There are many people who want to know how to treat obesity naturally. Obesity is a common health condition. Sadly, there is not enough support for all people who are suffering from obesity. Often the cause of obesity is much more than just over-eating, I believe the condition is linked heavily towards emotion and has a lot to do with the function of the gut.
What is obesity?
Obesity is classed as your weight being over a certain BMI. However, the BMI calculator is not a great indicator for everyone, and this is because the BMI calculator works on how much someone weighs in comparison to their height. Muscle weighs more than fat, so it is important to remember that someone who has a lot of muscle may well be classed as obese, even if that person doesn’t have an ounce of fat on them.
However, the BMI calculator could work well if it is accompanied by the waist to hip ratio measurement. The waist to hip ratio can give a better understanding of whether the person is clinically obese. This is because weight built up around the waist is very dangerous to the heart, because people who have a large waist are carrying extra fat.
In general, a health professional should be able to see visually whether someone is clinically obese, but as in all medicine, we need to have a diagnosis.
What causes obesity?
I believe strongly that emotion is directly linked to obesity. Whether it be an emotion of sadness, loneliness, or emotion of greed, these are emotions that can make us want to eat more food, particularly of the wrong sort. Alcohol and sugar are major contributors to obesity. Both of these food types are readily available, and it can be hard to resist temptation, particularly if you are experiencing negative emotions. Equally, many people over-eat and drink because of peer pressure with a feeling of control.
The other main cause of obesity is the lack of exercise. When we eat too much food it can make us sluggish and demotivate us from doing anything that requires us to use energy. A lack of movement means that all the extra food you are eating gets stored as fat, without burning it off, the fat will just sit there.
Making poor choices of food, stress, too much alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs (particularly antibiotics), and not enough exercise can cause an imbalance in your gut bacteria and reduce the function of the gut. If you are bloated and feel uncomfortable after meals, then your food is not digesting properly. Eating less and moving more can really help to improve the function of your digestive system.
Your metabolism also slows down as you age. This is often why people put weight on as they get older. It can be harder to move more as we age, but eating less food can help keep energies high, as well as ensuring you are getting a minimum of 30-minutes of exercise per day.
Science is also exploring the potential that obesity could be linked to the diversity of the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome plays host to over 1000 different strains of bacteria. A gut bacterium in particular called Firmicuties is more dominant in the gut over other bacteria called Bacteroides. This is an ongoing area of interest in science and could be a game-changer when it comes to tackling the global obesity crisis.
Symptoms of obesity
Most people will know if they are obese. You can visit your doctor for a diagnosis or you can work it out online using online calculators. However, obesity comes with many other problems.
- Weight gain
- Fatigue
- Digestive problems such as bloating, excessive gas, pain in the stomach
- Sugar cravings
- Fungal infections
- Infections and abscesses
- Lack of motivation/depression
- Mood swings
Natural treatment for obesity
Obesity is complex because often extreme weight gain is caused by emotional trauma. This could be the loss of someone close, an illness, bullying, fear of something, the list continues. To be able to successfully reverse your weight gain it’s important to find the right support such as psychology treatment, counselling or even talking to someone about the events of your life. Releasing this from yourself can have an incredibly healing effect. Working with a psychologist can help you regain the love for yourself and love for others. There is always a cause, so if you go back to the route of the cause and heal yourself from there onwards, the physical work that you need to do becomes easier.
As well as talking through your life events with someone, you should take action to improve your health through your diet. Here are a few things you can do to improve your diet.
- Remove all sugar from your diet – chocolate, cakes, biscuits, and anything on the packets of food that say fructose, glucose, and sucrose.
- Cut back on all gluten foods such as bread, anything with flour, pasta, and cereals. Include only one thing a day.
- Cut back your alcohol intake to only drinking once or twice a week.
- Include more vegetables in your diet, especially leafy greens, and try to eat your vegetables raw or nearly raw.
- Cut back on red meat and eat more chicken, eggs, and oily fish.
- Drink bone broth and probiotic drinks. See our shop for more information.
- Take a high strength probiotic tablet. 50 billion CFU per tablet.
- Exercise for at least 30 minutes per day. Start off by walking if you haven’t exercised for a while, then build up over time.
The most important advice is to never ever give up.