Are You Waging A Constant Battle Against Weight Gain? Try Nature's Weight Loss Secret.

by Samaya Sheldan, BA in Psychology, CNPA, Jun 4, 2008

In Canada in 2004, Statics Canada's Health survey found that approximately 6.8million adults were considered overweight, and a shocking 4.5million more adults were considered obese. Men are considered obese when their body weight is 20% above average, and women are considered obese if it is 25% or above. Obesity has become an epidemic the last 30 years. There are many contributing factors to this health issue: metabolism, stress level, lack of exercise, toxin build up, and of course our diet. Our diets have changed extensively in the past 100 years, our meals are high calorie, high carbohydrate, low fibre, and contain low nutrient value, as we are constantly on the go. According to Brenda Watson ND, nature's weight loss secret is simply adding more fibre to your diet. Not only will it help you keep you full and reduce your calorie intake to help you lose weight, but also reduces the risk of disease to achieve optimum health. Fibre is a miracle nutrient as it reduces the risk for heart attack, lowers cholesterol, normalizes blood sugar levels, promotes bowel health, and improves immune system.

Why is weight loss so hard? Is it lack of will power? Do we secretly want to keep the weight? Of course not, however, we are usually working against our bodies and our body seems to win out. When we try to lose weight we lower calories, however, when you lower your calories your body sends out signals that it needs to eat and you will get those hunger pangs. People will fight this feeling trying to get past the hunger, unfortunately the body misinterprets this and goes into starvation mode, trying to conserve energy. Therefore, lowering calories too much can cause the opposite effect causing weight gain, having your body store every calorie it gets in order to stay alive.

The key to weight loss is adding fibre to balance the reduced the amount of calories consumed per day. Fortunately, fibre helps with this task by curbing appetite, keeping you full longer, cuts your craving for sweets, and reduces the absorption of calories that you take in from other food. Fibre increases the volume of food in your stomach without high calories, triggering a hormone (CCK) to tell your body you are full and can stop eating. In other words, eating a diet high in fibre you can reduce you calories and still feel full and keep your body out of starvation mode. Fibre also reduces absorption of the calories consumed, even from food you have already eaten. The Department of Human Nutrition in Germany found that every gram of fibre we eat eliminated 7 calories, therefore, if you gradually increased your fibre to 35 grams per day (which is what is recommended), you eliminate 245 calories per day, that is 7,595 calories per month, and a healthy weight loss of over 2lbs per month without even exercising.

Adding extra fibre in your diet can help you lower your amount of sugar and starchy carbohydrates. These foods raise your glucose levels quickly, but will fall quickly as well, which makes you crave more carbohydrates to bring your blood sugar levels up again. This becomes a vicious cycle, although it is the fuel for your body, too much carbohydrates convert to glucose in the body and will be stored as fat. The repetitive up and down of blood sugars can also lead to insulin resistance, leaving you feeling tired. The good news is that fibre slows down the conversion of carbohydrates, normalizing blood sugar levels, and using stored fat as energy instead of relying on carbohydrates.

Revolutionize the way you think about dieting
It is recommended that women should eat between 1,500 and 2000 calories per day and men should eat between 2,000 and 2,500 calories per day to fuel metabolism. A person should never go below 1,200 calories per day, as you need this to function properly, and the body will go into starvation mode. The Fibre 35 Diet by Brenda Watson recommends that you lower your caloric intake by 1000 calories per day for 4-6 weeks (Phase 1). That is 7,000 less calories per week, and approx 2 pounds lost per week, which is healthy weightloss. She recommends eating smaller meals 5-6 timers per day, gradually increasing to 35 grams of fibre per day. Adding this extra fibre plus lowering calories will help you lose approximately 10lbs per month. Fibre is both soluble and insoluble, a balance of both of these types of fibre will keep you full longer , lower cholesterol, and regulate bowel movements. Soluble fibre is found apples, barley, carrots, cranberries, oat bran, oranges, peaches and peas. Insoluble fibre is found in cauliflower, flaxseed, whole grain pastas, cereals and oatmeal. There are also fibre bars (10grams of fibre per bar), protein shakes with added fibre (5-10 grams of fibre per shake), greens supplements (2-4grams of fibre) or fibre tablets (2-4grams of fibre) with balanced amounts of soluble and insoluble fibre. Brenda Watson's Fibre 35 Diet Book also has over 100 high fibre recipes to add to your cooking regime. In Phase 2 she recommends lowering calories by only 500 per day, this will result in approximately 1 pound lost per week. Depending on your activity level you may play around with your calories, never going under 1200 calories, to keep your energy up.

Other tips
It is important to keep in mind that fibre is not a laxative, if you do find that you are feeling constipated, increasing your essential fatty acids (flax oil, fish oil) can help relieve this or a product such as Colon Fit will ensure regular bowel movements. If you do not have regular bowel movements before increasing your fibre these are great suggestions to start off with as well.

Other ways to boost metabolism while you increase your fibre: eat smaller meals more often, some type of resistance training three times per week, and some type of cardiovascular exercise such as walking or running. It is recommended to drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day, therefore if you weigh 160lbs you would drink 80ounces or 10 glasses per day. Caffeinated drinks do not count. Also making sure you get enough sleep, as sleep deprivation can slow metabolism. Doing a whole body cleanse can help you reach your weight loss goals as well. When you burn fat, your body releases toxins, this can put stress on your immune system, digestion, and metabolism. If you have never cleansed before start with a mild cleanse such as Renew Life's First Cleanse, or for a more advanced cleanse you can use Cleanse Smart.

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