CONCLUSION … Together, we can bring about change in solving the obesity epidemic and prevent 85% of chronic diseases, premature death from heart and liver diseases, type 2 diabetes and colon, breast and endometrial cancers if everyone will work to address all known risk factors.

Food is central to human health- not only in terms of quantity, but also quality. In the last three decades we have seen alarming rates of increase in chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, as well as autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and autism. A growing body of epidemiological, clinical, and basic research shows that food and diet are important factors involved in the etiology of these and other chronic diseases, and that dietary patterns have a profound effect on the risk for chronic diseases. Hence, whether it is food safety and security, or nutrient deficiency and disease prevention, food is intricately connected to human health and well-being.

Weight gain and the obesity epidemic are fast attaining the status of number one risk factor. In fact, obesity causes greater health care costs than any other medical condition or factor, including cigarette smoking. If not checked, the obesity epidemic has the capacity to bankrupt our society.

Currently, our nation and the world are bombarded with weight loss pills, powders and potions as weight loss aids. Medical techno intervention for severely obese patients aside from drug medications (for many, the health risks from these weight loss medications may not be worth the few extra lost pounds, they have a history of serious safety concerns) is bariatric surgery (gastric bypass, gastric banding and/or sleeve gastrectomy). Gastric bypass is a major and risky surgery that shrinks the stomach’s capacity by more than 90%, from wine bottle to shotglass size, and reconfigures the small intestine. Most patients lose about two-thirds of their excess weight within a year of surgery. The patient can’t eat as much. In most instances, if a bypass patient eats sugar or fatty foods, it provokes a dumping syndrome that causes flushing, nausea, sweating. This procedure has 15% failure. The list of possible complications includes blood clots in the lung, pneumonia, infection, leakage from the reshaped intestinal tract, and—in one out of a hundred cases—death.

In my last twenty six years of practice, I’ve watched a lot of women and men in the US, and now the Philippines, caught in a seemingly endless loop of failed dieting attempts: the latest fad diet or magic pills, worked out to exhaustion or injury, dieting rebounds that left them heavier than before, severe calorie restrictions or skipped meals, and one too many synthetic drinks that add more poison to the organs. Sadly, 97% of the time these fast-acting, calorie-restricting, high intensity approaches to weight loss fail to deliver or provide any meaningful long term weight loss.

WHY? Because adding an unhealthy diet and activities onto an unhealthy, unhappy body simply will NOT work!

Fad diets and techno fixes attract more attention than the true underlying cause of weight gain and obesity… behavioral patterns: poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles.

The path to a healthy weight starts with a healthy body. Therefore, if we want to lose weight and keep it off forever, we MUST be healthy FIRST.

 

Seven Pathways to Healthy Weight . . .

 

1. Stop Dieting and Start Nourishing Your Body
2. Complete Digestive Clean Up and Detoxification
3. Live in a Fully Hydrated Body
4. Tame Your Stress and Emotion
5. Exercise, Play, and Rest
6. Meditation and Prayers
7. Create a Sustainable Life and Behavior Chain

 

1. Stop Dieting and Start Nourishing Your Body

Dieting MUST end today! Food is nourishment for our body and mind, not an enemy. It is an important part in building optimum health, energy, beauty and vitality. When we stop dieting and start focusing on healthy eating and lifestyle, our body naturally finds its healthy weight range. The right kind of food is the most important single factor in the promotion of health and keeping a healthy weight forever. The wrong kind of food is the most important single factor in the promotion of disease, weight gain and obesity. Research has shown that almost all diseases can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to an undersupply of various nutrients. Counting calories will chronically starve your body with key nutrients needed for a healthy endocrine system. We have extensively uncovered the chemically engineered foods that cause weight gain, obesity and chronic diseases in the Philippines and worldwide. It’s time to move on to nutrition. Our body needs food from Mother Nature: clean water, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, healthy fat, vitamins and minerals found in whole foods like fresh vegetables, fruits, lean meat, fish, eggs, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

Meanwhile, here is the green secret’s juice for a healthy endocrine system. (Make sure to scrub and wash all vegetables and fruits well before juicing). It is a MUST to use organic vegetables only.

• 3 carrots
• 1 cup spinach or 3 stems malunggay leaves
• ½ cup parsley or malunggay leaves
• 1 celery stalk
• ½ green apple (peeled if not organic)

 

Juice all ingredients with your masticating juicer. Stir and serve at room temperature or chilled, as desired. Remember… a green juice a day keeps the doctor away.

Losing weight sustainably is about creating a healthy, happy body. Due to very limited space I can only write an overview for each pathway, the comprehensive information will be found in our website. For questions or more info, please email me at [email protected]

 

 

Christine E.V. Gonzalez is a doctor of naturopathic medicine and holds PhDs
in holistic nutrition and natural medicine. LLM (MS Environmental Laws & Labor)
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