Dr. Mike’s Wellness Advice: Successful Weight Loss Program
Filed Under: Sensible Weight Loss
Successful weight loss programs are at times difficult to come by, specifically sensible weight loss programs; I have come up with a specialized successful and sensible weight 7-step weight loss program that anyone can follow:
1. A correct ASSESSMENT.
2. OBEJECTIVITY.
3. CUSTOMIZED – Individualized approach.
4. Balanced and HEALTHY nutrition program.
5. Includes LIFESTYLE changes – Behavior modification.
6. SUPPORT system.
7. COMPLIANCE system – Facilitators.
We will expand on these 7 keys below:
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Key 1 - Making a correct assessment.
What caused the obesity? Why are you overweight? It’s important to get an answer to that question and identify the causative factor or factors. When we know what caused the weight gain, we can not only address these causes but also make sure we control them while trying to maintain a healthy weight.
First question we need to ask is WHEN the weight gain started?
- Post-partum (during pregnancy and after delivery of baby), during pre-menopausal period or menopause?
- As a result of a metabolic disease or chronic condition such as diabetes, arthritis, fibromyalgia which all can affect your ambulatory status or activity level?
- As a result of a trauma: a physical trauma such as a car accident, or an emotional trauma such as the loss of a spouse or family member. These traumas cause significant amounts of stress which in turn slow down metabolism. Also, many people with a lot of stress cope by eating more and find comfort in foods.
Next, what does the current diet consist of? How much do you currently consume? This is called the ‘current diet assessment’. What are your current eating habits? What is your current diet composition? Are you on the “Standard American diet” (SAD)? How much fast food do you consume? What macro – and micronutrients are you lacking? Do you use supplementation? In what circumstances do you grab for food? Are there any important environmental factors?
We also need to inquire about one’s current physical activity level or exercise regimen.
We need to look at one’s medical history and family history, and discuss previous attempts to lose weight. What diets and weight loss programs have you tried? What were the results? What was your experience? Why did you quit?
When we suspect hormonal imbalances (weight gain started during menopause or after a hysterectomy for example), we need to prescribe for a complete hormone panel and also screen for cancer (we don’t want to administer hormones when there’s a cancer present). Even a great weight loss program will produce limited results if one’s hormones are out of balance. The test results will indicate deficiencies and/or excesses of specific hormones, and with the prescription of bio-identical hormones we can safely replace these ‘missing’ hormones and re-establish a healthy hormonal balance.
Key 2 – Objectivity.
With most popular diets and weight loss programs, the scale indicates whether you lost weight or not. However, the scale does NOT indicate WHAT was lost: body fat, lean muscle mass or water? Therefore, the scale is really not an objective way of measuring the effectiveness of a weight loss program. People on a diet or weight loss program usually need to lose excess body fat and maybe even gain some muscle mass, but certainly can’t afford to lose valuable muscle tissue or water! There is NO way to really measure ‘true’ progress with a scale and evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
What we need is measure our body composition with a body composition analyzer, such as the InBody520. This accurate piece equipment measures your percentage of body fat, water balance and segmental lean muscle mass. Now, we will be able to set specific goals (eg. Lose 40 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of lean muscle mass), monitor progress and revise the plan of action if indicated. With the results of the body composition analysis we also will be able to design a personal exercise regimen based on the segmental muscle mass measurements.
Does this make sense? We just want to make sure you are losing fat, not muscle or water AND with a body composition analysis we can accurately monitor this! That’s what I call OBJECTIVITY. It also motivates the participants when they see objective progress is being made.
Key 3: CUSTOMIZED – Individualized approach.
We need to get away from these “One-Size-Fits-All’ approaches and customize the client’s weight loss program, including nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle changes.
Besides basing your weight loss program on the results of a complete body composition analysis, we also recommend blood chemistry labs, including cholesterol levels, lipid profile, CBC, and fasting glucose. And, if indicated, we also prescribe a complete hormone panel. We also recommend the ELISA/ACT test which reveals the food items we should eliminate from our diet. Each individual’s nutrition program will be designed based on the results of all these tests! A customized approach will be far more effective and promotes better and lasting results.
Blood Chemistry – ELISA/ACT Test.
One of the major advancements in medicine in recent years has been our expanded understanding of the immune system and its far broader and more important role in general health and wellness. Initially, it was thought that our immune system was only involved in defending our bodies
Key 4 – A balanced & healthy nutrition program.
We also have to make sure that this customized diet or nutrition program is balanced and healthy, and provides the body with all the essential nutrients it needs on a daily basis! Through nutrition and supplementation, we will try to RESTORE normal health and balance in the body, including pH levels and metabolism. An acidic pH slows down metabolism, and by introducing more alkaline foods into someone’s diet or nutrition program, we will help speed up metabolism and restore normal functioning of the body, therefore assisting in effective weight loss. We also will discuss detoxification practices and compare the most popular supplements on the market. The nutrition program of our SENSIBLE weight loss program is easy to follow, does NOT dictate participants WHAT to eat which increases compliance, and makes sure the participant is NOT starving or has to sacrifice all the time!
Key 5 – Lifestyle changes.
A diet or weight loss program that does not address lifestyle changes will ONLY produce short-term results. It’s absolutely necessary to address eating habits, emotional eating, and portion size and break some bad habits while re-learning new ones. We will provide what we call “behavior modification” techniques to assist you in making these crucial lifestyle changes.
Key 6 – Support system.
It’s hard to do things by yourself, especially when we want you to make some lifestyle changes. General website support, phone support or online support, chat rooms etc. may be of valuable assistance. However, physician support is even better. He or she understands your personal medical conditions and history, and can communicate with you on a personal level, monitor your progress and modify your plan of action if indicated; and most importantly physician supervision makes your weight loss experience SAFE! If you don’t have a personal doctor or health care professional available to assist you in weight loss, find some outside support (online, weekly conference calls with Q&A, a knowledgeable physician that can assist you personally through email or by phone etc.).
A great tip is that when you decide to enroll in a SENSIBLE weight loss program, try to involve all the members of your household; or find a friend to do it with you! How difficult would it be to try and eat healthier and lose some weight while everyone else at home continues to eat fast food and CRAP all the time? It would benefit everyone you love to participate so you can support each other, and end-up a healthier and happier family!
Key 7 – Compliance.
Compliance is one of the major reasons why people quit diets and weight loss programs. They are too difficult to follow, you feel like you are starving and/or you have to sacrifice too much…you try, but it won’t last and eventually you will quit. Overcoming compliance issues is therefore of utmost importance in establishing a successful weight loss program! Our SENSIBLE weight loss program is designed specifically to increase compliance and make it easier for the participant to follow.
The prescribed nutrition program is simple, yet very effective and ONLY incorporates foods that are palatable to the individual’s taste.
The personal exercise regimen is short, simple and effective and conveniently can fit in everyone’s daily schedule without interrupting that schedule.
Because the nutrition plan is balanced and healthy, participants do NOT encounter the well-known “plateau”. For those who may not know what a “plateau” is….it means that suddenly stop losing weight on a particular diet after you lost some. This usually discourages the participant and he/she quits. The reason why people on most popular diets and weight loss programs hit the plateau is because the diet is unbalanced and tricks the body in losing weight. The body will eventually try and protect itself from health hazards, or is unable to retrieve the necessary energy from its own resources such as muscle tissue.
Personal support and guidance, with the ability to customize, monitor progress and modify the plan of action increases compliance.
Long-term results are maintained by simple continuing to implement the nutrition program, new habits, and exercise regimen. It’s a lifestyle change and it has become part of you. You feel great, you have obtained an optimal body composition, a metabolic and hormonal balance, and you are taking the road to optimal health. Nothing will stop you!
|
Popular diets & weight loss programs |
SENSIBLE Weight Loss |
| One-Size-Fits-ALL | Individualized |
| General guidelines | Physician supervision |
| No medical history | Medical history |
| Un-healthy | Healthy |
| Subjective | Objective |
| Subjective progress | Monitor progress |
| General support (if any) | Individual support |
| Plateau | No plateau |
| Poor compliance | Excellent compliance |
| Short-term results | Long-term results |
Yours in Optimal Health,
Dr. Mike
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We need to get away from these “One-Size-Fits-All’ approaches and customize the client’s weight loss program, including nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle changes.<img style=”float: right;” src=”http://www.greendrinkreviews.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/diets.gif” alt=”" width=”193″ height=”200″ />
Besides basing your weight loss program on the results of a complete body composition analysis, we also recommend blood chemistry labs, including cholesterol levels, lipid profile, CBC, and fasting glucose. And, if indicated, we also prescribe a complete hormone panel. We also recommend the ELISA/ACT test which reveals the food items we should eliminate from our diet. Each individual’s nutrition program will be designed based on the results of all these tests! A customized approach will be far more effective and promotes better and lasting results.
<strong>Blood Chemistry – ELISA/ACT Test.</strong>
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One of the major advancements in medicine in recent years has been our expanded understanding of the immune system and its far broader and more important role in general health and wellness. Initially, it was thought that our immune system was only involved in defending our bodies
Dr. Mike’s Healthy Lifestyle Advice: Soda is Bad
Filed Under: Health & Wellness
Soda is bad, it’s a true Killer, No excuses, ONLY FACTS! Yes, I know you are addicted to soda (no matter which one it is) and therefore you try to find ‘excuses’ to keep swallowing gallons of this toxic waste or liquid toxic candy down your throat. If you drink this waste, do yourself the BIGGEST favor EVER: Stop RIGHT NOW! Even if it’s the only ONE THING you ever do to improve your health, this one will make a HUGE difference!
Here are the FACTS:
Both soda & diet soda are VERY ACIDIC (pH: 2.5 – 3.5), corroding the teeth by eroding its enamel. Phosphoric acid, present in carbonated drinks is violently poisonous, and de-oxidizes the blood. In detergent manufacturing industries, phosphoric acid is used to produce water softener. In the human body, it removes calcium from bones causing osteoporosis (porous bones). Besides causing tooth decay and osteoporosis, soda and soft drinks cause indigestion, kidney stones, skin problems, malnutrition, and much more (please review the ramifications of acidity in Chapter 4).
In most carbonated beverages, caffeine is deliberately added to make it addictive. Caffeine in carbonated drinks is more readily absorbed than any other drink (like coffee, chocolate etc.). Caffeine disturbs sleep by stimulating the nervous system. It also makes premenstrual syndrome worse, causes dehydration and induces the stomach to produce acids, aggravating hyperacidity. Since caffeine disturbs sleep, the body is more likely to produce C – reactive protein, which plays an important role in heart disease.
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Soft drinks are mainly composed of filtered H2O, artificial additives and refined sugar. Thus, they lack nutritional value and only add up calories through their refined sugar; therefore, they make you gain weight and are a contributing factor to the rise of obesity (also among our children). The high amount of sugar consumed through soft drinks (an average of 12 teaspoons or 40 grams/can) leads to the development of bacteria that attack the teeth thus aggravating dental problems.
Even though there is no ‘real’ sugar in diet soda, the artificial low-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame make you feel hungrier and increase the craving for food. The release of insulin is still stimulated and the so called ‘diet’ soda has NO EFFECT whatsoever on your sugar metabolism. Also, people who drink the diet soda wrongly assume that they ingest less sugar, and usually feel that they are ‘allowed’ more other goodies….
Diet soda is much WORSE than regular soda because it contains ASPARTAME & Benzene!
The official story is that aspartame was discovered in 1966 by a scientist developing an ulcer drug (not a “food additive”). Supposedly he discovered, upon carelessly licking his fingers that they tasted sweet. Thus was the chemicals industry blessed with a successor to saccharine, the coal-tar derivative that foundered eight years later under the pressure of cancer concerns.
Aspartame found early opposition in consumer attorney James Turner, author of “The Chemical Feast” and a former Nader’s Raider. At his own expense, Turner fought approval for ten years, basing his argument on aspartame’s potential side effects, particularly on children. His concern was shared by Dr. John Olney, Professor of neuropathology and psychiatry at Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Olney found that aspartame, combined with MSG seasoning, increased the odds of brain damage in children.
Other studies have found that children are especially vulnerable to its toxic effects, a measure of the relation between consumption and body weight. The FDA approved this sweetener in 1981, and is found in hundreds of foods, including iced tea, chocolate milk, milk shakes, chocolate pudding, pie, jello, ice cream etc. The FDA is ever mindful to refer to aspartame, widely known as NutraSweet, as a “food additive”-never a “drug.” A “drug” on the label of a Diet Coke might discourage the consumer. And because aspartame is classified a food additive, adverse reactions are not reported to a federal agency, nor is continued safety monitoring required by law. NutraSweet is a non-nutritive sweetener. The brand name is a misnomer. Try Non-NutraSweet.
Food additives seldom cause brain lesions, headaches, mood alterations, skin polyps, blindness, brain tumors, insomnia and depression, or erode intelligence and short-term memory. Aspartame, according to some of the most capable scientists in the country, does. In 1991 the National Institutes of Health, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, published a bibliography, “Adverse Effects of Aspartame”, listing not less than 167 reasons to avoid aspartame!
Aspartame is an rDNA derivative, a combination of two amino acids. The Pentagon once listed it in an inventory of prospective biochemical warfare weapons submitted to Congress. But instead of poisoning enemy populations, the “food additive” is currently marketed as a sweetening agent in some 1200 food products.
I easily could go on and on, but I guess I made my point!
Benzene is a known carcinogen, a common industrial chemical, and one of the primary causes of leukemia in the U.S. Benzene carries FDA’s “carcinogenic to humans” status (formerly “Class A”). What is most shocking is that the FDA knew of this public threat for over a decade before it informed the public.
Benzoates (carbon-based crystal compounds) are preservatives added to acidic packaged food to prevent the growth of mold, yeast, and some bacteria. Benzoates can be found in such products as pickles, certain Asian condiments, and sodas.
Many soft drinks and sodas contain a form of vitamin C (for flavor). What the FDA knew as early as 1990 is that Vitamin C (“ascorbic acid” to food scientists) can break benzoates down into, yes, you guessed it: benzene.
Enough about sodas and soft drinks! Too sum it up: SODA & SOFT DRINKS are probably the WORST FOOD on planet earth. They are HIGHLY ACIDIC, contain extremely high amounts of sugar or – even worse – artificial sweeteners (listed as biological warfare weapons) that are TOTALLY TOXIC to living cells and GUARANTEE Severe Damage to the Living! And let’s top it all by adding some carcinogens…Just making sure this elixir of DEATH really works…fast!
A GREAT TIP: replace your sugar with raw honey!
Yours in Optimal Health,
Dr. Mike
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Dr. Mike’s Healthy Lifestyle Advice: Good Fats and Bad Fats
Filed Under: Health & Wellness
Good fats and bad fats can often be hard to distinguish from one another. Our body needs FAT! FAT is a key energy source, FAT protects and insulates and it is NOT FAT alone that makes us FAT!
There are Good fats and Bad fats. The good ones are the essential oils (omega 3, 6) which are necessary for a huge number of bodily functions; one of them is the function of our brain!
Our brain needs substantial amounts of good fats to function properly and stay healthy. A shortage of good fats will result in memory loss, lack of concentration and focus, and eventually Alzheimer’s. In short, we need GOOD fats, and that’s why you better take fish-oils and double or triple the recommended dose as I do.
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Most fats we consume are – of course – BAD FATS. There are hundreds of bad fats, including trans-fatty acids (all the others have not even been studied; just imagine how harmful they may be). What are these ‘trans-fats’? Well, ‘trans’ stands for ‘transformation’. The molecular structure of the fat has been altered under high temperatures (frying for example). This ‘new’ fat is really not a fat anymore, but a cancer to happen! The fats are not recognized by the body, and the body has to produce amazing amounts of cholesterol to increase the fluidity of the cell membrane in order to break them down! That’s why cholesterol levels soar! Learn more about the myths and facts on Cholesterol in other articles and video sources…
Yours in Optimal Health,
Dr. Mike
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