It seems like the newest “taboo” is to talk about being overweight. As a health practitioner, I see this as a worrying trend. Being able to maintain a healthy body weight has huge implications for health, mental and physical wellbeing, and disease prevention. And by silencing our ability to talk about it, we are doing a huge disservice to the health of our society at large. Without “shaming”, there is a way to constructively celebrate the efforts people take to achieve a healthy weight, and to focus on encouraging lifestyle changes (including eating nutritious foods and staying fit) as a way to maintain a healthy weight.
Losing weight is hard. And folks need all the encouragement and cheerleading we can give them, to help them achieve and maintain a weight that will be optimal for their health.
As a Naturopathic Doctor, disease prevention and treating the root cause are tenets of our Naturopathic Medicine philosophy that I have been sworn to uphold. I must talk to my patients about healthy weight in order to prevent and treat disease. As you will see from the following article, losing weight can reverse and diminish diseases that are becoming rampant in our society, such as diabetes and heart disease.
3 in 5 Canadians say they’ve gained weight since the pandemic began. If you’ve been in sweats and yoga pants for the past year, stress eating because you’re not seeing anyone anyways, now is the time to turn that around. Use this opportunity to focus on getting back into shape, and back into health. Please take the following message from this month’s newsletter: There is no shame in being overweight or obese. However, for your best health and wellness, we encourage you to achieve a healthy weight. If you’ve already been on a journey to lose weight, we celebrate your efforts.
Impact of Obesity on Health
It comes as no surprise that carrying extra body weight has negative health consequences. People who have obesity, are an increased risk for the following:
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Dyslipidemia (cholesterol imbalances)
- Type 2 diabetes
- Coronary heart disease & heart attacks
- Stroke
- Gallbladder disease
- Osteoarthritis
- Sleep apnea
- Infertility
- Some types of cancers (e.g., breast, colon, endometrial)
- Mental illness such as depression & anxiety
- Body pain & difficulty with physical functioning
A study from the University of Cambridge in the UK found that 90% of people who reduced their body weight by just 10% within 5 years of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, were able to achieve remission of their disease. This means that if someone weighed 200 lbs and was diagnosed with diabetes, they could REVERSE their diagnosis by losing 20 lbs.
Heart disease is also greatly affected by weight. A recent study found that increasing body weight by 5% over 7 years led to a thickening of the heart muscle, which is an indicator for future heart failure. This modest weight gain also decreased the heart’s pumping ability, making it have to work harder and less effectively to keep your blood moving. Another study found that losing 10 lbs can lower your blood pressure. Obesity also puts you at greater risk when you develop certain types of infections, because obesity is linked to impaired immune function. Obesity was a new risk factor for those affected by the H1N1 influenza virus, causing more severe illness and greater risk of mortality. During the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, those with BMI over 40 were found to be three times more likely to die from the infection. We are seeing a similar increased risk during this current COVID pandemic. Obesity has been found to increase the risk of severe illness and triple the risk of hospitalizations. The higher one’s BMI, the higher the risk of hospitalization, ICU admission, and ventilator need. And surprisingly, this increased risk in hospitalizations and death was particularly pronounced in those under the age of 65. Furthermore, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol have been associated with an increase in the severity of illness with COVID-19. So if you are overweight and have any of these conditions, your symptoms and outcomes may be worse if you become ill with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
5 Reminders For A Healthy Weight
Many of us know what it takes to maintain a healthy weight, but we may need some reminders to help motivate us to get back on the path to wellness. Here are 5 helpful reminders:
1) Sleep
The impact of sleep on weight management is astounding. People who sleep 8 hours a night have a lower BMI compared to people who sleep 6 or fewer hours per night. Poor sleep also promotes fat storage and increases insulin production which can lead to weight gain and an increased risk of developing diabetes. Most astounding is how poor sleep affects your appetite and food choices. When you don’t sleep enough, you make less of a hormone called leptin, which tells your brain when to stop eating, and more of a hormone called ghrelin, which stimulates your appetite. And on top of that, limited sleep also leads to poorer food choices – leading you to choose that burger and fries instead of the salad. This means that those who are sleep deprived will be hungrier, choosing to eat more unhealthy foods, and won’t know when to stop eating or listen to their body’s fullness cues.
TIP: Get your 8 hours of sleep
2) Stress
Stress increases a hormone called cortisol, which can cause you to gain weight by increasing your appetite, triggering sugar cravings, and encouraging fat deposition around the abdomen and hips. Abdominal fat is strongly correlated to heart disease, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Stress also increases insulin levels, which can lead to insulin resistance, which is a hallmark of PCOS and type-2 diabetes.
Chronic or poorly managed stress also makes it harder to lose weight. When our body is in “survival mode” or “fight or flight”, we tend to hold on to our sources of energy (fat) in case we need it for survival or to flee from danger. When we are stressed, we burn less calories for the same amount of activity. On top of all that, chronic stress tends to lead to poor lifestyle choices like emotional eating, skipping exercise, poor food choices, and interrupted sleep.
TIP: Manage your stress response. Talk to your ND about adrenal support, mindfulness, resilience-building, and other stress management strategies
3) Exercise
We all know exercise, an active lifestyle, and staying fit can help maintain a healthy weight. Research has found that exercise is best for maintaining weight loss, so if you want to prevent the dreaded yo-yo of weight gain after you’ve been able to lose a few pounds, develop a sustainable exercise routine. For some, just starting into exercise, like walking, can make a world of difference. One study found that a brisk daily walk for 6 months led to a 10% weight loss in participants – and remember that a mere 10% weight loss can reverse type 2 diabetes.
Getting into exercise is not always easy, but this is where you can also practice discipline and positive self-motivation. Don’t dwell on the thoughts of getting your exercise session started, but instead focus on how good you will feel once the exercise is done. Most of us feel great after exercise because it triggers an endorphin release making us feel energized and happier. Once you develop a consistent exercise habit (and remember it takes 21 days to build a habit), you will crave the feeling from exercise if you miss a day. This is because your body will be so accustomed to the “feel good” chemicals you are dosing yourself with when you get your body moving. Staying active can be as effective as a pill for fighting depression, and can also help with diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol, cancer, and erectile dysfunction.
TIP: Develop a habit of exercise. Commit to an activity you enjoy for 21 days and focus on how good you will feel after the exercise is done. Think of exercise as a dose of “happy”.
4) Food
Food is probably the single-most important factor in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Focusing on eating more vegetables, which are lower in calories, can make a huge difference in your caloric intake. The new Canada Food Guide suggests half of your plate should consist of vegetables. But what about the rest of your plate? There are so many “diets” out there – how do you know which one is right for you? Studies have shown that a low fat diet and a low-carb diet both led to similar weight loss. Regardless of the style of eating you choose or fits best with your lifestyle, the key to weight loss is finding a diet you can actually maintain that focuses on an increased vegetable intake. There are other diets like intermittent fasting (which has shown to reverse diabetes and prevent Alzheimer’s Disease), and the ketogenic diet (which has been shown to reverse insulin resistance which can help with diabetes and PCOS), that you could discuss with your ND to see if it is appropriate for you.
How do you prevent gaining weight once you stop a diet plan? The key is not to jump right into eating a pizza with a milkshake the day after your diet “ends”, but to very slowly transition back to a more “regular”, but still a healthy way of eating. And, as discussed above, to maintain that weight loss, exercise is the secret ingredient.
TIP: Clean up your diet and add more vegetables. For a more comprehensive or specific diet plan, talk to your ND to determine what will be best for your health
5) Hormones
Hormonal imbalances can be an obstacle to weight loss. Low thyroid hormone production, high or low estrogen levels, increased insulin production, and high cortisol levels can make it really difficult to shed the pounds. Simultaneously working with your ND on balancing these hormones while working on the points mentioned above (sleep, stress, exercise, food), may be just what you need to get past that hurdle to achieving your healthiest weight.TIP: Assess hormone imbalances with your ND
More Than The Scale
There is a lot of focus on “weight” as being the number you see when you step on a scale. Measurements like weight and calculations like BMI can be helpful tools to know if we are healthy, but are definitely not the one ones that matter.
If you are starting to workout, or increasing your exercise, you may notice your weight loss plateau or even see your weight go up. This may be because you are building muscle mass, and muscle is heavier than fat. So even though you may be shedding fat, the muscle you are building may make your weight go up a bit. This is temporary, and after some time you will see the weight start to come down, so don’t be discouraged and keep on exercising!
In addition to the scale, noticing how your clothes may be fitting you differently, and taking measurements of your waist (at the belly button) and hips (at the hip bones) can be a really helpful way to track progress and stay motivated. It is very common to see changes in body shape before we see changes in pounds, and it’s just as important to celebrate these non-scale victories. The most important thing is not the numbers, but how you feel. How do you feel in your clothes? How do you feel when you look in the mirror? How are your energy levels, mood, and self-confidence? Don’t forget about these positive markers of your success.
