Dr. Ata Kelly
Recently I did a public
lecture on, “The Seven Secrets to Permanent
Weight Loss.” I got an e-mail bluntly saying
that there aren't seven secrets, but rather
only two: "eat less, exercise more.” I also
hear quite often, in my daily practice,
patients saying, “I want to lose weight, so
I try to eat less by skipping breakfast.”
People truly believe that by doing so they
will get a grip on their weight gain.
Obesity recently became one of the most
serious problems in our society. In the last
40 years, it’s tripled and nowadays two
thirds of the adult population and every one
out of three children are overweight. It is
also the number one cause for the increased
rate of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and
cancer in our country. Life expectancy of
overweight people is about 13 years less
than those at a normal weight.
It is also a very lucrative area: over $50
billion is spent annually on weight loss,
but regardless, the numbers are growing,
threatening the very future of this nation.
The sections in bookstores keep expanding
with more and more books on the topic of
dieting but the research shows, that after
one year, the difference between most
popular diets is a four to five pound
average weight loss.
An increased number of doctors are talking
about changing not only the diet, but the
life style in order to achieve a healthy
weight. There are many important aspects in
a comprehensive approach to a happy, healthy
and fulfilled life. Balancing your weight,
complex as it may be, is one of them.
In this short introduction I want to share
with you the fundamentals.
Gaining and holding on to weight is encoded
in our genes-- it's human nature. Those
genes regulate our natural weight balance
systems and are designed to keep weight at
all costs, otherwise we would not survive as
a species.
Without understanding this fact it will be
very difficult to succeed in achieving a
healthy weight. How many of you are familiar
with the yo-yo results of a myriad of diets?
How many are frustrated, discouraged and
disappointed? How many still believe that by
skipping meals you can reduce your weight?
Well, it is not that simple. As a matter of
fact, "eat less + exercise more = weight
loss" is a starvation myth, one of those we
all know too well, like counting calories,
or eating low fat and low carb diets. Of
course, in general, our weight surely has
something to do with how much we eat and
move, but we all have a least one friend who
is thin as a stick, never hits the gym,
eats ice-cream at night and will not gain a
pound. Don't you jealously feel (at least
for a moment!), that your friend just got a
“lucky ticket”- fast metabolism? I certainly
did!
There is a lot to the concept of metabolism.
But in summary, metabolism is the total of
all chemical changes and reactions that
happen inside your body. Some of these
reactions will help to build your tissues,
such as hair, bones and muscles; others
serve to break down glycogen and fats to
provide us with life-sustaining energy. The
speed at which the body does all of its
metabolic tasks is referred as metabolic
rate. So, if you easily burn all the
calories you have a fast metabolic rate. On
the other hand if your metabolism is slow
then just looking at a spoon of ice cream
will make it go straight to your hips. The
ancient Chinese associated modern concept of
metabolism with the notion of the body’s
"Fire." In other words, the stronger is your
vital fire, the higher is your metabolic
rate. But to keep it going you need to add
some wood into it. If the bonfire is big you
can throw a huge log and it will burn in
minutes. If you need to sustain it then you
have to keep adding logs or it will die out.
Metabolism works the same way: if you will
eat right food at the right intervals in the
right amount then your metabolism will get
going. Conversely, if there is no wood/food
any more, the fire begins to burn more
slowly, then to die out and can’t catch the
new wood as quickly. Again your metabolic
system works the same way. When it is slow
it can’t burn all the calories you ate. The
food just sits there until eventually will
be turned into fat.
Many of you have heard of circadian rhythm,
when the production of hormones,
particularly the well-known Melatonin, which
regulates your sleep, depends on the
movement of the Sun. In Oriental Medicine
the circadian rhythm regulates daily
circulation of vital Energy QI. Every two
hours the energy moves from a channel and
its related Organ to another channel and
Organ for the next couple hours, providing
its proper function.
As children of Heaven and Earth we are
designed to follow the Sun. In the
morning, between 7 am and 9 am energy comes
to its maximum in the Stomach System. Why?
To get your bonfire going! Complex
biochemical reactions will insure production
of a cascade of hormones, enzymes, etc., to
get the body ready for the first instinctive
living pleasure –eating. You now can easily
imagine what happens to your metabolism when
you skip breakfast, or substitute it with
only a cup of coffee.
The oldest part of our brain, the “lizard”
brain, which controls survival, instinctive
behavior, such as reproductive, eating and
flight- or- fight responses, immediately “
issues” a command to switch systems to
"starvation mode” and preserve every calorie
for future famine. We have no conscious
control over it.
In a war between the donut and your
willpower, the donut always wins. So, if you
skip breakfast, push through the lunch and
eat only a big portion at dinner, you are on
the way to Sumo wrestler life style. You are
going to keep everything you ate for future
needs in a most sufficient form of energy
storage in the body: your old friend, fat.
The first simple secret of a permanent
weight loss is to know your baseline for how
many calories you have to eat so you will
never go into the starvation mode. Don’t
diet- you will gain weight in the long run.
For more information on upcoming health
lectures or to schedule a lecture at your
workplace, please call 818- 763-8229 or
visit us on line at akupunctureclinics.com
AK-U-puncture Clinic
4418 Vineland Ave, Suite 218 B
N. Hollywood, CA 91602
Tel: 818.763.8229/818.631.5292
www.akupunctureclinics.com
email: drata@akupunctureclinics.com
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