UltraMetabolism

7 Keys to Weight Loss

There are seven keys to weight loss and all of them work together to open the door to vitality, health and successful, long-term weight loss. They are the keys to reversing disease, being set free of chronic symptoms, and creating optimal health.

Key #1: Control Your Appetite.

The first key is to understand how your brain, gut and fat cells communicate with each other through hormones and brain messenger chemicals to tell you whether or not you need food and compel you to eat. When they are working properly, they are an elegant machine pinpointing when you need energy and asking you to consume calories to obtain that energy. When they go haywire-and there are many ways for them to go haywire in our current eating climate-they cause you to eat when you don't need to, contributing to weight gain and almost every other health problems we face.

Key #2: Subdue Stress.

The second key is to understand how stress makes you fat and how to overcome its effects. Under any physical or psychological stress, the body is designed to protect itself. It stores calories and conserves weight (you might need that energy reserve to run from a predator). It pumps hormones into your system that increase blood fats, sugar and insulin to prepare you for fight or flight. Without eating more or exercising less, stress alone will cause weight gain.

Key #3: Cool the Fire of Inflammation.

The third key is controlling inflammation, a hidden force behind weight gain and disease. Being overweight promotes inflammation and inflammation promotes obesity in a terrible, vicious cycle. More than half of Americans are inflamed, and most of them don't know it.

Key #4: Prevent Rust or Oxidative Stress.

The fourth key is preventing cellular "rust" that interferes with metabolism, contributes to weight gain and aging, and causes inflammation. Free radicals are oxygen molecules that run around your body stealing electrons from other molecules. The molecule that loses an electron is damaged, or oxidized. Oxidized tissues and cells don't function normally. The process results in damaged DNA, damaged cell membranes, stiff arteries that look like rusted pipes and wrinkles.

Key #5: Turn Calories into Energy.

The fifth key is learning how to turbocharge your metabolic engine to more efficiently turn calories into energy. Your ability to burn calories is dependent on the health, number, and efficiency of your mitochondria, the little powerhouses that produce energy in every cell. You can reverse the damage that's been done to your mitochondria and turn up your metabolic fire if you know how.

Key #6: Fortify Your Thyroid.

The sixth key is making sure your thyroid, the master metabolism hormone, is working optimally. Twenty percent of all women and about ten percent of men have a sluggish thyroid, slowing their metabolism; half of them are undiagnosed. Many of those who are diagnosed are not treated optimally, making matters worse.

Key #7: Love Your Liver.

The seventh key is detoxifying your liver so it will properly metabolize sugars and fats. Toxins from within our bodies and toxins from our environment both contribute to obesity. Getting rid of toxins and boosting your natural detoxification system is an essential component of long-term weight loss and a healthy metabolism.