HEALTHFUL TIPS: Holistic Weight Management

Dear valued reader,

I would like to bring your mind back to a time when, if we were overweight we would go to the gym, walk around the block every afternoon and take up a social sport as well as watch what we ate. NOT ANY MORE this trend seems to be just that, something you do as it gets closer to the summer months, or because we have a special event coming up! Our health use to be a priority.

These days it’s the use of interactive video games that are somehow our justified exercise. As soon as we get bored with the interaction of a computer game it’s not a matter of going outside and doing some real exercise, we simply order another game or watch TV.
Kids these days have every computer game and gismo they can get their hands on...and to all you parents, our culture has dropped into the realm of binary lifestyles, go to work in the car, work indoors all day, drive home and sit in front of the digital TV before dinner and bed. Huge digital or HD televisions with surround sound systems in huge lounge rooms so the kids have room to play. No back yard because we don't want to or haven't got the time or incentive to mow the grass or garden or even play outside with loved ones. There is only so much mental and physical stimulation a computer can give you... And I truly believe it has some serious side effects on today's western culture.

These days we have so many synthetic food sources, it’s hard to know what is actually organic and natural, and it now has to have a Certified Organic label on it to prove it is actually 100% Organic. Do you know how many preservatives are in your daily nutritional intake? Do you read the ingredients of the foods on your shopping list? Or the actual food that appears in your shopping trolley..Admit it, we all manage to put more in our trolleys than we actually first set out to buy.
When was the last time you played outside with your kids? When was the last time you walked to the shops to get the simple things like milk, bread and butter? I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, however if it is having that effect then hopefully you will make a conscious decision to be active.....yes PROACTIVE! We have become so REACTIVE in our lives because of the need to speed everything up a little, or get it on the spot..Convenience is costing the earth in medical bills and the health of today's society is dropping rapidly. Have you ever noticed in the Olympics who wins most of the marathons or are at least in packs to the final stages, The African nations and other third world cultures..Yes! Those we seem to think are on the verge of starvation are fitter than most other Athletes. Isn't it ironic that our third world neighbouring athletes are the fittest and healthiest? What does that say about our nutrition?
Weight management isn't something new and the methods of achieving and MAINTAINING optimum health haven't changed either. We have simply opted for easier, short term, unsustainable and sometimes unnatural "Bandaid Solutions" to address the “Symptoms” of unhealthy lives.

The strict or even not so strict diets that we go on to get take us to our optimum weight and size rarely includes a daily exercise routine to compliment the drastic nutritional changes in the body. There are hundreds of diets and supplementations to choose from these days... it's not a matter of choice..we have a monopoly of choice and so when we have tried one and we can't seem to keep the weight off, we choose another and then another and if we are determined in the new year's resolution to try again we do so with a hint of frustration and hesitation. Most diet programs are not addressing the Root cause of these issues and unfortunately are not sustainable for. If we were strong enough to get this far and not use drugs or weight loss surgery like liposuction, gastric banding etc. we are now very seriously considering just that in what we think is the last attempt to keep the weight off. All the while during and after each of these attempts of achieving and maintaining optimum health, we return to our old habits which we believe will be fine if we get the surgery and keep ourselves motivated and healthy by doing some sort of exercise until we unfortunately get bored with each new attempt or get busy with our life again...all because the lifestyle is much more important than health.

I was recently informed by a colleague of mine, a situation where a woman has undergone gastric banding surgery and has only then discovered she is unable to eat the same foods which she has been eating prior to the surgery because of the limitations on the stomach. She attempted to eat a chocolate bar and was unable to. In her misdirected determination she decided to liquefy the bar and drink it.... Now what sort of approach is that to gain Optimum health? Firstly thousands of dollars on weight loss surgery and probable skin reduction surgery only to return straight back to the old habits of junk food. The determination should have been placed in her desire to learn and benefit from exercise and healthy organic nutrition with the professional help of qualified Personal Trainers, Nutritionists and Dieticians.

Around $10'000 or more for surgery not to mention the skin reduction surgery which I am certain is not cheap nor 100% safe, continued checkups, cost of ordering specific diet etc. Let me tell you, a qualified personal trainer and nutritionist would cost around the same amount even less for 1 year and I believe (as a Health and Fitness Professional) the long term benefit would be lifelong.
You're reading this article because you want to lose weight. It takes discipline and real motivation backed by some long term reasoning and a real, visual, achievable GOAL...and most importantly the real necessity to achieving and maintaining optimum health is EDUCATION AND UNDERSTANDING. Knowing what is going on in the body to allow it to work more effectively and efficiently.
What is your choice of lifestyle approach? A or B
A: Why do athletes train so hard for years?
A: Why do doctors and lawyers study so hard for years?
A: Why do apprentices and trainees spend 4 years earning peanuts to gain a qualification?
A: Why do we go to school for 11 to 13 years on average...
ANSWER: TO LEARN AND BE EDUCATED THE LONG TERM...EVEN LIFE!
To achieve our goals and aspirations

B: WHY do we seem to gain weight as soon as we stop trying to lose it?
B: WHY do we use surgery to deal with our lifestyle habits?
B: WHY do we seem to lose sight of the big picture as soon as we come across a stumbling block?
B: WHY do we opt for the easy option because we can $$ afford to?
ANSWER: SOCIETY IS LAZY, LACK OF DISCIPLINE AND ultimately LACK OF EDUCATION the more science we DISCOVER AND INVENT!

Have you seen the movie "WallE" about a robot that has been left behind on earth to turn all the rubbish into blocks because the earth is uninhabitable for humans...BECAUSE OF HUMANS? The entire population of earth has been shipped to a space station to live in until earth is made safe and habitable again and plants can grow. Everybody on the space station is extremely overweighted even morbidly obese and everyone travels around the station on moving seats, unable to stand, being fed by robots! I know of a few people who would love this lifestyle...for a while, but not many would after talking to someone who has become bound to a wheelchair for life...let me guarantee you that!
This sounds like an extreme situation, however I wouldn't pass it up as impossible and with our current various scientific discoveries and advances not even the space station bit. With the current population of Australia now "apparently" exceeding the obesity epidemic status of the USA I am seriously concerned for the generations to come in our western culture.
Some recent research was made regarding the brain chemistry toward eating and sustenance.

The research was regarding the reactions in the brain to cause us to eat fast food, high energy food sources like "junk Food" I have since proved to myself and many of my clients just by asking them about their daily nutrition. One has informed me that if he does not eat when he begins to get hungry, he will later reach for his wallet and go get fast service junk food as a quick fix...all junk food (hence the term) is just that! Our bodies take twice as long to utilise the energy provided by junk food (if any) and we need to eat more and more. We eventually get clogged with it and we feel ill and in some cases need a cleansing diet to rid the junk from our bodies. Have you ever gone on a health binge for an extended period of time and after a while simply eaten some junk food" Did it make you feel lethargic and tired? I have felt somewhat like I was suffering a hangover hours after eating from a fast food outlet and having not consumed any alcohol for weeks I however felt the same symptoms; tired, lethargic and actually had a mild head-ache.

WHAT IS REAL FOOD?
Proteins
Carbohydrates
Fats
Sugars

PROTEINS:
Protein: the best sources are beef, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, and legumes like black beans and lentils. Protein builds up, maintains, and replaces the tissues in your body. Your muscles, your organs, and your immune system are made up mostly of protein.
Your body uses the protein you eat to make lots of important protein molecules that have specific jobs. Your body uses protein to make haemoglobin, the part of red blood cells that carries oxygen to every part of your body. Other proteins are used to build cardiac muscle. What's that? Your heart! In fact, whether you're running or just hanging out, protein is doing important work like moving your legs, moving your lungs, and protecting you from disease.

All about Amino Acids
When you eat foods that contain protein, the digestive juices in your stomach and intestine go to work. They break down the protein in food into basic units, called amino acids. The amino acids then can be reused to make the proteins your body needs to maintain muscles, bones, blood, and body organs.
Proteins contain amino acids which join together to make thousands of different proteins. Scientists have found many different amino acids in protein, but 22 of them are very important to human health.
Of those 22 amino acids, your body can make 13 of them without you ever thinking about it. Your body can't make the other nine amino acids, but you can get them by eating protein-rich foods. They are called essential amino acids because it's essential that you get them from the foods you eat.
Meat contains all the amino acids, vegetables lack all the amino acids and this is important for those of you who do not eat meat.

Different Kinds of protein from animal sources, such as meat and milk, is called complete, because it contains all nine of the essential amino acids. Most vegetable protein is considered incomplete because it lacks one or more of the essential amino acids. Vegetarians must therefore focus more intently on their protein rich foods to obtain the specific amount needed each day. If you exercise your body needs more to replace that which is used in the energy process. As long as you have a variety of protein sources throughout the day, your body will get what it needs from each meal.

How Much Is Enough?
You need about 1 gram of protein each day for every kilogram you weigh. You can look at a food label to find out how many protein grams are in a serving. Here are a few examples of Protein; chicken and broccoli, Peanut butter, milk, cheese.
CARBOHYDRATES (say: kar-bo-hi-draytz). Most foods contain carbohydrates, which the body breaks down into simple sugars - the major source of energy for the body.

Two Types of Carbohydrates

Simple and complex.
Simple carbohydrate or simple sugars: Simple sugars are found in refined sugars, like the white sugar you'd find in a sugar bowl. If you have a sweets like jelly beans, you're eating simple carbohydrates. But you'll also find simple sugars in more nutritious foods, such as fruit and milk. It's better to get your simple sugars from food like fruit and milk. Why? Because they contain vitamins, fibre, and important nutrients like calcium. Sweets do not.

Complex carbohydrates: or starches include grain products, such as bread, crackers, pasta, and rice. As with simple sugars, some complex carbohydrate foods are better choices than others. Refined grains, such as white flour and white rice have been processed and therefore have no nutrients and fibre. However; unrefined grains still contain these vitamins and minerals, are also are rich in fibre, which helps your digestive system work well. Fibre helps you feel full. That explains why a bowl of oatmeal fills you up better than sugary candy that has the same amount of calories as the oatmeal.

FATS
Fat is a component in food. Some foods, including most fruits and vegetables, have almost no fat. Other foods have plenty of fat. They include nuts, oils, butter, and meats like beef.
The name - fat - may make it sound like something you shouldn't eat. But fat is an important part of a healthy diet. And little kids, especially, need a certain amount of fat in their diets so the brain and nervous system develop correctly. That's why toddlers need to drink whole milk, which has more fat, and older kids can drink low-fat or skim milk.

About 30% of your daily intake should be from fat.
Look at food labels when you go shopping to learn how many grams of fat are in a serving of a food. Labels also list the total calories from fat.
Lower-fat diets have been recommended for health to help people lose weight and maintain it. Fats are more complicated and that some kinds of fat are actually good for your health. Certain fats in food helps people feel satisfied, so they don't eat as much. You should still maintain a low fat diet because most of the foods you would normally eat in a healthy diet contain the healthy fats you need each day.
The three major types:

UNSATURATED FATS:
SATURATED FATS: Eating too much saturated fat can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.

TRANSATURATED FATS:
Unsaturated fats: found in plant foods and fish. Good for heart health. The best sources are found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, tuna, and salmon.
Saturated fats: These fats are found in meat and other animal products, such as butter, cheese, and most milk except skim which has been reduced. Saturated fats also in palm and coconut oils are often used in commercial baked goods Tran saturated fats: found in margarine. Tran saturated fats are also found in certain foods that you buy at the store or in a restaurant, such as snack foods, baked goods, and fried foods. "Hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" means the food contains Tran-saturated fats. These are also listed on the food label like saturated fats.

Why Do We Need Fat? Dietary fat helps a body grow and fuel the body as well as help absorb some vitamins. They also are the building blocks of hormones and they insulate nervous system tissue in the body.
So fat is not the enemy, but chose the right kind. You should be acquiring the fats you need from lean meats and fish.
Many of us think the items we buy at the supermarket these days are healthy! Next time you go shopping at the supermarket, check the ingredients of everything you purchase and even the so called "fresh food" sections of the shopping centres have same questions to answer. Why does food last so long these days? Bread use to go stale in one to two days and now it lasts a week if you buy it from the supermarkets.

PRESERVATIVES/ADDITIVES
Take a look at the ingredients of your food packaging, if you see any numbers like 211, 220, 415, 1443 etc.. Rethink what you know to be fresh..Because those numbers represent chemicals and generally synthetic lab designed preservatives and or additives. One of my close friends suffers headaches from the preservative 220...creates histamine in her body. What else do I know? By the time you have read it and checked the ingredients of the foods in your cupboard, I will have written another article about "Preservatives and Additives in our Shopping trolleys"!

I hope whoever reads this article is able to take it in and recognise the current health crisis we have today specifically in our western societies.
Be healthy. Be happy and be Proactive about your health and that of your loved ones. Your cellular health is the key to your survival.
Take care.
Sincerely,
Daniel Clementine