The Enemy Within
Awaken the gatekeepers of America for an enemy has risen against our great country. This villain dwells in the compromise and unbelief of its citizens.
The weapon this foe uses against our nation its forges from the lust and desires within its people. This enemy advances in the sleep and slumber of its prey. This invader spreads like locust claiming an estimated 35% of all American’s as its victims. As we unmask this assassin we find its identity is obesity, and yes America it has compromised your heart, clouded your mind and weakened your body.
In former President Clinton closing address at the winter Governors meeting in February of 2006 he urged America’s governors to take an active role in the fight against childhood obesity.
Dealing Childhood Obesity
President Clinton was quoted in saying, “nine million children and adolescents are overweight and have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults.” He went on to say, “we must act now to reverse this deadly trend. If we do not, this could be the first generation that will have a shorter life span than its parents.”
Hospital costs related to child and adolescent obesity have risen 300% over the last 20 years going from $ 35 million to $ 127 million in 1999. In 2004 a study released by Emory University showed obesity accounted for 27% of the growth in health care spending. Clinton, sited Health Affairs published study which estimates that The United States will spend over 4 trillion dollars on health care by 2015.
Obesity is an enemy that not only threatens our health and life expectancy, but is bankrupting our country in the process.
The importance in the rise in childhood obesity, is it speaks against the scientific community’s position that obesity is determined by a genetic code that must be discovered. If this were true, why would it now being showing up in the children over the last two decades?
Another health enemy related to obesity attacking America and its children is IRS, no not the folks from Washington, but Insulin Resistance Syndrome or Metabolic Syndrome. Both obesity and IRS are growing at epidemic pace and if you tract their history they are mirroring one another.
Why would this be? Answer, because the same lifestyle factors that cause them are found in both.
Lifestyle Factors
Again, look to what’s happening to the children, it was unheard of for a child to have IRS or Type II diabetes, or first known as adult-onset diabetes, which science has quickly renamed. In the last 20 years childhood and adolescent Type II diabetes has increased at rates experts describe as epidemic. If this were genetic only in origin why would it be showing up in the last two decades.
In April of 2006 a team of scientists from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) announced they have identified a genetic variant, present in ten percent of individuals studied connected with elevated risk of obesity found in both European and African ancestry. Researchers using families from the well known Framingham Heart study discovered through genetic analysis a common variant near the INSIG2 gene (Insulin-Induced-Gene2).
Obesity Research
The study found individuals who possessed this gene were 10% likely to be overweight or obese. The risk is reported to be found in both adults and children.
Hidden in the report is the most important part of the discovery. Michael Christman, PhD., professor and Chairman of Board of Genetic’s at BUSM said, “the obesity variant is ancient and most likely arose prior to human migration out of Africa. In most cases a pre-deposing genetic signature as the one found in this study may also require a specific environment to show it’s effect.”
In other words it takes lifestyle (poor nutrition and lack of exercise) or other environmental causes to bring on it effect.
In a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in March of 2006, authors of the study believe that present obesity rates will reduce American’s life expectancy, reversing a 200 year trend. Co-author of the study Dr. David Ludwig of Children’s Hospital in Boston was quoted saying,
“we lack any clear vision as a nation for solving the obesity epidemic.”
Anyone would be deceived if they said they have all the answers regarding the cause and solution to obesity. In a scientific environment which is hungry for knowledge, and a media atmosphere quick to release headline news, poor wisdom has been used in releasing its findings to the public. This has created weight loss as big business in our country, full of half truths and broken promises, which at best try to treat and few heal us of this growing problem.
The bible warns us of a time when, “They will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their etching ears want to hear they will turn away from the truth and turn to myths.”
There could be no greater truth than in our battle with obesity.
America is beyond needing to lose weight, it needs to be healed. Obesity in our country is beyond the help of short term diet concepts, or magical weight loss supplements, which relieve us of the responsibility of lifestyle reform.
We must stop trying to treat the symptoms of obesity, but get to the real root of the problem.
Fighting Obesity
Our lifestyles no longer support the hormonal design of our bodies, we our fighting against thousands of years of hormonal evolution, and that’s a battle we can not win. The Obesity Association of America on it’s website list obesity as a complex disease, which is caused by poor diet, lack of exercise activity, genetic or heredity influenced, stress, cultural and sleep deprivation.
The only one that is outside our control, the genes our parents handed down to us. The solution should be clear, focus on what is within our control and become responsible to control it. The answer, LIFESTYLE, LIFESTYLE and more LIFESTYLE.
The scope of this article is not to provide every answer to obesity, but to open a door of understanding that the healing of this disease lies within us. We must learn how to activate our bodies natural ability to heal itself. To tap into this healing power, first you must see that as human being we are complex in design and made up of spirit, mind and body. If there is a problem in one area it will effect the others as well.
If you believe this to be true then you are ready to win this battle with obesity. As a nutritionist, herbalist and healing minister, I believe the only permanent answer to losing weight and becoming healthier in the process is holistic, one that will involve the guidance of the spirit, acceptance of the mind, will and emotions, and the discipline of the body to carry it out.
If you are overweight you must not be deceived in believing this is just a physical problem, but beliefs, or better yet fears now support this problem and a free will which chooses to maintain it. I remind you, our focus is not just losing weight, but to be healed in the process.
The first step in Holistic weight loss is to bring cleansing to the whole body, here again I’m not speaking of only the physical body, but to the spirit as well. In my nutritional practice most overweight patients I see have a diet that consists too high in refined carbohydrates and saturated fats and much too low in fiber.
Many who are overweight suffer from constipation or irritable bowel syndrome which is a sign of a toxic or unclean colon, due to impacted fecal matter. Most natural healers believe that 90% of all disease is directly or indirectly caused by an unclean or unhealthy colon. As mucus develops of the walls of the large intestine to protect against toxins entering into the blood stream, it also prevents nutrition from metabolized food from entering the blood robbing the body of vital energy for life.
- If you suffer from the complications of a unhealthy colon a good detoxification program, will not only target the colon, but the liver, kidneys and blood and lymphatic system, this will allow better absorption and assimilation of nutrition as you commit to a healthy eating plan.
Our spirit is much like the colon, it becomes toxic with a buildup of un-forgiveness, past failures, disappoint and hidden pain. If left untreated this spiritual toxicity spreads like a poison to our physical body.
So how does this effect are weight?
If there is a heaviness on our heart, it will lead to a heaviness on our body. Think of your spirit as a tree and your body is the fruit on the tree. The condition of the fruit, reflects the health of the tree, it will be hard to become physically healthy if you remain spiritually sick. So many times I have asked overweight clients who have a personal relationship with God this question.
Did you ask for God’s help? Too many times the response is, no I didn’t think to ask.
The bible says. “You have not, because you have ask not”. True spiritual cleansing comes when we humble ourselves before God ask for His forgiveness and God’s strength within us to forgive ourselves. To ask for divine help in keeping the door of our past closed and build within us the faith that with God all things are possible.
Holistic Weight loss Program
In a holistic weight loss program the solution is more than losing weight , but to heal the body naturally in the process. To due it right you must stay within the natural hormonal design of the body, not go against it. You say, I don’t need to be healed I only need to lose weight.
My response would be if your 30 or more pounds overweight all the affects of IRS, or Metabolic Syndrome are in place they may just be silent now. That is the most dangerous enemy of them all pain that is silent. Scientists have known for years overweight and obese individuals are the highest risk group to develop type 2 diabetes, what they now know is the biological cause, insulin resistance is found in both.
To lose weight and keep it off you must manage your blood sugar. Not just fasting blood sugar doctors test for, but blood sugar levels 1-2 hour after eating a meal. To speed up weight loss, you need to slow down blood sugar. After a meal blood sugar levels rise and the pancreas produces insulin, which delivers glucose or blood sugar to the muscle cells.
As blood sugar levels drop, insulin levels drop and the pancreas produces the hormone glucagon and nutrients stored in the fat cells are released to the blood and used for energy.
The management of this blood sugar rise and drop is important.
If blood sugar levels go to high insulin feeds the muscle cells and deposits excess sugar into fat cells. If insulin levels go too low, the muscle cells are being under fed. A slow rise in blood sugar provides good nutrition to the muscles and a slow drop allows glucagon to take from the fat cells.
So why do we become insulin resistant?
Though we could be genetically pre-deposed, it’s lifestyle that brings on it’s effects. Insulin resistance occurs when some of receptors on the muscle cell membranes stop accepting insulin to deliver glucose into the cell. Think of it as the receptors are doors to the cell and insulin is the key that unlocks the door and allows the glucose to enter into the cell.
Insulin resistance causes some of these doors to remain closed, and the blood sugar has no place to go, but to remain in the blood or be set out to the fat cells.
Here’s where proper nutrition and exercise can prevent or reverse insulin resistance. Eating at least 4 meals daily, spaced about 4 hours apart, consisting of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, which are low glycemic (turn to sugar slowly) and high in fiber, along with good quality proteins and fats cause blood sugar levels to rise slowly. With a slow rise in blood sugar insulin is produce in lesser amounts but more continually.
This allows the receptors that still work to receive the nutrition into the cell. Conditioned muscles through exercise also allow the receptors to receive better than de-conditioned muscles. Once nutrition and exercise is in place, I’ve found that trace minerals like chromium and vanadium help receptors from resisting insulin.
There are many herbals that can be effective with insulin resistance, but my three favorites are bilberry, turmeric and green tea. I like these because they also have wide ranging benefits with overall health and well being.
Now that you understand what causes insulin resistance and weight gain the question becomes, how do you lose the weight and keep it off?
The answer won’t be found in most diets or weight loss programs. They underfed the body too aggressively and there is a loss of lean tissue (muscle) and disrupt balance in metabolism. To do it right, the weight lost must be fat, without the loss of muscle tissue and keeping balance in the metabolism.
You must maintain a balance between anabolic and catabolic metabolism. In simple terms anabolic means building up or repairing of tissue and catabolic refers to breaking down of tissue. This is the most common reason why most diets fail, the body becomes trapped in the catabolic phase.
The secret to losing fat without losing muscle starts with not being too aggressive or extreme with your reduction of carbohydrates.
You need carbohydrate management, not carbohydrate elimination.
I’ve found by reducing carbohydrates by 20% of daily needs and within 48 hours replenishing the glycogen in the muscle by eating 100% of daily carbohydrate requirements, allows for fat loss, without muscle loss. In essence you have two fat burning days, then a recovery day.
By doing this you’ll have the best of both worlds. You will experience fat loss that averages between 1-2 pounds weekly, while muscles are being well fed.
As mentioned earlier both good nutrition and exercise keep us from becoming insulin resistant. Though it’s beyond the reach of this article to explain what we should do for exercise, most experts would agree we should consistently exercise 3-5 times weekly for at least 30 minutes. It is also important to know when to exercise as it relates to eating. Exercise more aggressively on days where muscle are receiving more carbohydrates for fuel and less aggressively, or taking day off from exercise when receiving less carbohydrate.
One of the most difficult thoughts for exercisers to accept is most of the results from exercise come when we are not exercising. They come after we exercise and in direct response to how the muscles receive nutrition after exercise. The best time to exercise is 1.5 – 2 hours after eating when blood sugar levels and insulin levels are slowly declining. Timing your exercise to this blood sugar decline allows the muscles to receive from the fat cells more effectively. It is important to never exercise without having at least one meal left in your day so that muscles can recuperate from exercise.
A holistic way of eating is more than maintaining a certain size, food is our natural medicine it provides health, or can restore it. Each meal should have a balanced macro-nutrition (30% protein, 50% high fiber, low glycemic carbohydrates and 20% fat), and provide essential micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytochemicals) found in whole grain fruits and vegetables. We must look beyond eating to prevent physical or emotional hunger, but to a higher purpose to heal our bodies, or better yet to prevent diseases from forming.
In closing if you desire the external weight loss of tomorrow, you must commit to the internal change of heart today. It takes more than knowing what to do, you must develop beliefs which keep you doing what you know. You must mature to a place where the spirit, mind and body are in agreement. To defeat this enemy within it will take a spirit that is pure, a mind that is clear and a body that is obedient.
