Gained weight at home during Covid lock down working from home?
What is the best diet to lose the dreaded pounds we put on? While we are all home on mandatory Coronavirus stay-cation, we may not be eating the healthiest foods. Some of us eat out of stress, some out of boredom, some for comfort, and some just do not know what they should be eating.
Regardless of why, we should be eating to nourish ourselves during this stressful time. Now we can be ready to jump back into “normal” life as soon as possible, in a healthier state regardless of the situation.
How do you choose the best diet?
There are so many fad diets and a million supplements that you “should” take according to television, ads, and friends…. but how do you know what YOU need? Doing your research on the science behind each, the validity of studies, and long-term success rates can be daunting at the least!
It seems every 10 years there is a huge fad diet that pops up such as the South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet, Keto Diet, and even more suggestions on supplementation. I found an interesting link I will include later that compared different “plans” and the cost of these fad diets at the end of this article that shed light on many of them.
It shows the differences, but it still can not show you what is right for YOUR body. It is a giant guessing game while hoping you are not doing anything detrimental to yourself and fails at least 9 out of 10 times.
As a society, we have lost our taste for real, healthy foods with the incredible amounts of processed or sweetened “foods” that are in the standard American diet (SAD). We need to start over, clean up our chemistry, and listen to what makes us feel better after we eat as well as all aspects of our life.
Most people will start a “diet” for weight loss but if you are eating the correct, nutritionally balanced diet for your chemistry, weight loss becomes a wonderful side effect. I focus on cutting lectins in certain foods that bind to sugar and reduce the body’s ability to absorb nutrients. With less inflammation comes more natural energy making it easier to move so you will want to exercise more.
Many ask “Why do I overeat?”
Leptin is a hormone made by fat that tells you to stop eating because you are full but when the level is too high, our brain can not recognize it and we overeat. When one has too much insulin in the blood and the cell receptors are full, insulin resistance occurs until full-blown diabetes.
How does your diet affect your thyroid?
If you have a slow thyroid or a Hashimoto’s Disease diagnosis you will want to steer clear of Raw cruciferous vegetables but will want to continue eating them steamed or cooked. In their raw state, they can slow down thyroid processes but not so in the cooked form. It also makes it easier on digestion. It lessens the amount of energy needed to break down the fiber for your gut probiotics to ingest. If you assumed a raw food diet was best, you could be furthering the slow functions of the thyroid and the gut unknowingly.
So what IS the best diet for you?
Luckily, we can investigate your chemistry to see where you have nutrient deficiencies and what your levels of heavy metal toxicity are in the cells on your hair analysis. Without a clear picture of what is needed, it is like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Taking more is not always better and guessing is not a great road map either. Knowing where you are is key to giving your body what it truly needs.
We do not have to guess or try wasting your time and money on unnecessary supplements. We can get specific and target your body’s needs. Building our immune system and detoxifying heavy metals or chemicals will not only bolster our immune system but strengthen our cognitive abilities. If you happen to need to lose some weight, it is a bonus side effect of eating correctly for your oxidation or metabolism.
So which supplements are good or bad?
I often hear recommendations given to the public that Zinc should be taken to help the immune system. While it is beneficial it can also be detrimental. It will decrease the cell permeability allowing viruses and toxins inside easier!
Unless you know where your cell health is at, you will not want to do more harm than good and assume a supplement is good for you. Read more here. One exception may be Zinc and Quinine during a Coronavirus exposure. The Zinc will open cellular “windows” to allow an antiviral remedies into the cells. Then they can stop it from reproducing and kill them.
Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food”. You would not take a random medication and hope it works, so why guess at what may or might work with foods and supplements?
If you have a slow oxidation rate or metabolism, you will not want to eat too many fats as it can slow your system. I liken it to thick car oil when a thinner version is needed. Other factors I look at are what kind of oils are you eating and are you digesting them completely.
Most of our nutrition comes from the produce and proteins we eat. Knowing what you need to eat more of or less of, is important.
When you become nutrient or mineral deficient it:
- slows down bowel motility
- detox pathways
- energy pathways
- allows more toxins such as heavy metals or chemicals to accumulate
The body will stash toxins within your fat cells, tissues, organ, bones, or even in parasites, you may be unaware that take your nutrition first.
Have you ever considered how healthy is your liver and gall bladder bile supply?
Bile is our cleaner and houses our solvent. It breaks down fats like your dish soap disperses grease. We recycle 2/3 of the bile after it has been used for digestion. If you are not cleaning it up, you are essentially recirculating dirty oil. If you imagine just adding a fresh quart of oil to your vehicle, but never changing the filter or oil? That is the effect of not doing any detoxification work.
There are some internal supplements that you can take such as Milk Thistle, Dandelion Root, etc. Sometimes you need to help clear out toxins externally. I help my clients take these steps and coach them through detox symptoms. They happen in the short term as well as long term, while their whole system improves.
How much water do you need to drink daily?
A good rule of thumb is that 1/2 your body weight in pounds should be drunk in ounces daily. More is needed if you are exerting yourself, sweating during exercise, or in the heat. We not only lose water but our electrolytes (Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, and Potassium) that need to be replaced.
Drinking quality Spring Water is best as it contains natural minerals but you must do some research. Some of the distributors will add fluoride or chlorine (hormone disruptors) but not list it on the bottles. Water is also a vital part of detoxifying. Let’s go back to the car analogy. Your radiator has a slow leak, you won’t be able to cool yourself and eventually not be able to run. Making conscious efforts to drink enough is a great first step in self-care.
Hair Analysis and the best diet
Use your body as your map to know where you are at, where you need to be and what you need to get where there. The answers are already there, in your Hair Mineral Analysis results!
The article here shows you the differences in “diet” plans including costs, generalized theories of eating to lose weight, and some costs. None of these is a nutritionally balanced, long-term diet! Some of them are too low in calories which can SLOW your metabolism or inhibit muscle gains. Some are too high in carbs or fats.
With a Hair Analysis, I can show you exactly what diet is right for your individual needs. This will help you to rebuild at the cellular level along with targeted supplements to fill in the gaps.
It’s time to get you on track, LET’S CHAT about your health goals!
Learn more about the best diet supplements or Tips for fitness goals
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