all about that “lose weight” goal.  The weight loss will be a side effect as you focus on something so much better.  Feeling happy, healthy, and living without chronic issues and medications.  All the while working towards that ever changing and growing goal.  Are you ready?

Insulin’s Blocking Your Weight Loss

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If you’re a diabetic, you have heard of insulin.  Chances are pretty good that even if you’re not diabetic, you’ve at least heard the term before.  But here is why you should be aware, and to some extent concerned about this little fella.

1.  If you can’t or want to lose weight, insulin is most likely the reason.
2.  If you are diabetic (Type I, Type II or prediabetic), insulin is the reason.
3.  If you get hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic (i.e. you can’t regulate your blood sugars), insulin is the reason.
4.  If you struggle to keep your blood pressure and cholesterol under control, insulin is the reason.
5.  If you have Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and/or other chronic diseases, insulin may very well be one of the reasons.

For the sake of this article, let’s concentrate on the first one.  Why insulin is making you FAT.
Insulin is made by beta cells inside the pancreas.  By the way, if you’re really curious about the cell biology behind how the beta cells actually make insulin, I recommend checking out this video on YouTube by khanacademymedicine.  Their channel is one of my go to spots to geek out on the internet.  Anyway, simply remember that the pancreas secretes insulin (among other things like digestive enzymes).

Insulin is a hormone.  A hormone is a class of chemicals (more specifically, a class of signaling molecules) that are responsible for regulating certain physiology and behavior inside your body.  It’s job is to signal your cells that, “glucose is here!”  Once insulin docks with the cell, the cell will then (and only then) activate glucose transporters, which allow the glucose to enter the cell to be used for energy.  More directly, without insulin, your cells would starve.
But what if the cells already have enough glucose, and quite simply, don’t need anymore energy?  The body needs to keep blood glucose levels below 100 mg/dL [1], which equates to roughly 1 teaspoon of sugar (5 grams) that can be safely floating around in your system at any given time.
Insulin’s other function is to make sure the concentration of glucose in your blood does not exceed dangerous levels – which, if chronic in nature, may will result in cardiovascular disease, nerve damage (neuropathy), kidney damage or failure, damage to blood vessels of the retina potentially leading to blindness, clouding of the normally clear lens of your eye (cataract), bone and joint problems, skin problems, bacterial infections, fungal infections and nonhealing wounds, and teeth and gum infections. By the way, early symptoms of the aforementioned chronic conditions may present as frequent urination, increased thirst, blurred vision, fatigue, headache, fruity-smelling breath, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, dry mouth, weakness, confusion, coma and abdominal pain.  [2]  Yuck!  How’s that for making you think twice about downing a McCafe Shamrock Shake?  I wonder how many McDonald’s would sell if they listed all those side effects on the menu?

[2] McDonald’s Shamrock Shake

 

Luckily, humans have evolved to deal with excessive indulgences such as Dairy Queen, Dunkin’ Donuts and the office bagel day – albeit, historically, this was called “summer” when fruits were plentiful and the body needed to store energy for times of famine.  So what does insulin do with all that excess sugar floating around in your circulatory system?  Well, it ingeniously stores all that potential energy as…FAT.  That’s right!  See, your body just can’t metabolize that entire “Gotta Have It” serving of your favorite Cold Stone Creamery concoction in one sitting, especially after cramming your face hole with a charbroiled double cheeseburger, large onion rings and large Coke from Carl’s Jr..  Insulin does it’s best to make sure the cells get all the “energy” they need from it and then, the rest…goes to storage.  I mean, packing on a few extra pounds is much better than losing your eyesight, right?

Let’s try an analogy – let’s say your garbage collector comes every week to pick up your garbage, but he can only pick up 2 bags every week (yeah, not a very good collection service, but just bare with me).

  • Let’s also assume you have a household that’s Heading Healthy, and you only produce 1 bag of trash per week.  Sounds good.  Your house will get all of the trash picked up each week.  Let’s say they have a party!  Ooo, yeah!  Now we’re talking.  But, cleaning up for the party resulted in 2 extra bags of trash to put out for the week.  Uh oh.  Now there are 3 bags out there, but the collector will only pick up 2.  The math says, your left with 1 bag on the curb until the following week.  If you continue your healthy habits, you’ll only produce 1 more bag of trash (for a total of 2) for the following week.  So, the next time the collection service comes around, you’ll be trash free.

  • Let’s now assume you have an UN-healthy household, and you produce 3 bags of trash per week.  Remember, the trash guy (or gal) only picks up 2 per week.  The math says, your left with 1 bag on the curb until the following week.  But, next week you produce 3 more bags to pile on the curb – now there’s 4.  They take 2, you keep 2.  Next week, you make 3 to add to the 2 (now you have 5), they take 2, you keep 3…you get the point?  Each week, more and more trash piles up in your driveway, because the waste management service simply can’t keep up with all the trash being produced.  Don’t even think about having a party!  Oh, you’re going to anyway?  Sure.  What’s the worst that could happen?  It’s only trash, right?  Well, soon you won’t be able to park that nice care in the driveway; soon, the mail carrier won’t be able to deliver your mail; soon, you’ll miss paying your bills because you couldn’t get your mail, and you’ll default on the house you can’t get out of because you’re surrounded in mountains of trash; and don’t even get me started on the smell!
In the above example, you could equate the property with your body; the house as your habbits; you are insulin; and the trash is sugar.  The collection service is simply your body’s way of metabolizing and excreting what comes in.

Now, I’ve used glucose and sugar above, but this also carries over to carbohydrates.  After all, carbohydrates are simply that – sugars.  Yes they come in all sorts of forms and tastes and textures, but don’t be fooled.  Carbs ARE sugars.  After passing through your digestive system, glucose (sugar), is what almost ALL carbohydrates get broken down into.  That’s not to say that “all carbs are the devil.”  Not at all.  It’s really a volume problem, and some products simply produce more trash than they need to.  Likewise, you have the power to choose foods that have a higher level of nutrient density – which will yield much less trash YOU’RE ultimately responsible for getting rid of.

So, I hope I’ve at least made the connection between getting fat and insulin – and more so, how what (and how much) you eat affects insulin and how you gain weight.  You see now why they call insulin the “fat storage hormone?”  In another post, I’ll talk about ways you can keep insulin out of the picture so you can finally shed some of those unwanted pounds.  I’ll also show you how easy it is to prevent and even reverse metabolic diseases (like diabetes) with simple lifestyle changes and NO medications within weeks!