For the past couple of months, I have been studying for my certification in weight management from the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. The more I learn about how fat works in our bodies, combined with the years of clinical experience at Natural Bio Health, the more I realize how dangerous excess body fat is to our health.
Fortunately, I am also learning more and more about the science of weight loss and weight management. For example, the critical role played by our gut in both losing weight and maintaining weight loss, as well as preventing and even reversing diabetes and other gut-related issues.
Most of us know that fat is a living organism that disrupts many functions of our body. Excess fat (being overweight or obese) is linked not only to heart disease, cancer and diabetes, but to an increased incidence of inflammatory diseases including psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. It has been shown that excess body fat shrinks the brain. The circumference of your waist is one of the best predictors of heart disease. Men should have a waist size less than 40 and women less than 34 (again, less is better depending on your bone structure and percent body fat).
Cancer and excess body fat. Excess body fat has been related to breast and prostate cancer, cancer of the colon, uterus, pancreas and rectum. Comorbidities include gallstones, non-alcoholic fatty liver, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis and many others.
What are we eating? We tend to eat more energy-dense foods that are high in fat, salt and sugars and low in vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients. We live on red bulls, caffeine and food with little or no nutritional value. We are constantly exposed to herbicides and pesticides that come from our foods and our environment. We eat food that is not really food and Genetic Modification (GMO) has resulted in a food supply that is now exposed to 4 x the amount of pesticides formerly used to grow a crop.
Many of our medications, including hormonal birth control and anti-depressants increase body fat (and deplete the B vitamins). We eat saturated fat from meat and dairy products that are fed corn products, antibiotics and hormones.
Statistics: Worldwide, obesity has doubled since 1980. It is estimated that 70% of the US population is overweight and more than 33% are obese. Nearly 43 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2010 and that number has steadily increased.
Hypothyroidism continues to increase, in part due to the increased environmental toxins including the increasing use of pesticides on our food supply. General medicine overlooks the estimated 52 million Americans who suffer from subclinical hypothyroidism by testing only the TSH and often ignoring symptoms and science.
So you think you are not obese? Many clinics only use the Body Mass Index (BMI) test to determine if a person is overweight or obese. BMI picks up 37% of the truly overweight and obese so the statistics underestimate the obesity rate. Many women falsely believe they are not overweight or obese when in fact they suffer from sarcopenia obesity. Their percent of body fat may be in the obese area even though their height and weight is proportionate (BMI).
Sarcopenia is the gradual loss of muscle mass that affects us as we age, in part due to the declining levels of testosterone in both men and women. Many men and an increasing number of women (and now children) are on statin drugs for cholesterol. We know that these drugs decrease testosterone levels.
What is a healthy percent body fat? For men, a healthy % of body fat is generally 12% to 15%. Lower is better. For women, a healthy % of body fat is 18% to 25%.
What is Natural Bio Health doing to better help our clients? At Natural Bio Health, we are focusing more and more on the health of the gut and managing the consequences of stress, particularly as they relate to weight challenges and hormonal challenges. The health of our hormones, as well as our body fat, are directly related to the gut (sometimes called the second brain) and to stress. Stress is related to the quality of our sleep. All can be affected by our diet, the presence of heavy metals in our body and the presence of pesticides.
New DNA testing and others. We are also offering new programs to individualize treatment and offering new diagnostic testing like our NEW DNA gene testing, pesticide testing and heavy metal testing. I recommend all clients schedule a consultation with our providers (or me) to learn about the testing now being offered. Much of the testing is covered by insurance.
Classes for knowledge. We will be offering after hour classes at the clinic to all clients and their friends and families to provide education on health subjects. If you are interested, please let the clinic staff know of your interest. The first class will be “Sugar, How It Kills”.
Disclaimer: There is no single scholarly article to support the information in this blog. Instead, the information has been gathered from multiple reputable resources. We believe the information is completely factual in nature.