Obesity and Weight Loss
Hundreds of people have permanently lost weight, healthfully with a Nutritional Balancing programme. Some lose up to 10 stone (over 60kg) or more. In fact, most often the complaint I hear is that one gets too thin if one follows the programme carefully. We like people to be not just normal weight, but actually thin, which some people do not like. This article addresses issues of weight gain, and excessive weight loss.
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The best way to lose weight
Losing weight with a Nutritional Balancing programme is:
Easy. No special cleansing diets are needed, and there is no starvation – you can eat until you are full.
Does not involve a lot of exercise. In fact, I discourage any vigorous exercise at all. Most bodies today are too ill for that and it can be dangerous.
Automatic. It happens automatically in all cases, and usually quickly. The key is to follow the diet and take the customised supplements. Using the detoxification procedures makes it even better, but is not as important.
Very safe. By safe, I mean that with Nutritional Balancing, one’s overall health improves as weight is lost. In fact, the weight loss is a “side effect” of improved health due to a Nutritional Balancing programme.
In contrast, most weight loss diets and programmes do not supply the body with the nutrients it needs and/or do not balance body chemistry. Therefore, one may lose weight, but one becomes more ill and nutritionally deficient at the same time. This is the case with practically ALL weight loss programmes, especially those that restrict food intake or utilise strict diets, cleansing diets, vegetarian or vegan diets, the HCG weight loss programme, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, stomach stapling, and most others. This is an important factor to consider if one is thinking of any weight loss programme.
Permanent. If you continue to balance the body, the healing of the weight problem is permanent. Drugs such as antibiotics that were damaging metabolism are removed from the body, for example, so they no longer upset metabolism.
How weight loss occurs with Nutritional Balancing
Most weight loss programmes leave a person more depleted nutritionally. This applies to any programme that restricts caloric intake, for example, and to all of them that do not insist on a better diet with more cooked vegetables and supplements, including a powerful digestive aid. These are all needed to re-nourish the body. A complete Nutritional Balancing programme usually takes care of weight problems easily because it:
Slowly restores thyroid activity. That is, it helps remove chlorides, fluorides, bromides, copper and mercury from the thyroid gland, and puts back iodine, manganese, selenium and other minerals needed for the thyroid. As this is done, the thyroid starts functioning normally, without a need for thyroid hormone replacement. The latter always slows progress on a Nutritional Balancing programme unless the thyroid gland has been surgically removed or destroyed by radiation or some other method.
Reduces insulin production. This is done by restricting all sugars, fruits, fruit juices and other simple carbohydrates, and even complex carbohydrates such as wheat and spelt.
Restores zinc to the body. Zinc is needed as an anti-inflammatory element, for insulin regulation, for the adrenals and thyroid gland, for digestion, and for many other purposes.
Reduces high cortisol levels, if needed. This also helps with some weight loss. Basically, this occurs due to stress reduction.
Lessens water retention. This occurs due to better zinc levels, lower cortisol and cortisone levels, lower insulin, and a more balanced oxidation rate.
Reduces inflammation. This is related to the above points. It involves a better diet, a better lifestyle, zinc replenishment and making sure one has enough of other anti-inflammatory nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, flavinoids, calcium, magnesium and others. It also has to do with getting rid of the ‘amigos’, which are oxidants and highly inflammatory forms of minerals.
Makes the body much more yang. Yang is a Chinese word that means warmer and more contracted. Indeed, many people’s bodies are too expanded, literally. As one becomes more yang, there is a general contraction of the body that results in weight loss, when needed.
Works through traumas and other issues. This happens automatically on a Nutritional Balancing programme as one’s deep adaptive energy level rises. As these issues are resolved, abnormal food cravings often vanish, eating sensibly becomes easier, and often one naturally eats less and handles food better.
Tips for weight loss
The diet is essential. Do not try to avoid the diet. The stricter you follow the diet, the better will be the outcome. For example, one needs to avoid all fruit and fruit juices, not just most of them.
Cravings and odd feelings will occur at times. This is normal and nothing to be concerned about. Just do your best, using gimmicks, if needed, to keep you from overeating or eating the wrong foods.
The time factor in weight loss. This varies depending on genetics, glandular balance and other factors. I recommend setting aside any “instant cures” mentality and deciding that you will do what it takes for a few years, if needed, to achieve your healthful weight loss. This means several years of attention to the correct diet, the proper supplements, a healthful lifestyle and emotional control.
Extra detoxification procedures are often required to powerfully support your health development and resulting weight loss.
Cellulite goes away, too. With a properly designed Nutritional Balancing programme, cellulite often disappears within a year or so. While cellulite is not life-threatening or dangerous for your health, this is a relief for many.
If you are willing to work into such a programme, most overweight problems will be solved easily, even if the problem has been there for years. You will not require surgery, harmful drugs, questionable herbs, or deficient or extreme diets of any kinds. You also will not need fasting, which is unsafe for most people except for short 1 or 2-day fasts.
Causes for excessive weight gain
Most weight gain involves one or more of the following factors:
Food and diet issues. This includes cravings for certain foods, eating compulsions and perhaps other food issues.
Biochemical imbalances associated with weight gain. The best known of these is a low thyroid condition. However, other glandular imbalances or metabolic problems can contribute to weight gain.
Stopping stimulants that were driving the metabolism and keeping weight in check. Some people gain weight when they stop vigorous exercise, or when they stop living on coffee or other stimulants.
Physical and emotional traumas that often cause weight gain. This is a very important and often hidden cause of weight gain. The most common type of trauma that can cause weight gain is a molestation or rape, especially in women. Others include getting beaten up, an accident of some kind, or other types of traumas.
These traumas can be slowly brought up and resolved using a Nutritional Balancing programme. This is not the case with most other weight loss diets and methods.
Other. One must stop drinking diet sodas and using artificial sweeteners, avoid all chemicals in foods and elsewhere, and avoid most antibiotics.
Different body shapes
Different body shapes depend on the cause of weight gain. For example, there is a sort of balloon-like look to some people. Usually they consume fruit, sweets and/or alcohol and these cause a yin condition, yeast overgrowth and general swelling of the face and body.
Some people have a more doughy look. They often consume too many complex carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes or other grains or starches. A doughy look is also a characteristic of very low thyroid activity. Reasons for this common condition are explained below.
Others have a kind of sloppy overweight condition. They often live on junk food, fast food and generally poor quality foods.
As explained below, fast oxidisers tend to carry more weight higher up on the body and develop a larger belly and perhaps larger breasts, with thinner arms and legs. Slow oxidisers generally have more of a pear-shaped body. Many traumas are also more associated with this body shape.
Trauma and weight gain
Trauma, in particular, causes many people, especially women but also some men, to gain a lot of weight. Often, such individuals weigh over 20 stone (127kg). The trauma combines with poor eating habits to create the situation. I will briefly describe how this works and how to change it. Trauma upsets the body’s normal regulatory mechanisms at many levels. For example, if a woman is raped, or if a man is beaten or abused in some way, even emotionally, many react by starting to eat more. One may eat to:
- Literally protect the body from harm by increasing its mass and volume. This makes it much harder for an attacker to succeed.
- Make the body less attractive to a rapist.
- Make the body less attractive to the opposite sex, if this is the cause of the trauma.
- Hide one’s anger and rage. This is very common. The extra weight serves as a type of insulation, in fact.
- Cover up one’s shame and disgust with the body or perhaps to express one’s disgust with what has occurred.
- Food may become synonymous with love, and the food habit may become a substitute for the love that was taken away or missing.
- Reflect a lack of caring anymore about the body after the trauma.
- Trauma depletes minerals like zinc, and one loses a normal appetite as a result, and eats from nervousness or fear or some other emotion than from real hunger.
- A trauma can cause one become isolated, and one eats from boredom, perhaps.
- Other reasons related to trauma are also possible.
This cause of being overweight is very common. Most people do not know what to do about it, because just following a diet, while helpful, is difficult for such individuals, so they make little progress.
In contrast, what occurs when one goes on a Nutritional Balancing programme is that slowly the body and mind work through the trauma. This may sound far-fetched, but I assure you it occurs on a regular basis. I believe it happens because a Nutritional Balancing programme enhances mental functioning greatly, makes the body more yang, removes two dozen toxic metals and hundreds of toxic chemicals from the body and for other reasons as well. Gradually, memories surface and the trauma is processed and leaves. One need not know what the trauma was, exactly, and one need not analyse one’s past for years or even months. Insights just arise and pass away as the body heals at deep levels.
As this occurs, one will find that the reasons for overeating, or eating the wrong foods, or craving certain foods, slowly go away.
Weight gain due to metabolic imbalances
Most people are aware of these. They include thyroid and adrenal imbalance, water retention, poor circulation and a few others. I will divide them into those found primarily in slow or in fast oxidisers, in the following categories:
Slow oxidation
Slow oxidation is an exhaustion stage of stress. This means the body is tired, and this alone can cause overeating to “keep up one’s strength or energy”. However, it means much more than this.
The slow oxidiser body type – the pear shape. Slow oxidisers tend to gain more weight lower on the body, such as the hips and the legs. It has to do with a low thyroid gland, as explained below. This shape is called the pear shape. However, it is just a figure of speech because weight gain can occur in other areas as well.
Most slow oxidisers gain weight in many areas because they were not always slow oxidisers. Most were fast oxidisers at one time, so they have some of the qualities of fast oxidisers as well.
Low thyroid and adrenal activity. In slow oxidation, the adrenal and thyroid glands are depleted nutritionally. Also, they become filled with toxins instead of nutrients as the nutrient minerals become replaced with less preferred or toxic metals. This replacement process leads to reduced glandular activity in almost all cases. This is well known to cause weight gain, in particular in the lower body areas.
Other ways it causes weight gain are if food is metabolised improperly and is converted to fat. This occurs most often in slow oxidisers who overeat on carbohydrate foods, though it occurs often in fast oxidisers as well. In addition, reduced adrenal glandular activity impairs the body’s ability to convert its stored fat into glucose to reduce fatty deposits.
Impaired circulation is also common in slow oxidisers and is one of the reasons these individuals have some difficulty losing extra weight quickly and safely.
Impaired digestion and absorption of one’s food is the rule, rather than the exception, in slow oxidisers. They often have chronic infections such as candida albicans in the intestines. This further impairs the metabolism of food and can also lead to excess weight gain or loss. The body may attempt to dilute toxins generated in the intestines, which it cannot get rid of adequately. Also, food sensitivities occasionally cause water retention and weight gain. Wheat is a common culprit among food sensitivities. It is one reason I take everyone off all wheat products. This is not always easy at first, but almost always helps with weight loss, if it is needed.
Leaky gut syndrome in many slow oxidisers can also cause weight gain by causing inflammation in the body. This can cause the body to hold more water or other substances that it otherwise should.
Many, if not all slow oxidisers, are somewhat malnourished. This itself can lead to weight loss, but also to weight gain if one compensates by overeating in an attempt to obtain more nutrients. This is a very common situation, especially in those who live on refined foods. The body calls for more nutrients, so one keeps eating the ‘empty calories’ in a vain attempt to obtain one’s vitamins and minerals.
Emotions. Many slow oxidisers are emotionally shut down. We see this reflected on hair analyses when the calcium level is very high. This is called a calcium shell. At times, these individuals demonstrate a body type that is withdrawn and thin, a representation of their emotional withdrawal. Others, however, withdraw behind layers of excess weight and often poor eating habits.
Copper toxicity. Most all slow oxidisers are copper toxic and zinc-deficient. One effect of this situation is a decrease in real appetite and an increase in various unusual cravings. This can result in anorexia, but it can also and often does result in odd cravings and a lack of a consistent appetite control.
Hypoglycaemia and diabetes. Many slow oxidisers also have a tendency for chronic low blood sugar due to weak adrenal glands. This can attract one to sweets and sugary foods, which may easily contribute to excess weight gain.
Now let us discuss a different metabolic type, the fast oxidiser. One would think, by the name, that these individuals would all be skinny. However, this is rarely the case. Here is why.
Fast oxidation
Fast oxidisers are in a more sympathetic state or fight-or-flight mode of body chemistry. This condition is characterised by excessive adrenal and thyroid glandular activity. In most instances, however, it is a temporary state of irritation caused by the presence of toxic metals or other toxic substances that stimulate the glandular system and the autonomic nervous system.
In fact, these people are often what are called slow oxidisers under some stress. If they follow a Nutritional Balancing programme, in a few months to a year or more, they begin to slow down. However, while they are fast oxidisers, here are some of the reasons they can gain excessive weight very easily, especially if they overeat on carbohydrates such as starches and sugary foods.
The fast oxidiser body shape – the apple shape. The classic fast oxidiser shape is the apple shape. It is a tendency to gain most weight in the stomach and chest areas. Some also have very thin legs and arms, along with a large trunk. This is sometimes called a “cushing’s disease” body shape, since it is associated with this illness. It is due to overactive adrenal glands, which is the situation with true fast oxidisers. However, most fast oxidisers today are, in fact, mixed and many are just slow oxidisers under stress. Therefore, they have a mixed weight gain picture, just as many slow oxidisers do.
Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X. These people usually gain weight around the waist and in the upper body such as the chest. This is called the ‘apple-shaped’ pattern of weight gain, often seen in men with a large belly and thin legs. This is a direct effect of excessive carbohydrates in the diet and/or excessive cortisone and cortisol secretion by the adrenal glands. It is a mild form of Cushing’s syndrome, the disease of overactive adrenal glands. Cortisone and cortisol secretion in excess cause fat deposition, especially in the abdomen and shoulders, where the fat pad is called a ‘buffalo hump’. Fast oxidisers are prone to this condition.
Dietary carbohydrates cause weight gain in fast oxidation. This body type may lose considerable weight quickly just by switching to a diet low in all carbohydrates. Reducing refined grains and white sugars is particularly helpful.
The Atkins dieting approach and fast oxidation. This is the secret to the Atkins dietary approach, which I do not approve of only because it is incomplete. One must take supplements with it and eat a lot of vegetables to make it work best and still be safe.
Water retention. This is common in fast oxidisers for a number of reasons:
- Cortisol causes water retention. These individuals, more than slow oxidisers, often have poor muscle definition and a pasty, water-logged consistency to their skin and tissues with significant water retention.
- Cortisone also damages the kidneys, which can lead to water retention. In fact, this occurs in slow oxidisers as well for different reasons, namely the accumulation of toxic metals.
- A high tissue sodium level tends to cause water retention as a compensatory mechanism.
- Overeating on carbohydrates aggravates the tendency because carbohydrate foods break down into water, in part. This would not be a problem if the person could handle the excess water, but often they cannot.
A need for zinc, copper and other trace minerals. Fast oxidisers require more zinc in their diets to offset their high sodium levels. Carbohydrates deplete their zinc, which causes their sodium level to rise further. They do much better on more meats, which contain zinc. This, in turn, helps lower their high sodium level.
High insulin in fast oxidation. Carbohydrate consumption also stimulates insulin production, which is already tending to be higher in fast oxidisers. This, of course, turns starches to fats and leads directly to fat deposition.
Fast oxidisers need to lower their insulin secretion and the best way to do this, once again, is to limit their carbohydrate intake. Most importantly, this includes stopping all fruit and sweet juices, and reducing grains. I suggest everyone eliminate wheat and spelt completely from the diet. It might also include reducing starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes and yams if you eat a lot of these.
A low sodium/potassium ratio and fast oxidation
This is a very common occurrence in those who are overweight in fast oxidation. The hair tissue sodium/potassium ratio must be less than 2:1 for this pattern to be present. It is a sign that the fast oxidation rate is temporary and will change to slow oxidation soon. It also indicates several imbalances associated with weight gain:
- Excessive stress, which causes higher cortisone, high cortisol and higher insulin levels, all of which contribute to weight gain.
- Kidney stress, which causes water retention in many people.
- Emotional stress such as frustration, resentment and hostility. This also contributes to weight gain, indirectly, as discussed later in this article.
- Emotional insecurity. This can also cause water retention and weight gain in some people who eat to feel safe or loved.
Mixed patterns
Many people’s metabolic pattern is a mixture of fast and slow oxidation due to the presence of toxic metals, nutrient deficiencies and other factors including mental/emotional ones. A first Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis on these individuals may indicate fast or slow oxidation, and the pattern changes on later tests.
There is no way to predict the shifts in the oxidation rate, and one can only follow the dietary and supplementary nutrient programmes faithfully through the changes until one is clear of toxic metals and chemicals. As this occurs, the mixed pattern will resolve, often within a few months, to either slow or fast oxidation.
HCG therapy for weight loss
This is a popular way of losing weight today. It consists of taking shots of human chorionic gonadotropin, or a homeopathic formula of it, plus a low calorie diet. It is said one loses ½ to 1 pound per day on this regimen.
While it is okay for a few months, perhaps, I cannot recommend this method. HCG is a catabolic death hormone produced by the trophoblast during pregnancy and produced by most cancers. It seems to cause the body to “open its doors” somehow, either affecting cell membrane transport, circulation or some other mechanism so that weight loss proceeds faster. While it can cause temporary weight loss, it is not safe from my perspective. Nutritional Balancing causes a much safer type of weight loss without calorie restriction.
Why some gain too much weight
This can be divided into four categories. These are too much food, the wrong food, metabolic imbalances and other reasons, particularly hidden traumas. Let us consider each of these in some detail.
Too much food. This is the first and simplest problem to overcome. It is tempting today to overeat for several reasons. In some people, it is simply a bad habit to eat when tired, eat when anxious or even to eat just to do something. This is a habit that can be overcome by noting when you eat, keeping the right foods in the house, avoiding friends and locations where people eat too much such as Mexican bars, some restaurants and others. Another tip is to go to bed early. Also, if you can, make friends of people who eat well and wholesomely.
These hints are not always easy to follow, but they can be done by anyone and will yield excellent results if this is the real cause of overweight. Too often, however, it is not enough, as many know.
The wrong kind of foods or diets. This is related to the first cause of overweight, in that when one overeats, often it is on the wrong types of foods.
The most common wrong food is carbohydrates. If one just ate meat, or even just watery fruit, it would be harder to gain weight. However, it is easy with donuts, chips, fries, soda pop with sugar, milkshakes, burgers with thick buns and Mexican types of foods. One rarely sees overweight people at Chinese or Thai restaurants, however, because they eat mostly vegetables and some non-fatty meats, for the most part.
So the kinds of foods one eats and even overeats is important for weight loss. This problem is handled best by keeping only vegetables, fruits and starchy foods that are healthful at the house and office. Avoid all others in your cupboard entirely. Stay away from the cookies, cakes, ice creams, soda, pastries, donuts, pizza and many others that are often called “empty calories”. These should be avoided like the plague.
More complex metabolic imbalances such as a low thyroid gland activity, weak adrenal glands, weak kidneys, weak liver, and others. While some cases of weight gain are fairly simple to correct, many are not. Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis aids in clarifying these causes.
The vicious cycle of so-called brain diabetes. Many people have so-called brain diabetes. With this condition, the brain basically starves because the brain cannot obtain adequate nutrition from glucose due to a type of diabetic condition. One of the effects is a strong craving for food. Usually, the person eats carbohydrates, which is the wrong food. Cooked vegetables and MCT oil are among the right food, but they do not realise this. The wrong food causes more weight gain, which worsens brain diabetes, in a vicious cycle.
Other. At times, other factors may cause weight gain. These include some psychological or emotional imbalances, and depression. These can usually be handled with a complete Nutritional Balancing programme. A very important reason for obesity is a response to trauma, whether one knows about it consciously, or whether it is unconscious. This important topic is discussed below.
Excessive weight loss
Now let us address an opposite problem: why are some people very thin and cannot gain weight. This can apply to fast as well as slow oxidisers, so I will combine the answers for both body types, though some differences occur.
Sympathetic dominance. This means that a person overuses their sympathetic nervous systems, also called the fight-or-flight nervous system. This nervous system has a variety of subtle effects that are associated with the lean or slender body type. Sometimes these people are referred to as ‘thyroid types’ and they tend to maintain a slender body, although they may be quite ill with cancer, diabetes and other conditions.
Primary or secondary hyperthyroidism that occurs often in slow oxidisers that is due to a toxic thyroid and pituitary condition. This can in fact cause significant weight loss and is one reason for weight loss in a slow oxidiser.
Copper, low zinc and anorexia. Some slow oxidisers are prone to anorexia due to copper toxicity, which results in a thin and unhealthy body.
Impaired digestion due to toxic metals and infections. Many factors can interfere with food digestion and absorption in fast or slow oxidisers. These include toxic metals, infections in the intestines that are very common causes and more.
Stress. Stress depletes many minerals and impairs digestion a lot. Poor eating habits such as eating on the run or in one’s car while driving is an example of how stress affects digestion and can impair it severely.
Lifestyle. Just as one’s lifestyle can cause weight gain, it can also tend one toward weight loss. Stress, nervousness, irritability and other emotions often cause some people to stop eating very much. Also, running around too much causes weight loss from lack of calories commensurate with one’s activity level. Other reasons are possible due to emotional influences.
Other. Toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and others can occasionally cause weight loss very severely. This is associated with cancer, for example, and other chronic and degenerative conditions that cause weight loss. Appetite is impaired and other factors such as atrophy of the intestinal lining causes weight loss and eventual death unless the process is reversed quickly.
All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
© November 2014, The Center For Development
