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Question
It seems all my attempts to lose weight and get rid of my belly fat fail. Is there hope for me?

Answer
Absolutely. Normal attempts at weight loss can fail if you’re battling any metabolic disorders.

When you are doing all the right things but still not losing weight you may have some health issues sabotaging your efforts.


Issues that can hinder weight loss:

• Hypothyroidism
• Chronic inflammation
• Food intolerances
• High cortisol
• Insulin resistance
• Leptin resistance
• Hormonal imbalance
• Brain chemistry imbalances
• Certain medications
  

Hypothyroidism
Hypothyroidism affects millions of Americans yet its root cause rarely goes addressed, which can make it impossible to lose weight. Although thyroid hormone medication may be necessary, an autoimmune disease is behind most cases of hypothyroidism and needs to be addressed for success.

Chronic inflammation
Chronic inflammation is a common reason many people can’t lose excess belly fat. Food intolerances (gluten in particular), autoimmune disease, poor diet, or a blood sugar imbalance are things that can cause chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation raises the adrenal hormone cortisol, which causes belly fat to accumulate and makes weight loss difficult.

Blood sugar imbalances
Blood sugar imbalances trigger leptin resistance. Leptin is a hormone that controls appetite, satiety, and whether you burn or store fat. Constant insulin surges from starchy, sugary diets cause cells in the body to become resistant to leptin, which in turn causes constant hunger while hindering fat burning.

Hormonal imbalances
Hormonal imbalances sabotage weight loss. In many women this translates to high cortisol, high testosterone, and insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes.) These women battle not only weight gain, but also excess belly fat, facial hair growth, hair loss, and problems with menstruation or menopause.

Men are subject to low testosterone and high estrogen, which promotes not only belly fat, but also “breasts” and “hips.”

Brain health
Hypothyroidism, inflammation, blood sugar issues, or hormonal imbalances may also impact brain health, which is very sensitive to deviations in metabolic health. Imbalances in the brain’s neurotransmitters, or relay chemicals, can lead to cravings and addictive behavior, such as overeating.

Certain medications can also cause weight gain, inflammation, or bloating.

Address the underlying cause for weight loss
Weight loss is so much more than counting calories or grams of fat or carbs. It’s also important to address the underlying issues that cause weight gain or prevent weight loss.

Ask my office for more advice on underlying factors that prevent weight loss.  I spend a fair amount of my clinic time helping patients with weight loss.  We can work together to find the best and healthiest diet out there, for you!

Do you suffer from acid reflux, indigestion, slow gut transit time, or feeling like there’s a brick in your stomach after eating? Or perhaps you’re on a restricted diet for a chronic health condition but still react to an ever shrinking list of foods. If so, you need to work on restoring digestion.

Many factors affect digestion, including aging, poor brain function that affects gut function, poor diet, and more. Often the problem often isn’t the food itself, but a hyper sensitive immune system reacting to food proteins that are not broken down properly. Thankfully, you can improve your symptoms greatly with proper supplementation.

Breakdown of food proteins is key for good digestion
For good digestion, you need sufficient hydrochloric acid (HCl) and digestive enzyme activity in the gut. These both serve the important function of breaking down food proteins, which prevents the immune system from targeting them and causing symptoms.

HCl is naturally present in the stomach and is vital for digestion of proteins. Low HCl symptoms include:

• Not feeling well after eating meat
• Feeling like meat sits in their stomach too long
• Feeling like they ate a brick
• Acid reflux
• Constipation

It may sound contrary that low stomach acid can cause acid reflux. In fact, many people with acid reflux-like symptoms are mistakenly prescribed acid-blockers intended to cut stomach acid, when in fact it’s low stomach acid causing the problem — the low stomach acid results in undigested food becoming rancid and moving back up the esophagus to cause the pain and burning sensation. What these people need is additional HCl to improve digestion.

Many people with poor digestion also have poor pancreatic enzyme output. Similar to stomach acid, these enzymes are critical to break apart food proteins so the immune system doesn’t react to them, causing inflammation.

Supplement with HCl and digestive enzymes for healthy digestion
Supplementing with HCl and digestive enzymes can go a long way toward improving your digestion by supporting breakdown of food proteins as well as relieving symptoms.

Follow this advice when supplementing with HCl and digestive enzymes:

• HCl: Supplement with HCl when you eat meats to help break down the proteins better. This will not only improve your digestion but also bring you relief from uncomfortable symptoms.
• Digestive Enzymes: Take these with all meals; include pepsin, bromelain, and proteases. Look for a high-quality, broad-spectrum digestive enzyme supplement with a minimum of fillers.

Oral tolerance and digestive function
It’s particularly important for people with food sensitivities to support food protein breakdown with proper levels of HCl and digestive enzymes. At the root of this is the concept of oral tolerance. Oral tolerance is how well a person’s immune system can tolerate acceptable foods while responding appropriately to bacteria or other harmful compounds.

While there are other factors that affect oral tolerance, it’s important for food proteins to be broken down small enough that the body accepts them and doesn’t mount an immune reaction causing symptoms.
You’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” When we can’t digest food properly, it means our bodies aren’t getting the fuel to function at their best. If you suffer from symptoms of poor digestion or food sensitivities, contact my office we can explore what may be causing your particular set of symptoms.  503-636-2734