The holidays. Time to celebrate, reflect and resolve for the future, too.
If you are overweight, as 70% of Americans are, losing 5% of your body weight will improve your overall health significantly. Up to 80% of people can lose 5% of their weight over four months on any calorie restriction diet. But, how many people will keep it off within a year? Less than 5%, this is scientifically proven.
No wonder we all tend to have the same resolution, year after year.
Why do some diets work better for one person than another? Genetics & Lifestyle
Why do 95% of us gain the weight back? Change Resistance, Non-Compliance, Depression, Stress, Hedonism, Binge Eating
Isn’t a calorie just a calorie? No!
Your weight and BMI are just data points on your health trajectory. It is your body composition and your biomarkers that define your health and predict your longevity. I challenge you this year to focus on your body composition and your biomarkers. THIS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING!
Biomarkers are your body’s unique vital statistics and core measurements of health and metabolism. Biomarkers include: skeletal muscle mass (pounds of lean muscle mass), percentage of body fat, bone density, fasting insulin levels, vitamin D levels, homocysteine levels, LDL particle number, hormone levels in addition to your blood pressure and your exercise capacity.
The fundamentals of nutrition and the balance of biology and chemistry will always drive the dynamics of energy metabolism. We have modified our food so dramatically that our bodies do not absorb vital nutrients and minerals of the food that is readily available at fast food outlets and grocery stores. Many of us are simply overfed and undernourished. Once you identify your biomarkers and understand the intrinsic levers of your body’s metabolism and physiology, you will precisely understand how food is meant to nourish and sustain the body as an energy source. When you resolve to shift your biomarkers to healthier levels, your weight will go down remarkably as a side effect of a healthy lifestyle instead of a “diet” goal.
For example, the average 50 year old is at least twenty pounds overweight. That extra weight is creating inflammatory pathways in the body which increase risk of heart disease, dementia, cancer and stroke. When we continue to feed an overfed body, fat is stored at an alarming rate preferentially because the body is overloaded with insulin. Insulin is the master hormone which tells our body to store fat and is secreted every time we eat. We must break the pattern of insulin secretion and insulin resistance to breakdown our fat and lose weight. Here are some methods to regain control of your metabolic health by reducing insulin secretion and regulating insulin resistance:
1. Limit the intervals of the day you are eating to 8 hours a day. Try 11a-7p.
2. Create Stress Resiliency in your life (meditation, prayer, exercise)
3. Limit processed foods and sugar
4. Protect your sleep
5. Build your muscles, slowly and steadily to maximize your metabolism.
This is a precision medical approach to health: Use lifestyle interventions (epigenetics) to track a lab biomarker (fasting insulin level) in a person who is overweight, prediabetic and has a strong family history of diabetes (genetics). In this case, my client lost 20 pounds in 12 weeks and significantly shifted her fasting insulin levels while maintaining 60 pounds of skeletal muscle mass. Her energy and sleep improved dramatically, too. It certainly didn’t feel like a “diet!” This is just the first step in a path to longevity.
There is an evidence-based approach to outlining a custom plan that is unique for each person’s metabolic and hormonal composition. You will be coached carefully to measure and improve the precise biomarkers that define your optimal health. You will balance your hormones, optimize your nutrition and renew your energy through the power of age management medicine. This is a program for the top 5%, those with invincible confidence! Bring me your Resolutions, Challenge Accepted!
Dr Cat Johnson
November 26, 2018
