Solving The Obesity Crisis

As Dr George Bray, who has been researching obesity since 1950s, says “Obesity isn’t rocket science, it’s much more complicated!” 

Take a human from 50,000 years ago and one from the 1950s and they won’t look much different. Until then we were generally emaciated looking creatures running around this planet. In the last 70 years our bodies have dramatically changed beyond recognition; this has never happened to humans on this scale before.

We are quick to assume that being overweight is because we eat too much and not don’t do enough exercise, but that is a huge indictment on modern day human beings who in the last 60 years have created the internet, mobile phones, aeroplanes and life-saving medicines and to name a few. This suggests that we haven’t all been lazying around eating cake – something else is going on here. We’ve spent 50 years trying to tackle obesity by encouraging people to eat less and move more. It hasn’t worked.

So What Is The Solution?

It lies in the control of insulin. When we eat carbohydrates our blood glucose levels rise and our pancreas instructed to produce insulin to shuttle the glucose out of the blood, as too much blood glucose is toxic. If we keep eating carbohydrates and stimulating this insulin response then eventually we can become ‘insulin resistant’ which means that this function of insulin does to work anymore and blood glucose continues to rise. The good news is that insulin resistance can be reversed by simply eating a low carbohydrate diet. Simple but not so easy in this Western world of carb rich diets. 

Also, important to note that insulin production has another function and that is to switch off fat burning; insulin stops the body mobilising fat cells into ketones to be used for energy. Which means that as long as you are eating carbohydrates, your body will not be able to burn fat as it will always chose glucose over ketones.

The way that I work with my ‘weight loss’ clients is not to focus on cutting calories, but to focus on eating the right foods. Weight gain is just a side-effect of an underlying issue which is poor metabolic health. Get the body to start burning ketones for fuel, instead of glucose, and watch the cravings die down, energy levels go up and as a natural side effect body fat reduces.

Measuring Results With Tanita Scales

In my clinic I have some Tanita scales. I am not a fan of people weighing themselves on normal scales as I think total body is not a very good measure of overall health. 

The Tanita scales health assessment measures your subcutaneous and visceral fat, bone & muscle mass, your metabolic health by rate and age. Using this data helps me to formulate a personalised plan for improving & optimising your health long-term.

Toxins and the liver

Antibiotics together with our chemical laden, carbohydrate rich, processed foods has resulted in a build-up of toxins in our body. Our liver is responsible for eliminating toxins from our body, but if the liver becomes overloaded and cannot process all the toxins sent its way, it puts them into our fat cells for safe storage, away from our vital organs. At this point it is important to note that pesticides are not water soluble otherwise they would be washed away in water, instead they are fat soluble so when ingested they come to rest in our fat cells. But here’s the thing, the liver will not burn a toxic fat cell, because if it does it will release the toxins back into the body. In fact, the liver will choose to burn muscle and bone for energy, before it will burn a toxic fat cell. So, no matter how much exercise you do, until you detoxify your body, the fat in your fat cells will not be used for energy and you will not lose your body fat.