Excessive weight gain and obesity

Excessive weight gain and obesity: characteristic of the modern individual?

The number of obese people is reportedly increasing in every developed country worldwide. In the USA, a country at the forefront of economical advancement, 57 million people are 20% overweight while 12 million carry over 30% excess weight. The evidence shows that the vast majority of the population in leading countries of the world will be obese by the end of the 21st century.

We simply can’t account for these numbers due to gluttony, lack of will or discipline. In fact, we have to understand that being overweight or obese is not clearly one’s fault. All modern, civilized, individuals face the following obesity-provoking circumstances:

• Severe decrease of cardiovascular demand in daily occupations;
• Fundamental changes in diet with prevalent tinned, refined and carbohydrate foodstuffs;
• Total lack of bioactive substances in diet;
• Universal environmental pollution.

Nowadays, excessive weight gain and obesity are not at all attributed to overeating but chronic metabolic disorders. For the common obese individual, any attempt to battle obesity or excessive weight is in vain.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: you’ve made the right choices everywhere else, so why are you overweight?

A lot of studies show that the occurrence of obesity is inversely proportional to the level of education. Individuals with higher levels of education are more aware of the nature of the disease and take corresponding steps to prevent it.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: exercise and exertion.

There is an easy way to evaluate any proposed method of treatment for obesity or weight-control. All you have to do is ask: how does the proposed treatment perceive physical activity? If no exercise is required, you should question the validity of the approach.

A human is born to move; our biochemistry is genetically programmed for physical activity. Exercise helps you prevent excessive weight gain, and does a lot more. Exercise is highly effective in increasing brainpower, preventing depression and anxiety, as well as osteoporosis, cancer and a number of other diseases.

Lack of physical activity generally results in certain metabolic disorders; in fact, one of the leading causes of obesity is the prevalence of hypodynamia.

A traditional—and effective—method of losing weight involves leading a healthy lifestyle that includes consistent physical exercise. You may start with as little as a brisk 30 minute walk, daily, preferably outdoors.

At the same time, you should also keep in mind that any intense exercise, such as aerobics, is associated with producing active forms of oxygen. These are toxic, free-radicals which may damage your cells, and are thus harmful. Therefore, when doing aerobics, consider using anti-oxidants; a wide range of them are available on our site.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: dieting.

Calorie restricted diet

Calories, calories. Doesn’t it sound a little bit too simplistic? A human being is not a just a heat and power plant. Different meals, with the same number of calories, may influence you body in different ways, depending on the particular foodstuffs. Let us consider refined sugar, which is highly detrimental to your health; in spite of being low-calorie, it triggers excessive weight gain and obesity. Whereas veal liver, provided that it comes from reliable sources, can be really beneficial, and there is no evidence that obesity will develop from an analogous caloric intake.

Most calorie-restricted diets are overly simplistic. It is true that in accordance with the principles of thermodynamics, when energy intake falls behind the energy demands of the system, the body starts losing weight. It is just as valid to state that, because most of these calorie-restricted diets are packaged with insufficient allowances of proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals and some other bioactive substances, these diets tend to cause numerous health disorders. And, it often happens, that women suffer most from these side-effects; they may as well say good-bye to their healthy skin, hair, nails and a regular menstrual cycle.

Two conditions need to be met to make a calorie-restricted diet worthwhile.

Firstly, the diet must be well-balanced and include sufficient amounts of all the essential nutrients, such as proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals, fibers and other substances, i.e. macronutrients and micronutrients.

Among the great range of calorie-restricted diets, the Cambridge Diet meets these requirements better than any other product on the market. Three servings of the Cambridge Diet provide 450 calories that contain as much as 100% of daily value of essential macronutrients, such as proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, and micronutrients, i.e. vitamins and minerals. Of all the calorie-restricted diets, none can rival its composition. It is also surprisingly tasty, and filling.

So what happens when your only source of nutrition comes from the Cambridge Diet? Your weight will drop quickly. However, as soon as your caloric intake increases from 450 calories to 2000, your weight gain will skyrocket. What’s more, the sudden weight loss may impair your health.

That is why, as a second condition, it is important that weight loss be moderate and gradual. It is more recommendable to simply replace one meal per day with the Cambridge Diet, preferably dinner, and also to limit you calorie intake modestly. It will result in slower weight loss, but your body will adjust gradually and benefit, rather than harm, your health. Also, this way it is unlikely you will regain the pounds you shed, as long as you stick to healthy lifestyle.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: vitamins.

It is commonly believed that one receives every required bioactive substance from a diet that includes sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables. It is not a horrible mistake to think so; however it leads to sense of false security that stems from the widespread vitamin and mineral insufficiency found from the produce of modern agriculture.

Chronic metabolic disorders, as well as their symptoms, such as weight gain and obesity, all originate from a deficiency of one or several bioactive substances. Thus, regular use of an effective vitamin complex is essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle; emphasis on effective.

The news that vitamin C may induce weight loss, other things being equal, has been discussed frequently, all over the world. A double blind, placebo-controlled trial showed that 19 significantly obese people who were administered 3 g of vitamin C lost noticeably more weight than the control group (2.5 kg against 1 kg)

Reference: G.J. Naylor et al. A Double Blind Placebo Controlled Trial of Ascorbic Acid in Obesity / Nutr. Health, 4 (1), 1985, p. 25-28.

The evidence notwithstanding, many people are still doubtful about the benefits of vitamin C. However, experimental observations pose a strong case. Vitamin C is really valuable for increasing the metabolic rate, maintaining thyroid gland function and helping the liver combat numerous toxins. What brand of vitamin C you should take, depends only on how much of a benefit you want to gain. We recommend Vitamin C with Dihydroquercetin.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: hunger.

Excessive weight gain and obesity tend to be associated with hunger. Moreover, in some cases one may feel insatiably hungry. This is sometimes a sign of a serotonin deficiency. Serotonin levels may be increased by taking 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), which is an amino acid isolated from an African plant named Griffonia simplicifoli. If you don’t change any other aspect of your lifestyle, the use of 5-hydroxytryptophan may induce weight loss.

In one study, a group of women kept to an unrestricted diet and were treated with 300mg of 5-hydroxytryptophan three times a day. This regimen was maintained during the first 6 weeks of the experiment. On average, the women treated with 5-HTP lost 1.98kg. The control group lost only 0.28kg. Moreover, the treated women explained that they felt satiated earlier during a meal. For the next 6 weeks, the women switched to a 1,200 calorie diet. Weight loss within the 12 weeks averaged roughly 5.2kg for the experimental group and 0.75kg for the control group. This time, 90% of the treated women reported feeling satisfied earlier during a meal.

Reference: C. Cangiano et al. The Eating Behavior and Adherence to Dietary Prescription in Obese Adult Subjects Treated with 5-Hydroxytryptophan / Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 56, 1992 - p.863-867.

In severe cases, one may overcome an intense sweet-tooth with L-glutamine. Glutamine should be taken on an empty stomach, one hour before a meal, 500 to 1,500mg up to four times a day.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: energy generation and expenditure.

In almost every case of excessive weight gain and obesity energy generation and expenditure tend to decline. The following substances stimulate energy generation.

Carnitine, transfers fatty acids to mitochondria, where they burn in the initial stage of energy generation. Coenzyme Q10 is essential for tissue respiration and is involved in the second stage of energy generation. Other things being equal, administration coenzyme Q10 is associated with significant weight loss.

An experiment was conducted with a group of nine people, five of which, were coenzyme Q10 deficient. All nine participants were given 100mg of coenzyme Q10 together with a calorie-restricted diet for 9 weeks. Average weight loss for the participants who were coenzyme Q10 deficient was observed to be 13.4 kg, whereas the rest of the group only lost 5.8kg. It was concluded that in 50% of the population, obesity is may be linked to a coenzyme Q10 deficiency.

Reference: L. van Gaal et al. Explotary Study of Coenzyme Q10 in Obesity / in Biomedical and Clinical Aspects of Coenzyme Q, vol. 4. Folkers and Y. Yamamura (eds). (Amsterdam: Elseevier Science Publ, 1984 - p. 369-373.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: thermogenesis.

All mammals, including humans, have two forms of adipose, or fat, tissue. The more common white adipose tissue forms the large majority of fat deposits. However, brown adipose tissue, which is located around kidneys, is where the process of thermogenesis, or non-shivering heat generation, takes place. There is the evidence that thermogenesis declines with excessive weight gain and obesity.

The following substances stimulate thermogenesis.

• Vitamin C;
• Other anti-oxidants;
• Polyunsaturated lipids, Omega-3;
• Minerals, such as chromium, zinc, selenium, manganese;
• Amino acids, such as carnitine, methionine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, arginine;
• Herbs, such as ginseng, white willow, kelp, gauarana, and cola.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: metabolic disorders

In 90% of cases, excessive weight gain and obesity are caused by a carbohydrate metabolism disorder. Chromium and vanadium are essential to normalize the carbohydrate metabolism.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: environmental pollution.

Most toxins we ingest with water, food and air are neutralized in the liver. If the liver fails to inactivate them, toxins must be stored elsewhere. Most toxins being liposoluble, or soluble in the fat cells, it is the adipose tissue that works as sanitary landfill.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the human organism will gain weight in order to store various poisons in the body. This is a major contributor to the detrimental health effects experienced by obese individuals. Unfortunately, a lot of treatments used to remove toxins are mistakenly limited to purgation. The fact is, the entire organism has to be cleansed.

Warning! Due to numerous toxins entering blood during weight loss, the liver will require extra protection.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: the role of the liver.

The liver is the primary point of lipid metabolism. Due to the stresses of an unbalanced lifestyle, the liver may weaken and be unable to release lipids into the bloodstream. Therefore, when the liver is overloaded with lipids, it can no longer split lipid cells, an essential function, throughout the entire body, which results in excessive weight gain and obesity. Taking lecithin supplements is recommended, as lecithin may help the liver rid itself of the lipid overload.

Excessive weight gain and obesity: benefits from fiber.

Statistically, a significant portion of the African population is of a lean build and is not prone to contracting certain diseases, whereas amid Caucasians there is a tendency towards obesity and a population pathology plagued by a slew of different disorders. The main reason for this difference is due to the fact that Africans eat much more fiber. Accordingly, they benefit from having stool three times larger in volume. Of course, one has to consume fiber regularly; but to get off to head start there are special fiber complexes. Among them you may consider Enhanced Fiber Food Powder.

It is challenging to address all the complexities associated with the problem of excessive weight gain and obesity within the limits of a brief article. Discussion of this interesting topic will definitely be continued on ABCVitaminsLife website.

As a parting thought, it should be noted that a comprehensive approach is the only possible way to solve the problem of excessive weight gain and obesity.