According to statistics, 65% of Americans are overweight. And we’re told that to lose the weight, all we have to do is eat less and exercise more.
If only maintaining a normal weight was actually that easy!
Weight In The Modern World
Consider these factors that make us more prone to put on pounds:
* Long work weeks
* Chronic stress
* Lack of sleep
* Environmental Toxins
* Car-centric city planning
* Myriad TV, video game and computer entertainment options
* Abundant processed foods and fast food restaurants
* A belief that “more is better” when it comes to portions of food and drinks
The very structure of our daily lives makes obesity more a likelihood than a possibility. Even worse, food manufacturers understand that certain ingredients make us want MORE...and they are using this knowledge to their advantage.
Why?
According to Dr. Marion Nestle, head of New York University’s department of nutrition and food studies, food manufacturers are already producing too much food for the population (about 1,600 calories more per person per day!)...which means they have to cut back on production and at the same time raise prices OR get you to eat more.
So how do they get you to eat more?
They increase portion sizes, create more opportunities for snack times (vending machines in schools, for example) and add ingredients to foods that make you want to eat more. Examples of common ingredients in foods and drinks that can cause you to want to eat more are: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, MSG (monosodium glutamate), aspartame and refined mineral-depleted salt.3,4
How the Processed Foods Industry Tries to Manipulate You
Remember your last trip to the movies? Did you eat salty popcorn and then crave a sweet fizzy soda?
Your body is actually seeking balance...the balance of consuming too much salt then makes you go back for that sweet tasting cola. But with all of the additives and chemicals in foods these days, your body starts to lose its sense of balance all together. You eventually may not know why you keep reaching for more and more food, without feeling satisfied.
Americans alone spend between $30 – more than $50 million annually on weight loss products and services. And as obesity becomes a global epidemic, food manufacturers (especially in Europe) are starting to be scrutinized for their contribution to growing waistlines.
European government departments responsible for food safety are encouraging food manufacturers to reduce quantities of salt, fat and sugar to aid the growing problems with obesity.
With no real requirements, some European companies are taking the scrutiny more seriously than others…most likely due to changing consumer demand for healthier products. Yet, while this scrutiny of ingredients seems like a good thing, I can’t help but notice that they have it all wrong.
Our food supply seems to be focused more on ingredient manipulation than on going back to the basics: natural whole foods that are chemical and additive free. Instead, it seems that our food supply and by proxy, our bodies, have become part of a giant lab experiment.
Here are two recent examples of ingredient manipulation in the name of weight loss:
* Leaterhead Food International (LFI) is looking into creating ingredients that suppress hunger.5
* Researchers from St George's University of London are encouraging food manufacturers to reduce the quantity of salt in food. The research showed that a reduction of salt intake would reduce children’s desire to consume sweetened soda pop, which has been shown to contribute to obesity.6
Empower Yourself for Healthy Weight Loss
For too many years we’ve waited for food and pharmaceutical drug manufacturers to create the “magic pill” for weight loss...to no avail. Yet somehow, our ancestors seemed to face significantly less health and weight issues than we do today.
When you turn back the pages of time, even just 60 – 70 years, you start to see some common threads when it comes to healthy weight: we were closer to nature and natural products.
All of the “improvements” that modern life has brought us, have also exposed our bodies and lives to the kind of technology and chemicals that the human body was not “built” to withstand.
When I created the Body Ecology system of health and healing, it was to address digestive problems, fatigue and low immunity. Over decades of research and anecdotal evidence from thousands of Body Ecology followers, I realized how crucial a healthy digestive tract is to human health and wellness.
In fact, I truly believe that the missing link is deep within your digestive tract. Just like the earth has ecosystems that maintain balance or homeostasis, your intestines contain an “inner ecosystem” that keeps YOU in balance.
Inside your inner ecosystem is a mix of bacteria and yeast (microflora) and if you have enough healthy microflora to keep the bad guys in check, your immunity is strong.
Unfortunately, our modern life has created too many people with imbalanced inner ecosystems and therefore, lowered immunity. And it’s not just health issues that result...weight issues show up as well.
If you want to truly heal your body and maintain a healthy weight, I encourage you to simply go back to the basics...go back to Nature and natural solutions.
Rather than being a part of someone else’s lab experiment, choose to educate yourself about your body’s true needs for nutrition and balance. I encourage you to read The Body Ecology Diet to learn about the 7 healing superfoods found in nature and the 7 principles that create long-term natural health and balance.
And if there’s one “magic pill” that I’ve found in my research, it can only be fermented foods and drinks. Not truly a pill, but certainly seeming like magic, fermented foods and drinks contain probiotics that boost your immunity and definitely assist in weight loss.
Instead of suppressing hunger, which is a natural and necessary function of the human body, probiotics reduce or eliminate cravings for sugar and processed foods.
Because after all, instead of you trying to manipulate and control your body (which never works in the long run), wouldn’t you rather your body supported you in perfect health and weight as it was created to do?
Over the years, I’ve become frustrated with what is happening in our food supply, particularly to our children’s health and childhood obesity.
This is truly the only reason that I developed healing products as part of the Body Ecology line. Imagine a world where children drank probiotic liquids that contribute to growth, intelligence, happiness and productiveness rather than destroyed it?
Imagine a world where adults and even young children drank Green Drinks for a pick-me up every morning instead of coffee?
Imagine a world where you felt empowered to be healthy...instead of confused and frustrated by the latest in ingredient and drug technology?
Take charge of your health. I invite you to make a 3-month investment in healing your digestion, your immunity, your weight and your health on the Body Ecology program. Come back to Nature and natural solutions...your body will thank you for it!
Sources:
Hellmich, Nanci, “An overweight America comes with a hefty price tag,” USAToday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-05-13-obesity-usat_x.htm
2 Body Ecology Newsletter. http://www.bodyecology.com/08/02/01/news.html
3, Mirkin, Gabe, MD. High Fructose Corn Syrup and Obesity.
http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/3021.html
4 Daniells, Steven. Study links salt and soft drinks to childhood obesity. February 2008. Food Navigator.com
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=83425-bsda-salt-sugar-sweetened-beverages-obesity
5 Crowley, Laura. Satiety feeds appetite for ingredient launches. April 2008. Food Navigator.com
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?id=84831
6 Daniells, Steven.
Elliott, Sharon S., et. al. Fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 76, No. 5, 911-922, November 2002
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/76/5/911
Hellmich, Nanci, “An overweight America comes with a hefty price tag,” USAToday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-05-13-obesity-usat_x.htm
Duenwald, Mary. A CONVERSATION WITH: MARION NESTLE; An 'Eat More' Message For a Fattened America. New York Times. February 2002.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900EFD81E3FF93AA25751C0A9649C8B63
3, Mirkin, Gabe, MD. High Fructose Corn Syrup and Obesity.
http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/3021.html
4 Daniells, Steven. Study links salt and soft drinks to childhood obesity. February 2008. Food Navigator.com
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=83425-bsda-salt-sugar-sweetened-beverages-obesity
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