Heather Lietz here; you may know me from the front desk at the clinic.  A friend of mine had forwarded me some information about the Total Wellness Summit presented by Food Matters.  I decided to join the free access to the online summit which is taking place from March 21st through March 31st.  Each day they present a different topic with videos of an interview with an expert, a documentary, a recipe, and a yoga or meditation practice.  So much great information about health is being provided that I thought I would share the knowledge.

Here is the rest of what I learned on Day 1: Detox and Weight Loss Part 2

All the following infjon_before_new-afterormation is taken from an interview with Jon Gabriel, a weight loss coach, who once weighed over 400 lbs.  He lost 220 lbs over a 2 1/2 year period and kept it off for 7 year without dieting.  He has is own website at http://www.thegabrielmethod.com

 

 

 

Fats:

Fat doesn’t make fat, and fat is essential in our bodies.  65% of our brain is fat.  Every cell in our bodies is covered with a wall of fat.  If its not the right kind fat (i.e. essential and uncorrupted) that composes the cell wall there isn’t proper communication between the hormones and the cells which causes hormone imbalances.  Also, nutrients aren’t absorbed properly which puts the body into fat storage mode.

The solution: Eat as much essential, uncorrupted fats as possible.

Sugar Cravings:

Antibiotics, manmade foods, chlorinated water, etc. have changed the bacteria in our stomachs.  We now have unhealthy bacterias that live off sugar and force us to crave more sugar.  Other causes of sugar cravings are emotional stress and low blood sugar causing by insulin resistance when our fat programs are on.

The solution:  Add healthy bacteria to our guts via probiotics.  Eat organic, live foods and omega 3 fatty acids. Add in digestive enzymes which help the gut to properly digest and assimilate nutrients.  Also, cope with stress through visualization techniques.

Exercise:

Gabriel recommends that we do not add in a lot of exercise initially as it adds to the stresses on our bodies.  We first need to deal with our emotional stress and add in healthy foods.  Exercise can begin after our stress levels decrease.  Then we need to exercise “right” by tricking our bodies into “get thin activation.”  An example of this would be going for a walk 2 to 3 times weekly.  During the walks, speed up for 10 seconds at a time as if you needed to move forward for your survival.  He, however, warns about doing this too often as it would result in consistently high cortisol levels which leads to chronic stress.

Eating Heathy Cheaply:

-Buy seeds, such as flaxseed, in bulk and ground them yourself

-Buy “spray free” produce at local farmer’s markets

-Grow a garden; this is possible even on your windowsill inside your home!