Weight Loss

Combine multiple approaches together to reach true, sustainable success.

SYMPTOMS

Weight gain in specific or general areas of the body.

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Influence on weight: 10

The body begins to put on weight for many, many reasons, but poor nutrient balance is often where the rubber meets the road.

What causes poor nutrient balance? All sorts of factors: Chronic stress, heavy exercise, poor sleep, extreme and/or unbalanced supplementation, poor gut health, and an unhealthy environment.

Of all these important factors, nothing has yielded me results quite like a solid grasp of how to balance nutrients.

To me it’s been more important than exercise, more important than food, and more important than thyroid regimens.

Influence on weight: 10

Bodybuilders know that “you build muscle and burn fat when you sleep.”

Professional athletes are beginning to be taught that sleep is as beneficial as performance enhancing drugs.

And as you seek to improve your health (and possibly your waistline), you’ll see that few things are better for the way you look and feel in your body than sleep.

Sleeping less means eating more calories the next day — and those calories will NOT be used as efficiently as if you had slept well.

Immunity suffers near-instantly after a single night of bad sleep — and this affects your gut health, inflammation, and metabolism.

Influence on weight: 9

There is solid science showing the link between your light exposure (quality, intensity, and timing) and your weight.

In fact, the time of day you get your light affects your body composition (earlier in the day means better weight outcomes).

The frequencies of light that hit your skin — and penetrate into your tissues — affect your weight (HINT: you want red, near-infrared, and UV frequencies in particular).

And so does the intensity of said light. Full-spectrum light that is sufficiently bright is just what the doctor (of the future) ordered.

Influence on weight: 8

“You are what you eat” — goes the adage.

EVEN MORE TRUE: “Your food is only as healthy as your gut.”

If you’re constantly maldigesting your food, chances are your gut “flora” are releasing loads of endotoxin into your bloodstream… WITH EVERY MEAL YOU EAT.

Endotoxin (endo = “from within”) simply means toxins that come from inside your body. Namely, from your gut microbes.

And when our gut microbes aren’t very healthy, they eat your food and release endotoxin — instead of the nutrients (the way healthy gut flora do).

It’s not a pretty picture — and if you’ve got any gut issues, you can be sure it’s happening to some extent.

Fortunately, you can fix it!

Influence on weight: 7

Thyroid function is the long, lost holy grail of weight loss — and for good reason: the thyroid produces the hormones that control the metabolism.

However, this holy grail is “long and lost” in my book because looking only at the thyroid is not a recipe for successful healing — at least not in my experience.

In fact, it seems that the thyroid often slows down for a reason — a real, tangible reason that can be uncovered with a little intelligent sleuthing.

Recovering thyroid function needs to be a holistic endeavor, one that treats the thyroid with care but also looks beyond the thyroid to what might be holding it back.

It is then that real health can return… and all the benefits that come from healthy thyroid function.

Influence on weight: 7

Weight loss = diet + exercise.

Right?

Not for folks with any issues that go beyond simple habits of overeating.

A healthy, young person can cut calories and lose weight… for a while.

But most of us aren’t in tip, top health right now. Most of us are dealing with nutrient imbalances, poor gut health, dismal sleep habits, and more.

If you keep those old problems — and add “exercise” — science has shown you are likely to fail.

Instead, focus on healing the body through multiple means… and then include healthy, balanced, non-stressful movement. It will help you feel *good* first, and help you look better… sustainably.

Influence on weight: 7

If you don’t have mold in your home, then mold isn’t affecting your health or your weight. Right?

Unfortunately, it may not be so simple for many people.

Mold has become an epidemic in modern life — in part due to modern construction practices, modern building materials, modern lifestyle burdens, and our own modern ignorance of how our overly-complicated building systems work (or don’t work).

Suffice to say: If you do have a mold problem — even a minor mold problem — it could have a serious effect on your weight (and your health).

The method that gives you the best chance of success when dealing with mold is to educate yourself on the subject. Become an expert. It may be one of the best things you ever do.

Influence on weight: 6

“Food! It’s the food!”

Sure. But is it… ONLY food?

Yes, food is incredibly important when it comes to health and your weight.

But what’s most important about food is not the societal ideas about “what is healthy” as much as awareness of how to: Balance macros, find foods that make you feel your best, drop the shame of eating, never undereat, and more.

And even more important than your diet might be the seemingly “nonfood” topics light your gut health, sleep habits, skills to cope with stress, and environmental health.

Don’t get me wrong, food is super important. But clearing up bad, obsessive ideas about food and cleaning up other lifestyle factors are potentially equally, if not much more, important than eating a trendy, new, excessively restricted diet.