Tag Archives: weight management

Questions & Answers

The Downsides To The Ketogenic Diet

Let’s talk about high fat, high protein diets, and their impact on the gut.

In the last year or so, I’ve been concerned about the stool test results I see from clients following a ketogenic diet. These diets are very low in carbs, including resistant starches.
My concerns are now being validated in the scientific literature.

When you’re on a ketogenic diet, the weight comes off but, you’re cutting back on carbs, including the healthy ones. Now, a lot of experts in the field, including dieticians, nutritionists, and naturopaths are raising concerns about the decrease in carbohydrate intake.

Carbs are essential for your overall health and your gut. If you restrict carb intake for an extended period, the gut can suffer significantly. Studies are demonstrating that people who cut their carb intake have lower levels of beneficial bacteria. They also have smaller amounts of short-chain fatty acids, which in turn reduces the amount of antioxidants available to protect cells from DNA damage.

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Losing weight on a ketogenic diet may also mean that your aging has accelerated.
There is no doubt people who eat more protein and more fat are prone to more rapid aging than people who eat a balanced diet. Looking slim now might come at a considerable cost when you’re 60. You could end up looking ten years older.Be careful with the ketogenic diet. Consider the long-term consequences of reducing your intake of healthy carbohydrates.

You shouldn’t cut as many carbs out of your diet as you possibly can, thinking that keto is a weight-loss nirvana. The ketogenic diet may help some people in the short-term, but eventually, you’ve got to come back to ground zero and start eating a normal diet again. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to click on the link below in the description box fo my full report.

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Questions & Answers

Your Weight And Your Gut

Losing weight and keeping it off is greatly influenced by your gut bacteria.

If you look back to the ’50s, there was a big push for people to gain weight. It was post-war, and a lot of food industries weren’t up and running properly. People were primarily eating real food.

The artificial foods that came to the forefront in the 60s changed things dramatically.
Today it’s all about losing weight on this diet or that diet. There is no shortage of factory food that damages our health rather than building it up. You need to eat the right food and have the right metabolic rate to get the kind of physique your want. The gut flora plays an instrumental role in weight management.

The following are the steps I recommend to anyone who wants to lose weight or keep their weight in a healthy range.

1. Firstly, you want little to no inflammation in the body. Your immune system needs to be functioning properly so that your gut doesn’t react to gluten or lectin or any other compound in food. Fixing a leaky gut solves a lot of problems that people have with food.

I’ve helped a lot of people fix leaky gut by removing junk from their diet. This allows their intestinal membrane to heal, and the excessive permeability disappears. Low and behold, they can eat foods they haven’t been able to tolerate for years. Now their gut is in a better position to properly digest a wide range of food.When you eat a broader range of foods, you end up with a much more diverse microbiota, which is essential for building good gut and immune health.

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2. Foods with the right amount and type of fiber are essential. These types of foods help control your appetite and metabolic rate. Fiber contributes to a feeling of satiety, so you’re not tempted to eat a sleeve of cookies or a couple of doughnuts. The lack of fiber in the classic ketogenic dieting concerns me. I think it contains too much meat, too much fat, and not enough carbs, including resistant starches.

3. Optimize your gut health. An unhealthy GI tract can increase your tendency to store fat. Many people with poor gut health also have decreased insulin sensitivity resulting in higher blood sugar and insulin levels. This leads to more inflammation, more fat storage, and increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.

It’s crucial to eat the right kinds of fiber, fats, and protein to keep the gut healthy. At the same time, avoid antibiotics if at all possible. This class of drugs can reduce the levels of beneficial bacteria in your gut. When that happens, the door is open for harmful bacteria and yeast to overgrow. This overgrowth can impair your immune system, distort your appetite, increase fat storage, cause fatigue, and trigger brain fog. When you feel that bad, it’s a lot more likely that you’ll reach for the second burger and extra ice cream cone. A healthy gut helps you make healthy food decisions and vice versa.

4. Build up the right balance of microbiota in your gut. I’ve been advocating this for 30 plus years, and my recommendations are being more and more validated by scientific research. Having a healthy mix of bacterial species in your guts helps maintain your metabolic rate, your weight, and your physique.

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Questions & Answers

Will Sweet Potatoes Help You Lose Weight?

Are sweet potatoes good for weight loss?

As soon as people hear the word “potato,” they jump to the conclusion that it’s a fattening food. But, turns out sweet potatoes aren’t even potatoes. Instead, they are a type of plant called a tuber.

Sweet potato is very good for your health. It’s, in fact, a traditional medicine in several countries like Brazil and Taiwan. Sweet potato belongs to the Ipomoea family or the Convolvulaceae family. In New Zealand, we call sweet potatoes Kumera. This tuber is very popular with the indigenous Maori who brought the Kumera from Polynesia and Hawaii five to six hundred years ago.

There are two types of sweet potatoes, the yellow one with golden flesh and the red one with the white flesh.

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I read an interesting study that looked at the impact of eating white-fleshed sweet potatoes. Subjects who consumed the sweet potatoes had improved blood sugar stability and reduced insulin response. As a result, sweet potato is an appropriate food for someone with diabetes.
Sweet potatoes are very high in fiber so they leave you feeling full. They also contain a substantial amount of potassium and sky-high levels of vitamin A. There are also a lot of essential minerals in sweet potatoes.

What I like about the sweet potato the most is its effect on the large intestine. It creates an excellent environment for healthy fermentation, so you’re going to get outstanding levels of bifidobacteria. High levels of bifidobacteria are associated with better energy, improved cognition, and a more positive mood. Feeling better overall means, you’re less likely to grab a big bag of peanuts or chips or a six-pack of beer. That fact that sweet potatoes leave you feeling full leaves you less likely to impulsively grab a candy bar at the supermarket checkout.

Sweet potatoes are also high in water content and have been shown to contribute to weight loss. I highly recommend including sweet potatoes in your diet.

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Questions & Answers

Oats And Weight Loss: What You Need To Know

“Will eating oats for my lunch and supper carb get in the way of weight loss?” is a question I’ve been asked before.

Firstly, don’t worry so much about carbohydrates when it comes to weight loss. Carbs are not what will make or break your diet efforts. As for oats, I think they are a great food, but twice a day is a bit much.

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Rather than eating oats several times a day, there are other options for increasing weight loss. For example, smaller portion sizes, chewing food properly, and eating at appropriate times. Make sure you have ample amounts of healthy food available and don’t skimp on protein.

I suggest limiting oats to once a day at most and then having a different carbohydrate at lunch or supper. For example, sweet potatoes are a great choice. You can bake them, boil them, or mash them, and they are very filling. I think that sweet potatoes are one of the best carbohydrates you can eat for weight loss.

Give that a go. I think you might like it.

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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.

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