I'm not going to add a lot of fluff beyond the title on this post. It's been proven time and time again throughout history. Think of Mohammad Ali, Napoleon, the Trojan horse (It's STILL referenced in today's tech-world!), David & Goliath. Certainly you can name a few more examples on your own, so I won't beat a dead horse. My point is simply that you are. . . READ MORE
I'm not going to add a lot of fluff beyond the title on this post. It's been proven time and time again throughout history. Think of Mohammad Ali, Napoleon, the Trojan horse (It's STILL referenced in today's tech-world!), David & Goliath. Certainly you can name a few more examples on your own, so I won't beat a dead horse. My point is simply that you are what you think you are.
Many of today's most revered doctors are finding connections in the brain that display this truth. Ever failed on a diet? Worry about losing your job if you were to ask for what you are really worth? Settled for less because you didn't think you deserved it anyway? These are lessons to be learned, not failures. When you don't believe in yourself, no one else will either.
"Self-worth comes from one thing - thinking that you are worthy."
- Dr. Wayne Dyer
"Every human being is the author of his own health or disease."
- Buddha
"He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Live out of your imagination, not your history."
- Stephen Covey
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I will leave you with one below. Since today is the 2010 World Cup Final, I also hope that the Oranje of the Nederlands look in the mirror this way before the game! (I made some Dutch friends while they were here for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. My homeland is out and resident nation didn't even qualify so I'll be wearing orange today.)
Now ponder this:
If you would like to research this concept a little further, might I suggest a couple of books? Click here for my TweetShop. It has a few good reads to get you started.
My personal suggestion as to what to read first is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - "Magnificent Mind at Any Age" PBS Special
Obesity genes account for only 5 percent of all weight problems.
But what about the other 95 percent of weight problems?
And why are we seeing such an epidemic of obesity in America today? It is the single most important public health issue facing us.
If genes do not account for obesity, is our high-fat diet to blame?
Wrong again!
But fat contains 9 calories per gram, so shouldn’t eating more fat (and more calories) make you gain weight?
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, pioneering research by Harvard Medical School’s David Ludwig shows us the real reason that low-fat diets do not work -- and reveals the true cause of obesity for most Americans.
He correctly points out that careful review of all the studies on dietary fat and body fat -- such as those done by Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health -- have shown that dietary fat is not a major determinant of body fat.
Let me repeat that.
==> Dietary fat is not a major determinant of body fat.
And that’s not all.
The Women’s Health Initiative, which is the largest clinical trial of diet and body weight, found that 50,000 women on low fat diets had no significant weight loss.
Another study looked at people who followed four different diets for 12 months -- and found no dramatic differences between those who followed low-fat, low-carb, and very- low-carb diets.
You’ve got to wonder: Why aren’t we seeing any significant effects from these various diets?
The main reason, Dr. Ludwig suggests, is that we are looking for answers in the wrong place.
==> The future of treating obesity and weight is in personalizing our approach.
This is the approach I wrote about in my book “UltraMetabolism.” It’s called nutrigenomics. It is the science of how we can use food to influence our genes and personalize our approach to health.
Let me explain how I diagnose and treat obesity.
Over the last 15 years, I have tested almost every one of my patients using a test that most doctors never use. In fact, it is even harder to find in the research, except in this pioneering work by Dr. Ludwig.
This test is cheap, easy to do, and it is probably the most important test for determining your overall health, the causes for obesity, and your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and premature aging.
Yet it is a test your healthcare provider probably does not perform, does not know how to interpret, and often thinks is useless.
Thankfully, Dr. Ludwig’s research brings this critical method of diagnosing the cause of obesity and disease to the forefront.
You see, in two recent studies, he found that the main factor that determines changes in body weight and waist circumference (also known as belly fat) is how your body responds to any type of sugar, carbohydrate, or glucose load.
The most important test to determine this doesn’t measure your blood sugar or cholesterol.
You have to check it after drinking a sugary beverage that contains 75 grams of glucose.
This test has shown me more about my patients than any other test. It helps me personalize and customize a nutritional approach for them.
And its usefulness is now being borne out in this research by Dr. Ludwig and his colleagues.
In one study, for example, Dr. Ludwig and his colleagues followed 276 people for six years.
They performed a glucose tolerance test at the beginning of the study and looked at insulin concentrations 30 minutes after the people consumed a sugary drink. This gave the researchers a rough estimate of whether they were high- or low insulin secretors.
During the course of the study, they looked at the people’s body weight and waist circumference or belly fat.
They found that those who were the highest insulin secretors had the biggest change in weight and belly fat compared to the low insulin secretors. And people who were high insulin secretors and ate low-fat diets did even worse.
This makes perfect sense -- because insulin does two things:
1. It stimulates hunger.
2. It is a fat storage hormone, which makes you store belly fat.
So, after you eat a high-carbohydrate meal, your insulin spikes and your blood sugar plummets -- making you very hungry.
That is why you crave more carbs, more sugar, and eat more the whole day.
Dr. Ludwig also found that the patients who ate a low glycemic load diet -- which lowers blood sugar and keeps insulin levels low -- had much higher levels of HDL “good” cholesterol and much lower levels of triglycerides.
It appears that the best way to address your cholesterol is not necessarily to eat a low-fat diet, but to eat a low glycemic load diet, which keeps your blood sugar even.
I highly recommend reviewing Dr. Ludwig’s research on PubMed, the National Library of Medicine’s database, to learn more about his exciting and pioneering work.
I also encourage you to read his book, “Ending the Food Fight.” It is the first and only roadmap for dealing with our exploding childhood obesity epidemic.
Finally, I encourage you to ask your physician to do a glucose tolerance test and measure your insulin and blood sugar at 30 minutes, one hour, and two hours to get the best picture of your insulin profile.
If you are a high insulin secretor and your insulin goes over 30 at a half hour, one hour, or two hours, you produce too much insulin and need to be sure you are staying on a low glycemic load, whole-foods, unprocessed diet, which I describe in “UltraMetabolism.”
The bottom line?
If you want to fit into your jeans, you have to fit into your genes.
Now I’d like to hear from you…
What seems to trigger weight gain for you?
How have different diets worked for you?
Have you ever had you insulin and blood sugar tested?
Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment.
Ebbeling CB, Leidig MM, Feldman HA, Lovesky MM, Ludwig DS. Effects of a low-glycemic load vs low-fat diet in obese young adults: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2007 May 16;297(19):2092-102
Chaput JP, Tremblay A, Rimm EB, Bouchard C, Ludwig DS.
A novel interaction between dietary composition and insulin secretion: effects on weight gain in the Quebec Family Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Feb;87(2):303-9
Dancing can be a most enjoyable form of exercise. But, what most people don't know is that it also has a large number of health benefits. Dancing is a great full out mind and body workout. It can make your body and soul feel good in a way that no other exercise can. The benefits of dancing are like no other. It can help you lose weight, strengthen and tone your body, increase stamina and flexibility, improve balance and posture, and produce confidence among other things. Although dancing may appeal mostly to women, in the last number of years the most popular forms of dance have included males just as much as females. Whether it be dancing the waltz, cha cha, or rhumba - dancing can be a great form of exercise for anyone.
Dancing can be used in place of regular low – impact exercises such as cycling, walking, or aerobics. Depending on the form of the dance, you can actually burn a large amount of calories doing it. Who would have thought you could have fun and lose weight at the same time?!? Research shows that a 150-pound adult can actually burn approximately 150 calories doing 30 minutes of social dancing. The best part is you're not even thinking about losing the weight while doing it.
Researchers believe that dancing can keep your mind and body healthy as you age. Any kind of dancing increases the number of chemicals being produced in the brain to help with the growth of nerve cells. More importantly, dances that require you to learn certain steps can actually increase your brain power and help to improve your memory skills. Dancing has even been known to help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Any kind of dance has you using all the different parts of your body. This also means that all the different muscles in your body are being used. This helps to strengthen and tone your muscles without hurting your joints. It also helps to strengthen bones, and tone your entire body. Specific dances also have certain benefits for your body. For example, belly dancing helps prevent lower back problems; ballroom dancing helps keep the heart in shape; and salsa dancing helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol. All forms of dance however are known to lower your risk of heart disease, help with weight loss, and strengthen the bones and muscles in your legs and hips.
Overall, dancing has become a well known form of exercise. Recently it has reached out to both males and females with its new age forms of ballroom dancing. Ballroom dancing has become a part of the entertainment industry which has given it its rising appeal. However,
there are many different forms of dance to try out, all of which keep you in good health and are lots of fun.
Sunday, July 11, 2010 - All Your Power Comes from Within
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by Louise Hay.
.” It’s called nutrigenomics. It is the science of how we can use food to influence our 
.” It is the first and only roadmap for dealing with our exploding childhood obesity epidemic.