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by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath Last week, a so-called comedian and YouTube personality posted what most consider a mean spirited attack on overweight people. Nicole Arbour claimed it was meant to inspire people to lose weight, but really it is fat shaming. If you’re a reader of my blogs, you know that uncontrollable weight gain is indicative of many serious health issues from adrenal burnout to hypothyroidism. So, stop fat shaming! I hear it all the time. I am eating well, exercising and truly focusing on my health, yet I am still overweight. On top of this, your doctor may be telling you that you simply have to do better with your diet and exercise while actually blaming and shaming you for your continued weight issue. So frustrating, right?! While I am all about taking responsibility for your health, you truly cannot take responsibility for something that is unknown to you, and that I was I say it may be likely that it is NOT your fault if you are dealing with a weight and fat issue. Before we get into some of the unknown issues with weight gain and an increase in fat production, let’s look at the most common process most people go through to lose weight. Usually the first attempt for weight loss is tied into nutritional choices. Perhaps you have already cut back on your sugar consumption, cut back on flour products and other processed carbs, eating organic, juicing and more, yet your weight is not budging. At this point, you may add some form of exercise such as walking, biking, weight training, yoga, etc., yet still no weight loss. Maybe you then talked to a personal trainer that told you it will be essential for you to kick up your cardiovascular workout to lose weight, but still to no avail. The weight still does not budge.Then perhaps you visit your doctor and all your blood work shows up in normal ranges and the doctor tells you that you are not doing enough to lose weight, basically telling you that you are doing it wrong. That often hurts because you have already put such a focus on weight loss and you feel that you have already done so much. Perhaps you take your doctors words to heart and simply try harder with what isn’t working in the first place, understanding that more of what does not work still does not work. Perhaps you make further dietary changes, adding juicing, fasting and maybe some supplements. Maybe you kick up your exercise routines even further, more cardio, more weight training, more yoga and more, almost to the point of exhaustion. I have seen this for decades in the gym or work out facilities. People working their butts off, sweating like you would not believe, huffing and puffing to get more “work” in, yet still no significant change in weight or fat. If this is you, this sucks, right?! Well let’s get to the bottom of this today, so you can empower yourself to make new choices and once and for all, make the dent in weight and fat that you have been chasing for years. If you have already addressed your nutrition and exercise, this is a great first step, but as you may have already noticed, there are deeper areas that are leaving you will less than optimal results. The first area to consider are hormones, and with this I am specifically talking about adrenal hormones, thyroid hormones and pancreatic hormones. Your adrenal glands, thyroid and pancreas feed off each other and any one of these areas can halt your weight and fat loss but together, this can be a major issue for you. Let’s first look at your adrenal function. Your adrenal glands are responsible for so many holistic functions in your body but let’s look specifically at how your adrenals tie into weight and fat. The areas below are directly related to your adrenal function
- Thyroid function (needed for energy and metabolism)
- Pancreas function (needed to regulate blood sugar and digest your food)
- Metabolism of fat and protein (needed to provide energy and the building blocks of life)
- Musousal tissue integrity (needed for proper absorption and assimilation)
- Pro and anti-inflammatory states (inflammation is often a major impact in weight gain and fat cell production)
- Cellular energy (needed for energy production at the most basic level)
- Blood sugar stability (needed for proper metabolism and use of glucose)
- Quality of sleep (most that have sleep issues also have weight and fat issues)