Tag Archives: weight management

Questions & Answers

Alcohol And Your Weight: What You Need To Know

Can high alcohol consumption cause long-term weight gain?

I can talk about alcohol with a lot of experience. I grew up with an alcoholic step-father, and I drank excessively in my late 20s. I didn’t get fat, but I did drink too much alcohol.
Many people drink too much alcohol. It happens particularly with high stress and life transitions.

How many overweight people have you seen knocking back shots of Vodka? Usually, people who drink excessive amounts of hard alcohol are quite skinny.

Typical beer drinking is often associated with a beer belly. But, there are many studies that show that alcohol doesn’t make you fat. But, what it does do is severely impact your metabolic rate.

Alcohol slows the gut right down.

Further readings:

People who drink a lot of alcohol often don’t care what they eat. Big drinkers often like to have sweets to go along with their alcohol. Other drinkers want to have something salty to go along with their alcohol. If it’s bar food, it’s high-calorie food.

Drinking can also stimulate the appetite. Also, people drop their inhibitions when they are drinking, which can lead to eating too much food.

There is an even more sinister side to alcohol. In my experience, stool testing is always abnormal when people are drinking a lot of alcohol.

Moderate levels of alcohol intake can increase the lifespan of some women due to improving healthy cholesterol levels.

I urge people not to drink every day. I enjoy drinking, but I do it in a very controlled way. You don’t want to be controlled by alcohol.

Moderate alcohol intake won’t cause significant weight gain.

If you’re using mixes for cocktails, you can end up consuming a lot of sugar and calories. Now you can see how weight gain can happen.

I think it is the cheese and crackers that cause more of a weight problem than the glass of wine.

The key is nothing in excess – this holds not only for alcohol but for anything in life.
Yes, high alcohol intake can contribute to increased weight over time. I recommend moderate to light intake to avoid the complications associated with drinking too much alcohol.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

How CanXida Restore Can Help You Lose Weight

A 2013 study found that there is definitely a link between the microbiome and body weight. The researchers found that the larger a person was, the more disordered the bacterial content of their gut. Healthier, leaner people had a more stable microbiome than people who were obese.

It’s very, very, very important that you have a healthy microbiome. It’s more important than having a big bank account. You could have $1 billion in the bank, but if you’ve got a crappy digestive system, you’re going to suffer significantly. You can buy a lot of things, but you can’t buy a good gut.

You’ve got to develop that gut with your lifestyle and your diet. Ample studies now show that there is a link between gut flora and obesity. We can’t say it’s the cause, but we can see there’s an association between the two.

A disordered bowel with dysbiosis and obesity seem to go along with each other. Conversely, there have been many studies linking beneficial bacteria with weight loss. For example, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, one of my favorite Lactobacillus, has been linked to weight loss.

Further readings:

That’s one of the reasons why I like Lactobacillus rhamnosus; it stabilizes the gut. This particular probiotic powerfully improves the immune response in the GI tract and helps to drive down many different species of harmful bacteria and yeasts.

I included Lactobacillus rhamnosus in CanXida Restore because of the compelling evidence that it is very beneficial to gut health.

Based on the feedback I’ve received, women tend to lose a bit more weight, and to do it faster, than men. I don’t know the reason for this difference, but I’ve definitely noticed this pattern. Studies have also found a difference between men and women when it comes to the benefits of probiotics.

Maybe it’s because women take the supplements more regularly, or there may be differences in lifestyle such as alcohol consumption.

I think the probiotics can help people lose weight. But, keep in mind that there are several factors associated with going from lean to obsess. Increased caloric intake, including artificial sweeteners in the diet, and a disrupted circadian rhythm are all associated with weight gain.

A person who’s not sleeping properly, or they’re shift working, will often end up with a weight problem. If you’re overweight and you’re a shift worker, it’s probably time to get rid of that job if at all possible.

If you’re going to take a probiotic to help yourself lose weight, make sure you take it regularly. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep and cut out the junk and excessive fat from your diet. Small amounts of healthy fats are fine, but you don’t want to be filling your plate with trans fat and the like.

Lastly, you’ll get more bang from your probiotic buck if you also include sufficient prebiotics in your diet.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

The Connection Between Glycemic Index And Weight Loss

Does the glycemic index (GI) matter for weight loss?

Firstly, what’s the GI index? Before the GI index came out, carbohydrate counting was one way that foods and meals were analyzed.

Carb counting has been replaced by the glycemic index, a tool that is particularly useful for people with diabetes. The GI measures a food’s ability to mount an insulin response.

It’s a little bit like flammable substances. If you throw gasoline on a fire, you’re going to get an explosion. That would be the equivalent of a high GI food. White rice and potatoes have a high glycemic index.

Foods with a high glycemic index break down quickly and trigger an insulin response. An insulin spike is associated with an increased risk of cancer, diabetes, and circulatory problems.

Further readings:

Insulin is essential for blood sugar control, but in excess, it can be terrible for your health.

It’s important that your insulin levels be even and well-controlled. This is a boon for your physical and mental health, as well as your energy levels. If you think of diesel, a substance with a much lower flash point than gasoline, it doesn’t have the same explosive effect when you throw it on fire. It’s very underwhelming.

When it comes to the glycemic index, the slow-burn equivalent of foods would include legumes like chickpeas and vegetables. Foods that break down slowly in the gut will stimulate a slow insulin response. It’s really in your best interest to keep insulin tame.

Research tells us that you’re not going to lose a ton of weight just by eating low GI foods. However, eating like that will still improve your blood sugar, which has other benefits. A stable blood sugar helps stabilize your mood and your energy.

The low GI diet is not the most effective way to lose weight. There are other issues to address, including lifestyle, hormone levels, and stress, if you want to lose weight.

If you’re a larger person, it will take your body time to transition to a new way of eating and living. But in the end, your efforts will be worth it.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Protein Powder And Your Weight: What You Need To Know

“Should I take protein powder to lose weight? ” is a question I’ve been asked before.
No, you don’t need protein powder at all to lose weight. In fact, I don’t really like protein powders that much.

Some people do find protein powder helpful, but I prefer that my clients get their protein from whole foods.

In my third or fourth year of practice, which was a long time ago, I used to put people on weight loss programs. I used protocols from different companies as I was learning the ropes of weight loss. I didn’t feel that I had much of a skill set in that area until at least ten years into my work.

In my early days, I put a patient on protein powder. The patient phoned me a few days later and was really upset. They said, “Oh, I got sick, and I vomited the protein powder! What was that all about?!” After discussing the issue with her, it turned out she put the protein powder into Coca-Cola to make a fizzy soda drink. Now, that’s not the right way to use protein powder!

Further readings:

Protein powders work. If you’re going to use protein powder, I don’t recommend white protein powder. I much prefer brown rice and yellow pea protein powders.

Still, I prefer to get my protein really from animal sources and vegetable sources, not from powders. I find it a more natural approach. It just seems more natural for me to eat a beautiful piece of New Zealand fish or a couple of boiled eggs.

I prefer to eat small pieces of protein like that mixed in with some vegetable matter. I don’t usually sit down to eat slabs of meat anymore. I think the biggest chunk of meat I probably would have would be a piece of salmon.

If you want to build weight, protein powders can be good for putting on muscle mass. The problem with these protein powders is when you mix them with drinks that have too much sugar or chemicals.

If you are going to use protein powder, find one that contains no sugar or other sweeteners. Try to get raw, 100% brown rice protein mixed with some yellow pea protein. You can add some unsweetened oat or almond milk to the protein powder.

Again, I prefer to have eggs or fish in my diet than something made in a factory. It’s your decision, but whatever you chose, go the healthy, natural route.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Why You Need To Fix Your Gut To Lose Weight

In my years of practice, I noticed that overweight people often also had gut problems.

It was my job to talk to people about their diet, their bowel habits, and their lifestyle. Based on my observations, there is a 100% correlation between poor gut function and being significantly overweight.

Bigger people have gut bacteria that help trigger cravings for junk food. Of course, there are some larger people who eat very healthy foods, but they are in the minority.

I often suggested to my overweight clients that they start using smaller plates and gradually reduce their portion size.

Most larger people have large stomachs and large appetites that have been built up over time. Once that situation has arrived, the gut bacteria start behaving very badly. The harmful bacteria can contribute to mood problems, fatigue, and anxiety.

Further readings:

I always urge people, larger people, if they want to lose weight to assess their gut and clean it up as needed.

I don’t encourage cold turkey diets. I believe in slowly transitioning from a junk diet to a gut-healthy one. I you try and start a new diet overnight, it’s easy to fall off the wagon and return to eating junk food like crazy.

Take it slow – just as you would if you were returning to the gym for the first time in ages.
The older you are, the slower you need to go back into it, all right. I’ve never met a large person that can’t, if their mind is set to it, lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off.

If you’ve got bloating, burping, farting, constipation, and diarrhea, the gut needs to be fixed up. If you ignore the gut problem and just focus on making diet changes, it’s significantly harder to turn the ship around.

You can read more about losing weight in my free report.

Sources: