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Published August 20, 2008
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Losing Weight After Forty
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| By Dr. Theresa Tsingis, D.C., M.S. |
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| Photo courtesy of www.istockphoto.com |
Losing Weight After Forty What you’ll learn from this article: ? What to do ? How easy it is ? Expected results ? A success story Fall is an ideal time of year to trim a waistline before the holiday season sets in. Enlarging waists and the diseases associated with it are increasing in epidemic proportions. Since losing weight after age forty is a challenge for many, here are some basic guidelines that if followed, will help with weight loss.
Get enough rest and drink enough water. Water is required by the body in order to chemically burn fat. How much water is enough? A simple guide is urine color from pale yellow to clear, indicating that hydration is adequate. How much sleep helps with weight loss? Seven to eight hours allows for the nocturnal rest and repair of tissues and metabolic enzyme production needed for weight loss. Studies show that insomnia and lack of adequate sleep increases obesity.
Eating breakfast revs up metabolic engines. Skipping meals causes the liver to access muscle tissue for blood sugar, resulting in a loss of lean mass. Eating every 4 hours keeps blood sugar levels normal, and amounts to five small meals daily. Protein intake is important to “feed” muscles.
Eat like a hunter-gatherer, most of the time. Our genetics are geared towards breaking down the foods in our environment that we had as a species from the beginning of time. Factory made foods contain ingredients that our enzymes have not genetically had a chance to figure out. Food additives, dyes, and colors are relatively new substances for the liver to detoxify so that we are not poisoned by these chemicals. If you want to feel and look better, decrease the processed foods in your life. Hunter-gatherers ate nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, berries, fish, meat, anything that came out of the ground or sea. Agriculture began about 10, 000 years ago, which is a lot more time than processed foods have been around, so dairy products may be all right for most people to consume. There are tests which can determine if dairy products are compatible with an individual's digestive tract.
Surprise your muscles. If workouts are a part of your life already, the added element of changing the workout periodically usually increases muscle mass and burns fat. One hour of activity daily is recommended by national health associations in Nordic countries, typically very health-oriented organizations. Think about it – as hunter-gatherers previously spending 12 hours daily foraging and hunting, the current time expenditure in our culture takes the form of eating, sitting, watching tv, working at a desk, etc. Humans were probably engineered for much more activity than they have exerted in the last 200 years, and the “diseases of sedentaryness” have increased proportionately.
Keep track of your body composition. “Nancy”, a forty five year old client of ours, came in for a nutrition workup for high cholesterol and arthritis. She looked a trim size 6 and did not list weight loss as one of her goals. To her surprise, the body composition reading showed that she had too much body fat. It's what's inside that counts when it comes to weight. Too much fat causes an overactivity of fat-based inflammatory cells, which irritate joints, and predispose to heart disease, cancer and diabetes. It could also contribute to her high blood fat (cholesterol) levels. It's possible to be an “overly fat” normal weight person, and that impacts health in fundamental ways.
Work with a knowledgeable nutritionist. Our clients begin a weight loss program with a body composition analysis used in research labs, for an age-matched starting point and goal. It's the smart way to run a weight loss program. At Lamorinda Nutrition, we work with medical doctors and other health professionals to provide a program that is easily implemented, consistent in results, changes eating habits for a lifetime, and fosters longterm preventive and positive health changes. The rate of fat loss to expect is between 1-2 pounds per week, depending on effort. When more complex guidelines than those we've described are required, we can unearth underlying metabolic dynamics that need to be addressed. |
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| Dr. Theresa Tsingis, D.C., M.S., practices at Lamorinda Nutrition, 89 Davis Road, Orinda. She can be reached at drtsingis@comcast.net or (925) 254-1080. |
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| Reach Dr. Tsingis at: drtsingis@comcast.net |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA