The Secret to Healthy Weight Loss and Unlimited Energy

For many years, I have seen the equation diet + exercise = weight loss. Let me explain the problem with this equation. Can you imagine trying to sit on a three-legged stool that had one leg missing? Missing one third of the parts will cause you to fall short of your intended outcome every time. Let me fill in the missing part of the weight loss equation: diet + exercise + metabolism = weight loss. You see, tens of millions of Americans have dieted and exercised for years with intense dedication and still not gotten the results they were searching for. Without taking into account your metabolic function, you can never properly assess your weight control needs!

So what exactly is your metabolism? Metabolism is the sum of the processes by which your body changes phytochemicals from food into the energy needed to move, breathe, think, and, essentially, live. When you eat food, your metabolism converts the phytochemicals in the food into other chemicals your body needs such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, glucose, and water. You may wonder why some people have a fast metabolism while others are slow, or why some who once had a fast metabolism now have a slow one. Well, three main systems in your body help regulate your metabolism. They are the liver, thyroid gland, and most importantly, your adrenal glands.

Each of your two adrenal glands is located above each kidney and does numerous things for your body. They first and foremost regulate over forty hormones, or chemical messengers, which play a crucial role in your metabolism! The same glands also initiate the immune response, regulate blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and produce much of the digestive juices you use in breaking down your foods. The two reasons that our adrenal glands are weakened have to do with input and output. First, we will discuss adrenal output.

What you may not know is that every day, you experience physical, mental, and chemical stress, which affects your body chemistry on a cellular level, and it is the cells in the adrenal glands that take the brunt of these stresses. Over years of stress, the adrenals become fatigued and can no longer regulate all the constituents of a healthy metabolism properly. Sometimes the adrenals, in a weakened state, are referred to as “insufficient,” and as the progression of adrenal breakdown continues, it leads to so-called adrenal burnout, as described by the late Dr. Paul Eck, who researched adrenal function and tissue analysis for decades. In either stage, a person may exhibit symptoms such as weight gain, chronic infection, allergies, high blood pressure, high and low blood sugar levels, PMS, depression, and anxiety.

When your adrenals are fatigued, you look for an outside stimulant to jump-start them. Increased intake of caffeine may be an indicator of coping with adrenal weakness. Unfortunately, caffeine is also a chemical stressor. While the average cup of coffee contains 100–150 milligrams of caffeine, just 250 milligrams of caffeine has been shown to cause insomnia, headaches, nervousness, and even stomach ulcers. Other diseases associated with different levels of caffeine intake are miscarriages, bladder cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cysts, and prostate cancer. The reason caffeine has been linked to such disorders is that when the adrenals are synthetically stimulated over and over, they make mistakes and send hormones to the wrong places in our bodies, which leads to cellular imbalance.

Other substances that push the adrenals are sugar, enriched and bleached flours, nicotine, alcohol, diet pills, and sometimes even excessive exercise. We need to rest and feed our adrenals after years of stress, but instead, we push them chemically, like whipping a dying horse.

There are other dietary intake factors that slow your metabolism as well. The intake of dairy products affects your hormone levels and immune system. When dairy products are pasteurized, the high heat destroys the enzyme phosphatase, which is necessary for the absorption of calcium. Also, the addition of hormones and antibiotics to the dairy cows will cause more biochemical imbalance and toxicity. Red meat from cows also slows our metabolism due to the same chemical processing as well as the high fat and protein, which take a great deal of digestive enzymes to break down. Remember, when the adrenals are insufficient, it will negatively affect digestive enzyme production as well. Hydrogenated fats are found in almost all packaged foods today, and they will most definitely slow down your metabolism since the body was never intended to break these man-made fats down.

Regarding the input to the adrenal glands, this is where a large problem remains. You can cut out all the chemical stimulants and dietary intake of metabolism killers, but what are you doing to rebuild your already weakened adrenal glands? I have often given my patients the analogy of the body and a bank account. Let’s say that for years, you made withdrawals from your bank account until there was almost no money left in it. You realize you better stop taking money out or you won’t be able to pay your bills. Even if you stop making withdrawals for many years, the interest on the little amount left in your account will not build the account back up to where it once was. To restore your finances in that account, you need to make deposits. This means that we need to put back the proper nutrients into our human bank accounts.

On top of all the toxic chemicals that are allowed into your food sources, a big problem is that there are very small amounts of nutrients in your food at all! According to Earth Summit Report, 1992, 85 percent of the nutrients in North America’s soil have been depleted! That statistic is from fifteen years ago, and things have certainly not gotten any better on our commercial farms. Since your metabolism relies heavily on proper nutrients, which are no longer found in adequate amounts in our soil, you need to supply your body with an alternate nutrient source.

Following are some tips to strengthen your adrenals and have a superior metabolic rate:

* Make sure you are getting proper amounts of sleep. The body needs to shut down at night to repair from the damage of the day.
* Try to purchase your meats, fruits, vegetables, and grains from organic sources whenever possible, and always drink plenty of purified water!
* The addition of whole food vitamin and mineral supplements is always a good idea to ensure you are getting the nutrients you need to keep your metabolism working the way it was designed to.
* If your body is already showing signs of adrenal insufficiency or burnout, you should consult a health care professional about an adrenal gland supplement.
* Do not let yourself get into stressful situations, and if you find yourself in one, resolve it as quickly as possible to lessen the amount of stress to the adrenals.

Once you heal your adrenal glands and maintain them at peak performance, your new energy level will amaze you. Now apply this knowledge daily, and watch the results!

** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health”, visit http://selfgrowth.com/healthbook3.html

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