Snack attack?

Difficulty losing weight?

Heartburn

Learning and Development

How many times have you tried to lose weight but found it difficult to stick to any diet or worse, lost weight, only to put it back on. There may be conditions within your body, which need to be changed before you can achieve or maintain weight loss.

When trying to lose weight you often crave those sugary foods high in calories, which you know you shouldn’t have. This may be because you have low blood sugar. After eating sugary foods blood sugar levels rise very rapidly then fall just as rapidly. At this low point you crave more sugary foods to boost blood sugar. Blood sugar can be more evenly controlled by eating complex carbohydrates such as those found in brown rice and other whole grains.

Low metabolic rate also makes it difficult to lose weight as food is burned up more slowly. Some people’s metabolic rate will always be slower than others but certain factors can affect it. Metabolic rate is determined by the thyroid gland and so anything that interferes with its working slows down metabolism. The thyroid has its own particular nutritional needs and if these are not met it cannot function efficiently. A wide range of vitamins, minerals and enzymes are needed for metabolism of food.

In many people a fair proportion of excess weight is due to fluid retention. You can tell if you suffer badly from fluid retention if you have a lot of cellulite or if your excess weight tends to be around your middle. On a lot of diets the initial, rapid loss of weight is due to a loss of this retained fluid. Fluid retention is actually encouraged when you don’t drink enough water, and/or you drink too many diuretic drinks such as tea, coffee and coke. You should aim to drink at least 2 litres of water a day and if possible cut out tea and coffee. You should try and avoid eating salt as this also leads to fluid retention. Most processed, packaged foods contain far too much salt so home-cooked foods without added salt are much preferable.