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It seems there are as many weight loss methods as there are people. Perhaps you've heard the old adage, "Opinions are just like belly buttons. Everybody has a one!" In the US Army I have been in charge of my unit's weight control program for many years. Perhaps you can stand to listen to a few short ideas. First, let me say, however, several of my ideas have been molded by Mr. Erasmus' book. Others came from the Army, and a very few are my own.
Eating and overeating: I've noticed that when most of us eat, we usually suffer from the `apparent weakness' of letting our bodies do the thinking. Our bodies tell us when to start eating, and our bodies tell us when to stop. Instead of using our heads, we generally don't think too much about it. Have you ever wondered why we often take that second or third helping even though our bellies are full? One answer is, perhaps, we have eaten so quickly that our blood sugar level is still low. Unlike immediately quenching thirst by drinking water, our bodies will generally want to keep eating until our blood sugar level is back up. This can take as long as 20 minutes after we start eating. To solve this, we can either eat more slowly, or do the unnatural thing and push ourselves away from the table after that first helping. But contradicting myself, you will see a bit later I firmly believe we really do need to listen to our bodies.
Hungry for nutrients: There are probably other reasons just as important why we over eat. I believe the greatest reason we over eat is because we don't just eat to get calories. Going back to our original theme, our bodies eat to get each of the essential nutrients it needs to be healthy. In our traditional North American diet which is full of nutritionally poor, processed foods, our bodies sometimes tell us to eat twice the calories it needs to get those essential nutrients. Just maybe - our bodies are pushing us for that second helping because it's crying for an extra vitamin, fatty acid, or mineral. And it is willing to eat a ton of food to get it. But what a price to pay! Our bodies are forced to deal with the huge amount of unwanted calories that come with the package deal. Through personal experience I have found my eating habits have naturally made a definite positive shift after I started taking a really good vitamin-mineral supplement and the recommended dose of Essential fatty acids. Without trying, I started eating less. I found myself being satisfied sooner when sitting down to a meal, and not getting hungry again until hours after I would have normally become hungry again.
Our body talks... Some people say we show weakness when we let our bodies determine how much we eat. These folks teach us to ignore what our bodies are trying to tell us - as if this is a great learned virtue. I believe just the opposite is true. One of the real keys to weight loss is listening to our bodies, and doing what it tells us to do. But we have to listen smart, and not throw at it high calorie foods devoid of nutrients. This includes foods filled with white flour and refined empty calorie oils. After our bodies make the transition, they will do their part as they should.
Dieting (starving): Among many things, I'd like to mention a couple of nasty little items which happen when we crash diet. Even though the eyes see food all around, the body knows it is in a famine. And it knows how to survive famines. First, our metabolism slows way down. It shuts down everything it can which uses energy, and ends up needing only a fraction of the calories it needed before the war began. (I've known people who restricted themselves to 850 calorie diets and still didn't lose weight.) Second, our bodies take a hard look at its energy reserves. It has two of them: fat and muscle. Not knowing how long the drought may last, it automatically plans for the worst. And guess what. It decides to save its fat for the really hard times and uses the muscles first! We lose weight, all right, but not the fat we hoped to lose. Not at first, anyway. We end up lighter and weak, but just as dumpy looking. And third, few of us have the sustained will power to go against our bodies for very long. Sooner or later, our bodies will counter attack when we least expect it. When our minds are caught off guard, our bodies start eating until it's totally gorged. Then comes the guilt. Most people gain their lost weight back when their diet is over. But it doesn't come back as muscle. It comes back as even more fat! If we are habitual dieters, our subsequent diets only continue the downward spiral of losing muscle and gaining fat, as we become visibly dumpier. There is a better way! The Master said, "A house divided against itself can not stand." That bit of advise goes for our bodies and minds as well. Instead of seeing our body as the `enemy,' perhaps we should make peace with it.
Energy: First and foremost, it takes energy to burn energy. That means eating, and eating enough to keep all our internal systems operating at their peak performance. When it comes to losing weight, the last thing we need is for our bodies to slow down. As we speed up our metabolism, fat is burned even faster.
Speeding up our metabolism: We all know those (lucky) people who can eat like pigs and never gain weight. And we rightly give the excuse that their metabolism is running faster. There are a couple of little tricks to speed up even a sluggish metabolism. And you can do one of them simply by eating!
Fats can speed up or slow down our metabolism: The fatty acids we eat have a great deal to do with how fast our metabolism runs. If we eat nothing but hard, saturated fats, (as found in meats and fried foods) they actually slow our metabolism down. The less saturated fats and the more unsaturated the fats we put into our bodies, the faster it runs. Mr. Erasmus suggests we pass this threshold when our EFA ingestion is 12-15% of our total calorie consumption. For an average male with an intake of 2,500 calories per day, the amount to take would be (2,500 calories times .12 = 300 calories divided by 9 [num. cal. in a gram of oil] = 33.3 grams oil divided by 12.5 [grams per tablespoon] =) 2 and 2/3 tablespoons. An average female diet of 2000 calories requires 26.6 grams or slightly over 2 tablespoons. (You should supplement this with 30 IU of Vitamin E. Check your vitamins. It's probably already there.) This small amount of oil can easily be put into the foods we eat every day, from pancakes to salad dressings, to vegetables. But don't fry it! If this was Alpha-Linolenic Acid you were supplementing your diet with, which is more unsaturated than Linoleic Acid, our metabolism would run even faster. After a couple of days of taking this, you will probably notice waking up in the morning quite hungry. Don't be alarmed! It is simply because your body is now running faster, using more calories, therefore requiring more food. Take notice of it, it's an honest hunger! And if your experience is anything like mine, you will become full with much less food and it will stay with you longer. But I know an even more important way of speeding up a person's metabolism:
Before you die on the spot from the mere mention of the word, know that exercising won't be nearly so difficult once you are getting your essential nutrients. With essential fatty acids being especially vital in having good physical endurance, they also help us make a quick recovery from muscle strain. Exercise can even be fun!
Some really wonderful things happen when we exercise
aerobically.
Avoiding the anaerobic level: When you first start exercising and for your main weight loss goals, you want to stay within the aerobic realm. Later we will talk briefly about when it's good to go into the anaerobic level. Exercise is not aerobic if it doesn't stimulate our oxygen intake and cardiovascular system. But it is also possible to exercise so vigorously that our bodies stop using fat. When this happens we go from the aerobic mode to the anaerobic state. It takes oxygen to burn fat. When we exercise anaerobically there is no oxygen left to burn fat. Every bit of oxygen we breath in is being used by our muscles. So, for aerobic exercise to be most beneficial, our exercise level of exertion must fit within a specific range.
The secret: knowing how hard to push. There are a couple of indicators to help us determine if we are exercising too vigorously: If we are so out of breath we can't even speak a sentence, or become completely exhausted quickly, we are pushing ourselves too hard.
One way to tell if we are exercising at an aerobic level is how fast we are breathing. When our bodies are in an aerobic state, our breathing is at a fast but comfortable rate. We should be able to speak a sentence without it killing us. Monitoring our heart rate is a more accurate way to determine at what level we should push ourselves to maintain an aerobic state and is influenced by our physical condition, our age, and our gender. The following chart gives an approximation of what a moderately healthy person's heart rate should be when exercising aerobically.
Training heart rate chart in Beats per six seconds3 (times by 10 to get beats per minute)
AGE TRAINING HEART RATE 10-20 14-16 20-30 13-17 30-40 12-16 40-50 12-15 50-60 11-15 60-70 10-14 70-80 10-13 80-90 9-12 90-UP 8-11
The sum of things: To sum things up, if you are not already in fairly good shape, consult a doctor to find what exercise program is right for you. Remember that if our exercising isn't vigorous enough, we will never burn off the fat. If it is too active, we will go into an anaerobic state and possibly even hurt ourselves. When you decide on what level your heart rate should be, make it a practice to stop occasionally and check it, then modify your exercise activity accordingly.
There are many types of aerobic exercises. Only a small sampling is listed here:
Even though no actual body fat burning can take place during anaerobic exercise, it can be valuable in your overall weight control program. Periods of anaerobic exercise will increase your overall metabolism and actually enhance the overall effects of keeping the weight off. It stimulates muscle growth, and this in turn increases the daily caloric requirement of the body. The more muscles your body has, the more calories needed to fuel that muscle. Many of the problems with exercise/diets these days is that one gets on an aerobic plan, and when he or she gets down to the desired weight, he or she stops the exercise and gains the weight back. Anaerobic exercise helps to minimize this. Many experts believe both aerobic and anaerobic exercise are essential for long-term weight loss and vitality - aerobic for immediate weight loss, and anaerobic for sustained weight control.
After you get the aerobic part down, practice going into 'bursts' at the anaerobic level. For example, if you are jogging, every 5 to10 minutes break into a hard sprint for 30-60 seconds. In my opinion, you should only do this after you have much of the weight off and are in good physical condition where you aren't going to hurt yourself. If there is any doubt that you aren't ready for this, contact a competent medical authority to see if you are ready for this kind of advanced exercise.
References:
1. 'Aerobic Tips' video tape by Thormock International
Productions, Inc.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ron Sonedecker
Home Page: http://waltonfeed.com/
Much of the information for the EFA pages was taken from Fats that Heal Fats that Kill by Udo Erasmus, Published by Alive Books, Burnaby, BC, Canada 1-800-661-0303
All contents copyright (C) 1995-1999, Al Durtschi. All rights reserved.
Revised: 28 Nov 99
