Most of you may be aware that in the U.S. about 2/3 of the adult population is considered overweight. That’s about 61%, or for you statistic nuts, 1 out of every 3 American adults. Pretty scary statistics if you ask me. Most of us have a general idea on how to lose weight. By eating less and exercising more,right? Well,..maybe it’s not that simple. If it was, then why is it so hard to keep the weight off? The popular belief according to the “experts” in the fields of nutrition and exercise physiology, is that if you have less energy in and more energy out, you will eventually lose weight. This is the “Energy In < Energy Out” Theory. I am not saying that this is wrong, but merely not complete. One has to think of the body as a system of systems. Each system does not work in isolation but rather in integration for the greater of the whole system, our body. Think of a large corporation. And within that corporation are smaller divisions and departments. Now imagine if the corporation started cutting salaries and demanded its workers to work longer hours. Can you say rebellion? Obviously the workers would eventually be overstressed, burnt out, and some would probably want to quit. If you relate this analogy to our body, you can understand that if our cells (the workers) are restricted of calories, or energy, (pay cut) and asked to expend more energy (work longer hours), they will eventually breakdown. In order to prevent this breakdown, our body attempts to achieve homeostasis. Homeostasis is a state of balance in order to maintain function. The body will compensate at great lengths to maintain this balance. Another concept you have to understand is that we have over 100 trillion cells within us. Of those 100 trillion, 70 trillion cells or so need to be replaced on a daily basis. This is the basis for the saying, “you are what you eat”. That Krispy Kreme Double Glazed Donut you ate yesterday may turn into your eyeball today, or even a brain cell, or a blood vessel, and so on. Each one of those cells have two main functions: 1) to produce energy and 2) to detoxify. If you do not get the appropriate nutrition, your cells will not have the energy to remove toxins, or waste products. Guess where all those toxins will eventually go? Fat tissue. FAT STORES TOXINS! Not only is fat tissue a storage place for energy but also for toxins. The irony here is that overweight or obese people are malnourished. Their cells are literally starving for nutrition that will allow them to produce energy and to detoxify. If they do not get it, they will get fatter. The one important concept that I want everyone to understand is that a person may have a priority to lose weight, but that may not necessarily be their body’s priority. Their body’s priority may be one to heal, repair, and/or to detoxify. Unless it is able to do so, all attempts at losing weight will be unsuccessful.
