“I just seem to look at food and I put on weight these days”
“I am doing the same amount of exercise and eating well but I am putting on weight”
Have you ever heard these types of comments? In clinic it is common to have clients over 40 make comments like this. In this article I will explain how this occurs and what you can do about it.
The popular assertion that you need to do more exercise or starve yourself to lose weight is only true, at best, in the short term. Over a longer period of time both exercise and dieting can, and usually do, lead to increased weight.
This article explains how weight in the long term is determined by three key factors:
- the nutrient content of the food you eat rather than the amount you eat;
- undertaking low intensity rather than high intensity exercise; and
- the intensity of your mental approach to life.
Commonly I see clients that feel that as they get older they more readily put on weight. They can get to a point where exercise does not seem to help.
How can this happen?
Digestion is the key
There are a lot of common misperceptions about weight. The normal advice given is that we should eat less calories and exercise more. This misses the most important determinant of weight – the health of your digestive system.
The body must absorb and process what we eat in order for us to have energy and function. This process of absorbing and processing I am going to term ‘digestive fire’. When someone has good digestive fire they can eat a healthy amount of food, even to excess at times, without putting on weight. When they have poor digestive fire the opposite is true.
How does this work? To absorb food we need to produce acid in the stomach to break down proteins, and digestive enzymes in the small intestine to complete the breaking down process for proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Several factors can impede this process:
- When we are stressed, eating on the run, thinking too much and worried our ‘sympathetic nervous system’ sends a message to our intestines to slow down and not absorb food.
- If we are continually stressed then digestion will be poor.
- We need reasonable nutrient stores (ie reasonable vitality) to produce enzymes and stomach acid. For example, neither can be produced without zinc.
If digestion is poor our nutrient stores can be depleted setting up a negative cycle:
The second part of digestive fire – the ability of each cell to release energy from the glucose that is absorbed – is also affected by our nutrient stores. We actually use nutrients to burn the glucose and make energy. This process is called the ‘Krebs cycle’. It is extremely important and in part explains why exercise does not always help us to lose weight.
There are many steps involved in burning glucose. The body needs vitamin B3, magnesium and potassium to complete the first step. In the remaining steps it uses with vitamins B1, B2, B5, magnesium, manganese, and iron.
People that exercise intensely have an increased need for minerals because:
- They excrete minerals through perspiration;
- They utilise minerals and vitamins intensively during the exercise and in the recovery phase;
- Intense exercise creates oxidative stress (in effect physical damage to tissues) that requires nutrients to neutralise.
Intense exercise promotes adrenal activity which intensely utilises this glucose burning process as well as promoting the breakdown of muscle proteins. In contrast, adrenal activity discourages the body getting energy by breaking down the body’s fat stores. Adrenal activity also switches off digestion because it inhibits the parasympathetic nervous system.
This is one of the reasons why adrenal people tend to crave eating lots of carbohydrates and have more difficulty regulating energy levels and blood sugar levels. Instead of slowly utilising the body’s fat stores to deliver energy slowly over time, they instead get short-term glucose boosts of energy.
So being calmer and less adrenal helps to improve digestion, blood sugar regulation and encourage the body to burn fat stores rather than crave simple sugars.
What is the Alternative to Intense Exercise?
Exercise (broadly defined) has been shown to increase longevity. The human body is not designed to be sedentary. However there is a big difference between the intense exercise approach in the Western world to the East.
In the East exercise that builds energy and relaxes the mind is promoted – such as yoga, tai chi, qi gong. Walking is another low intensity exercise that has been shown to be good for the mind as well as the body.
Low intensity exercise does not stimulate the body’s stress systems. Instead it tends to promote a more relaxed, calmer approach to life that is so important for good digestion. It also helps reduce oxidative stress, improve immune function and better eating habits.
What Should I Eat?
The key contributor to weight gain in the West is the high consumption of simple carbohydrates: pasta, white rice, breads, biscuits, chips, lollies, juices, soft drinks etc etc. These foods drain the body’s nutrient stores because the body requires nutrients to utilise them but these foods have no nutrients in them. Eating these foods is like putting green wood on our digestive fire – too much and the fire goes out.
Compare this with natural whole foods such as an avocado or fish. Fish and avocado are nutrient dense foods. When the body digests them it gets not just glucose but many minerals and vitamins. Eating these foods is like putting dry high quality wood on our digestive fire – it tends to burn even brighter.
Hunger is also effected by the types of foods you eat. Studies show clearly that excess eating is more likely with high carbohydrate low fat diets. This is because fats tend to satiate us quickly, so we eat less over time. In rat studies, rats that were fed carbohydrates lived 10% shorter life spans than rats that were fed fats. The main difference was in the amount they ate and the effect that had over time on obesity.
Proteins and fats have the advantage of being slow to digest, which means that they have less of an impact on blood sugar. Diabetes is rife in Australia with more than 35% of Australians reported to be pre-diabetic or diabetic. This reflects an inappropriate simple carbohydrate versus complex carbohydrate balance in Australian diets but also an inappropriate carbohydrate to fat and protein mix.
The simple solution is to eat predominantly whole foods – vegetables, fruits, nuts and meats. Avoid all processed foods, soft drinks, and juices. This includes foods packed with simple carbohydrates like white pasta, white rice, and breads.
The Mind Body Medicine Approach
In Mind Body Medicine we recognise that weight is a function of the mind and the body. Our approach is multifaceted addressing in the mind:
key psychological themes causing stress and impeding digestion;
- self image and issues around boundaries and identity;
- issues around control;
- issues around nurture and caring for self.
In the body we address:
- underlying nutrient state and effects on digestion;
- sympathetic nervous system and its effects on digestion;
- diet;
- exercise;
- conditions and drivers contributing to an unbalanced metabolism.
In addition our eating habits are important. Do we eat on the run or take the time to sit, relax and eat. Eating slowly and relaxing during and after eating improves digestion and can make a large difference to weight.
Conclusion
Over the long term weight is predominantly a function of the health of the digestive system. Digestion works well when we eat nutrient dense whole foods, eat calmly and in a relaxed fashion, lower the intensity of our mind and exercise and maintain good physical vitality.
David Corby is CEO of CCM, teacher of holistic kinesiology and mind body medicine and published author of ‘Finding Joy Within’, ‘Energetic Protection’, ‘Neuropressure’ and numerous accredited courses. David is a registered Acupuncturist, a mind body practitioner and holistic kinesiologist. A world renowned lecturer who teaches in Australia and overseas.
