Tag Archives: weight gain

Questions & Answers

The Best Foods To Manage Menopausal Weight Gain

Many women struggle with menopause, including the weight gain that can come along.
Other symptoms of menopause include fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, hot flashes, reduced libido, and brain fog.

If you are having those types of symptoms, I recommend seeing a functional medicine doctor or naturopath and have a dry urine test, comprehensive urine. It’s also known as the Dutch test. This test does a great job of mapping out the levels of your sex and stress hormones.

It may be that you lack estrogen. Many women also have low levels of testosterone, resulting in problems with libido, cognition, mood, and memory. It’s also crucial to have your adrenal function checked. Adrenal function can cause fatigue and trigger cravings for high-fat, high-sugar foods. Hormones have a massive impact on eating habits so be sure to have them checked out.

Further readings:

When it comes to what to eat to manage menopausal weight gain, I think the better question to ask is what not to eat.

If you are trying to lose weight, stay away from alcohol. One big glass of white wine is equivalent to a double cheeseburger.

Keep track of what you eat as snacks. You may need to look at changing your habits if you’re frequently reaching for sweets.

Make sure that you eat regularly. I’ve noticed that many women tend to skip meals.
The best foods to be eating are the basics: vegetables, fruit, and lean proteins. It’s not rocket science.

You can eat a lot of different foods and maintain a healthy weight provided you use common sense.

The foods you should be avoiding are deep-fried anything, takeout, highly processed foods, and treats full of sugar.

If you find yourself reaching for sweets, consider supplements like the B vitamins and chromium.
Try and catch weight gain early. As you get bigger, it is hard to be motivated to do anything about it, which can lead to a downward spiral.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

What really causes weight gain? Your genes, your diet, or your gut?

Genes, joules, or gut bugs: which one is the most to blame when it comes to weight gain?

Joules are just a measure of calories, so the question becomes, what makes people fat? Is it genetics? Is it the number of calories they’re eating, or is it the bacteria in their gut?
It turns out that genetics doesn’t explain weight gain to any significant degree. About 100 genes have been linked to obesity so far. Scientists have determined that only 3% of weight is explained by your genes.

When it comes to gut bacteria, you can lose a bit of weight just by taking probiotics alone. But it’s a very subtle shift in weight that occurs when you improve your gut bacteria. Not insignificant but not enough to be the answer to the obesity epidemic.

Further readings:

If we look at the kilojoules or the calories in the diet, it’s a totally different ball game. Years ago, they wondered if you took 10% of the calories out of someone’s diet, would they lose 10% of their body weight? And that’s exactly what’s been demonstrated.

In one study of 117 healthy adults, weight loss was found to be commensurate with how many calories were removed from the diet.

The bottom line is that what you eat is the prime determinant of your weight. It’s not the genes; it’s not the gut bugs; it’s the calories that determine your weight.

If you want to lose weight, you need to look at what you eat, when you eat, how much you eat, and why you eat. Stress is an important consideration, as well. Remember that the stress hormone cortisol can increase your appetite and trigger cravings for high-calorie foods. Studies have shown that there is a huge difference in calorie consumption, depending on whether you’re in a low-stress or high-stress state.

Sources: