Mind-Body

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Can You Slim Down Naturally?

Photo Credit: Giuseppe Chirico

It is very likely that you have already read or heard sometime that, in order to lose weight in a natural manner, your body and your mind must be harmonically communicated; yet, you don’t figure out what your body weight has to do with the mind-body equilibrium. After all -you may be thinking- the body is associated with the field of the purely physical, the tangible; you can see and analyse it under the microscope. How, then, can it be connected with the immaterial, nonphysical processes that take place in our minds? Well, the truth is that there is a powerful relationship between our hormonal system (the physical) and our attitudes towards life (the emotional); in fact, in order to start, let me tell you that hormone imbalance causes weight gain. Be sure that the key to lose pounds naturally is to address the issue from a holistic approach that takes into account your emotions and thoughts, as much as what you eat. Do we go on further details? 😉

How Emotions Can Induce Hormone Imbalance

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Negative emotions such as grief, anxiety, anger and fear can cause a chaos in the nervous and hormonal system. It is commonly said that hormones control our emotions but, as Dr. Michael F. Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz claim, “it’s the other way around—emotions control our hormones through biochemical changes in the brain” (Oz & Roizen, 2014).

There are several studies that have confirmed a solid connection between our thoughts, emotions and attitudes and the physiological responses that they trigger in our bodies, but these processes remain poorly understood. I had to make an extensive research to convince myself that excess weight was something much more complex than “calories in, calories burnt” or than “you are genetically fat”. Until that moment I kept following the instructions of a billion dollar industry. Thus, I made many financial sacrifices in order to buy the latest slimming pill or to pay for a sophisticated weight loss program; I had the willpower to follow a strict diet during days, weeks or even months but I still felt so frustrated because, in spite of doing so many sacrifices, my struggle to lose weight never ended, my goal continued to be only a dream.

But later on, during my research, I discovered that negative emotions are the key. They put our body in a state of stress and this is, according to many experts, the root cause of weight gain. Once you understand this profoundly, you will have walked great part of the path to a life free from constant worry for your weight. Let me highlight here some of the facts that I have found up to now:

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• Stress creates an overproduction of a hormone called cortisol. Elevated levels of cortisol are directly linked to abdominal fat.
• When we are under stress, our body’s ability to manage the absorption of essential nutrients decreases. If our body is not receiving the proper nutrition, it can go into what Jon Gabriel, expert author and founder of The Gabriel Method, calls “starvation mode”. Your appetite then increases and you need to eat more food before you start feeling full. “Your taste buds become desensitised, and you start craving sweet and fatty foods” (Gabriel, 2010).
• Stress also affects your levels of cholesterol and increases salt retention.

In This Section You Will Find…

But these data are only a small part of all things that I have learned throughout the way. I encourage you to do research on this, as I did myself. It opened my eyes to a brand new way of seeing and understanding my issues with weight and how to approach them to finally succeed and put an end to the stressful, painful and tiring vicious cycle of diets in which I had been trapped for so many years. In this section, I will provide you with information on some of the better books, research papers and films that served me to widen my knowledge and get rid of certain prejudices and misleading information about the ability of your body to shed pounds and maintain a healthy weight. Read a little of what I suggest here every day, watch the movies and documentaries in your free time. You will become an expert and will take control of your weight issues forever. Start today! 😀

If you have any query or want to leave any further thoughts as regards this topic, please, feel free to do it!

References:

Gabriel, J. (2010). The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary DIET-FREE Way to Totally Transform Your Body: Simon & Schuster Australia.

Oz, M. C., & Roizen, M. F. (2014). YOU: The Owner’s Manual (Enhanced Edition): An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger: HarperCollins.