Get M.A.D. about your health and weight control

Ok, so it’s a new year with new challenges and goals to meet…Well, mostly new ones. Weight loss and health concerns always seem to be at the yearly forefront. So, while you start your new diet do’s and don’ts, as well as your gym memberships, here are three key areas that will physically super charge your body‘s operating condition to make all of your other health efforts more effective.

Just think M.A.D.

Metabolism (and Thermogenics)

I have heard many people say that their weight control failures are a result of “slow metabolism” but, the metabolic rate is not the rate at which you burn calories and fat. It is the rate at which your body converts the broken down nutrients into food to energy. So, indirectly, it does affect weight control. Yet, many overlook the fact that the operation of metabolism is greatly affected by heat. Just sit in a sauna and watch the sweat roll. Now think of foods that create an internal healthy sauna. This paints a picture of Thermogenics foods. The thermal effect of food accounts for 10-15 percent of calories expended in a given day. Here are a few key foods and spices to add or increase to your daily diet:

·       Ginger
·       Peppers
·       Garlic – Kyolic has an excellent, odorless, capsule version.
·       Onions
·       Lemons
·       Brussels sprouts (Don’t give me that look.)
·       Cabbage
·       Cinnamon - Look for Vietnamese Cinnamon for that extra kick!!

Alkalization

The body pH generally lies between 7.2 – 7.4 on a scale of 0 - 14. Your body will be at its healthiest when eating foods that keep it in the higher range (alkaline) than lower (acidic). Sickness manifests in the body much easier in this acidic range. As a matter of fact, the scientist Otto Warburg proved that cancer cannot survive in an alkaline charged environment in 1931. By the way, he won the Nobel peace prize with these discoveries and yet you don’t hear much about that today. Hmmmm…

Now, this was not written to be vegetarian in nature or anti-meat, but one of the things that you will see in alkalization is that all animal flesh (including fish and chicken) are extremely acidic, so this pulls away from alkalizing the body. This does not mean that you shouldn’t have meats, but to just remember balance. Yet, to help kick the weight control process along, it would be great if you could hold them off (or at least limit them) for a short time. Concerning “then where do I get my protein?”, do not believe the lies. Proteins are made up of 21 different types of amino acids. So amino acids from plants sources are not less effective than amino acids from meats. They are the same except that plant source amino acids don’t have the extra fats and toxins to be cleaned out after eating them. Also extra proteins from animal sources drain our calcium reserves to process their acidity. Here is a link to an exceptional alkalinity foods list found at balance-ph-diet.com.

Two last notes. Many (even some doctors) say since the body pH stays at 7.2 – 7.4 anyway, why does alkalinity make a difference? Ask them where the reserves are being pulled from to keep it there. Lastly, the alkalinity of a food is not the alkalinity in you. This is the true wonder of God. If you touch a pH tester to a lemon it will read about 3.2 – highly acidic, right? But if you eat that same lemon, it produces one of the highest alkaline effects on the body.

Detoxification

As continual running engines our bodies detoxify themselves to remove toxic waste and build up through our different channels of elimination but because of the sheer amount of toxins, pesticides, and environmental chemicals that we encounter on a daily basis, we need to help our detoxification system. There are many detox systems on the market, but my goal here is to emphasize the foods that will help best in these areas.

·       Garlic – Stimulates liver to producing filtering enzymes
·       Lemons – great flush, and liver cleanser
·       Avocados  -  the toxins are absorbed by the oil and eliminated
        and All dark leafy greens

We just scratched the surface with these examples but look further into them and get M.A.D. about it. Considering these areas with your current regimen will pay off huge. Ok, enough of the physical. Let's release faith on it:

Lord Jesus, Your word tells us that above all things you want us to prosper and be in health as our soul prospers. We come against any spirit of stress, worry or unforgiveness that would slow down our bodies from seeing their best condition now. We receive the knowledge of good foods to aid in this process but it is your word that we trust and rely on to make us the best us. We rejoice at all of our positive changes and thank you in advance for victory over every obstacle.


Nutrition & Diet Therapy, Carolyn E. Townsend

Anti-Fat Nutrients, Dallas Clouatre, PH.D.

Diet induced thermogenesis, Klaas R Westerterp, nutritionandmetabolism.com