The Personal Care You Need
It is believed that obesity and weight gain are the result of of a substance called arachidonic acid. High Concentrations of this substance leads to chronic disease. This natural fatty acid is prevelent in animal based products. Understanding the role of arachidonic acid in fat production can be just the link you need to address in achieving your desired weight goal.
In the United States 50-60% of individuals are dieting at any given time. Diets and fads are as various as the personal trainers and physicians that recommend them. But is crash dieting the answer to burning pounds and staying fit? No! The only appropriate diet requires life changes in behaviors and preferences.
Ideally if one burns more calories than she consumes she will lose weight. While true, there are more pieces to the puzzle. For most it is a matter of over-consuming, but others swear the amount they consume should result in weight loss. Regardless of the piece of the puzzle that fits for you, there exist some basic underpinnings that will enable proper metabolic processes. Any attempt at weight loss will result in regression and failure if not based in these underpinnings. Recovery from behaviors and preferences of weight gain takes time, but when basic lifestyle patterns are established the power to be fit is in your hands.
Central obesity, (belly fat), not just BMI, increases risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia later in life. Our Weight loss program tailored for your metabolic makeup will give you the treatement, skills and tools you need to drop the weight and keep it off!
Dr. Dummar's Fat Burning Rules
For my patients and all those who are interested in some practical ways to begin changing lifestyle habits in order to contribute to weight reduction and overall better health consider the following rules. Note: these recommendations are for all, not just those looking to shed a few pounds, and dramatic health benefits will take place almost immediately upon following such rules.
1. It may seem difficult to have no food after dinner, but there really isn’t any need to do so. While transitioning, I suggest keeping a large supply of walnuts and almonds in clear containers on the counter where they can be easily accessed. These two nuts in combination can have a powerful effect in lowering blood cholesterol levels. Walnuts alone have been shown to slow prostate tumors. Together they are a good source of unsaturated fats, protein, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins E and B. As a result they will help to regulate blood pressure and prevent osteoporosis. Additionally prepare ahead of time a vegetable tray to keep in the fridge so when you open that fridge door, you, and the kids see a nice healthy snack. Try to finish eating 3 hours before bed so you are not retiring on a full stomach. When you go to bed on a full stomach it leads to disrupted and low quality sleep which in turn raises the stress on the body and reduces its ability to detoxify and burn fat.
2. Begin practicing no snacking between meals. However, while you are bridging the gap and making the attempt snack on walnuts, almonds, and the vegetable tray you now keep in the refrigerator.
3. If you find you are not feeling satisfied you should consider adding a healthy source of protein to your diet. Protein will provide adequate energy to your muscles and brain so they don’t feel like they are in need of more. Protein sources can be un-denature whey protein, or a limited consumption of meat. Protein consumption is most appropriately consumed in the morning when trying to lose or regulate weight.
4. Eat slowly and chew your food. Slow down and chew your food is something mom says, but she was certainly right. If you slow down it will allow time for feedback messages to turn off hunger signals that keep you wanting more. It takes 20-30 minutes for signals to turn off hunger centers of the brain. So eating food slowly will guarantee less consumption.
5. Always eat breakfast except... Breakfast is a most important meal and should be a daily ritual however, when attempting to burn fat it is most effective to exercise before eating breakfast. When you exercise without eating, fat is broken down within the muscle more quickly. Follow your morning exercise with a naturally low fat high protein breakfast. Consider adding a green drink to breakfast or between breakfast and lunch. Common ingredients of green drinks include various sprouts, chinese parsley, spirulina and chlorella. These ingredients will aide the body, especially the liver, in detox of toxins and heavy metals like mercury. Avoid sugary drinks including juice, all sugary foods, breads, pastas, potatoes, rice, tomatoes, and eggplant. Potato, tomato, and eggplant all contain solanine, a toxic substance that can interfere with hormone balance and complicate weight loss.
6. Avoid consumption of MSG, aspartame, and other food additives. These chemicals actually interfere with neurological centers making you think you need more food when you are actually full
7. Eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup completely. This is a big one because HFCS actually causes insulin resistance; this stimulates more insulin to be produced and increases fat storage in the body.
8. Be cautious in your use of grains. Wheat is a hearty food that when consumed regularly can make slimming down more complicated. Wheat carries a significant caloric value which with inactivity will lead to the increased production and storage of fat. Make sure if you are eating grains you are eating whole grains and grinding them yourself for flour if desired. Avoid purchasing flour from the store. Always grind your own. The processing grain goes through ejects certain nutritive parts that make wheat the wholesome grain that it is grown to be. Additionally, the more refined a flour is the stronger yet shorter the insulin spike it will produce, thus taxing the spleen and pancreas and laying the ground-work for or exacerbating a diabetic state.
9. Begin Sprouting wheat, radish, bean, and all sorts of seeds. Add the sprouts to your salads and meals generously.
10. Take time to meditate and unwind. Deep breathing exercises with calming music in the background will help to rebalance you emotionally and mentally and give you the mental acuity you need to drop the extra weight.
11. Make sure your energy is balanced and that your biomechanics are functioning properly. This will allow for less stress to the body, less inflammatory response, and more freedom to do the things you want.
12. Eat liberally of raw and steamed vegetables, some fruits, especially pomegranate. To fill a sweet craving go for dates, or fig (but eat them sparingly), and include walnuts, and almonds, but avoid cashews.
13. Exercise: the best form of exercise is interval training, or high intensity training (HIT) which means quickly accelerating the rate at which you perform a certain exercise, or simply carrying on an exercise to the point of exhaustion. But before accelerating the rate at which an exercise is performed care must be taken to ensure the proper form and biomechanics are applied to each exercise. What I suggest to people is to pick activities they regularly perform each day. Then mimic that activity, but slow it down to a snails’ pace. For instance one thing I do every day is sit down onto a couch. I have noticed I usually plop down on the couch which requires very little muscle stabilization or coordination. However by slowing the activity down, and trying to perform the very same activity while moving as slowly as possible I realize I have a lot of training to do without even going to the gym! If I slow that activity down to a snails’ pace and perform it even just five times I find I get a really good work out. So pick 3 activities you regularly perform each day. This could be stair climbing, standing from a seated position, or even reaching up to the cupboard to retrieve something. When this activity is slowed down, and proper posture and biomechanics are maintained, a very legitimate exercise is performed without needing fancy equipment or a gym membership. Try it! I guarantee you will feel the burn, metabolism will be increased and the pounds will shed. For another approach to home fitness and weight loss click here.
14. Get adequate rest. Minimum of 7 hours a day. Sleep habits have been linked to weight gain.
15. It is important to avoid synthetic compounds whether in drugs, food or cosmetics. Many products available on store shelves contain estrogen and estrogen like compounds, this is rampant in the large portion of soy products available to consumers. Be cautious in consuming soy as it contains these estrogen and estrogen like compounds. In addition to Estrogen, it is important to select foods that are free of pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics, herbicides, and fungicides. These compounds, as with estrogen and estrogen like compounds are toxic to the body and build up a toxic load in the liver decreasing the rate at which you burn fat. For more information on soy see my article on Soy Food Facts. As far as cosmetics read the labels and lean toward the product with the shortest list of chemical ingredients. For instance instead of using styling gel which has a lengthy list of chemical additives, consider using beeswax products. These products will contain less chemical additives, thereby reducing toxic exposure, and will perform the same function.
16. Take a high quality fish oil supplement up to 3 grams a day. Fish oils are nourishing to the liver and kidney, they assist in proper function of neurology both brain and body. They thin the blood by freeing up fatty plaque build-up of cholesterol, trigger the bile to perform its fat metabolism function and assist the liver in the detoxification of blood. They have been mentioned as one of the most vital additions in modern western diet.
17. Extra weight isn’t always fat but sometimes water. This water weight must be controlled also. This type of weight gain is usually noticed first in the ankles and legs, and is in part a result of unbalanced electrolytes. One important equation is consumption of sodium. Sodium and potassium have a unique balance in this equation and can lead to water retention, among other things, when the balance is off. Interestingly enough the sodium potassium balance and the magnesium calcium balance in the body influence one another. Together they influence the regulation of various hormones, manage water retention and osteoblast (bone building) activity. As far as which is consumed more, the scale is easily tipped toward sodium, because it is in large supply in our standard american diet. Take for instance, the well know food additive, MSG or monosodium glutamate. MSG is classically added to nearly all prepared food products either before or during preparation. In order to get this balance under control begin immediately to eliminate MSG from your diet. Now that you have eliminated MSG from your diet get ready for the next step. Begin to eliminate Artificial sweeteners, especially diet drinks. Eliminate aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame K, and please don't go near splenda, or sucralose. Be cautious when adding salt, sodium chloride, to your food, and Avoid all processed packaged foods because most contain significant amounts of added salt.
17b. Increase consumption of leafy greans, kidney beans, avocados, honeydew melon and sea kelp, as they are good sources of potassium which will enable your body to eliminate excess sodium. Excess sodium is common in the standard American diet, because of the high salt content of pre-prepared, packaged and canned foods.
Our Program includes... (when indicated, not all tests are performed on all patients)
Diet History Nutrition Advice
Personalized Dietary Plan
Bloodspot Fatty Acid Test
Blood Profile Nutrition Advice
Water Weight Analysis
Supplements
Interval and Functional Workout Plans
Complete Postural Evaluation