There are a number of metabolic obstacles to weight loss. For example, I often see clients who go to the gym 3 or 4 times weekly, keep to a low fat, small portions diet and eat very little junk or processed food – and yet are still struggling to lose weight.
What I find is that either they are eating the wrong kind of diet for their metabolic type or lifestyle or there is a block which has to be removed before the weight starts to come off. It might be a food intolerance, a sluggish metabolism, excess stress, poor digestion and absorption, a hormonal imbalance, a candida infection, or an excess of toxins stored in fat cells, for example. Some people have more than one of these “blocks”.
The most important first step is to call a halt to yo-yo dieting and faddy diets, and decide to find the way of eating that suits you, sustains your energy and keeps you healthy for life (of course, at least 80% of that diet needs to consist of healthy whole foods rather than processed foods). If you do that, very often the weight will stabilise of its own accord.
But one person’s healthy diet is another person’s recipe for weight gain. This is because our optimum eating patterns are very individual. Some people need more protein; others can thrive on a vegetarian or vegan diet. Some need a very sustaining breakfast; others do better on a small breakfast and lunch and a larger meal in the evening. (But no breakfast at all suits nobody! – and has been proven to reduce your life span.)
What is certain is that the vast majority of people are more likely to achieve sustainable weight loss if they switch to a diet based largely on low G.I. (Glycaemic Index) or G.L. (Glycaemic Load) foods. This is not the Atkins diet, but does involve cutting down on excess, especially wheat-based carbohydrates, since wheat is a high G.I. grain.
A nutrition consultation can help you to cut through all the confusing advice to find the right weight loss path for your body and your lifestyle.
A word of warning about detoxing: detox diets can be very positive experiences for weight loss, energy and reducing many health problems. However, it is not advisable to do too strict or too fast a detox in certain situations– for example, if you feel very tired, are very overweight, have uneven blood sugar, etc – and certainly not if you are pregnant or diabetic. If you know you are quite under par, always ease into a detox and preferably seek professional advice first.
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