Optimum Health Blog

The term Couch Potato is associated with an overweight individual who spends the day lying on the couch watching television and eating unhealthy snacks. These habits are widely accepted as being unhealthy and leading to a host of health problems including an overall shorter life.

But mounting research is showing that even fit people who are not overweight yet spend too much time watching television may also be at risk. For example, those who watched 4 hours of television a day showed a significantly increased risk compared to those who watched only 2 hours a day.

Based on the evidence, researchers theorize that just sitting still for long periods causes parts of the body to shut down. The evidence suggests this increases the risk of a variety of health issues including diabetes, cancer and a reduced life span.

Although people can become very still and inactive when watching television, this warning may also apply to sitting down for hours, working at a computer, and driving for extended periods.

Of course, this doesn't mean you should never sit. But if you sit for long periods of time, you may want to try to find more ways to be active—or at least stand more. The results of the research clearly showed that the risk is extended to those who exercise, are not overweight, and are generally fit.

We all know that both exercise and maintaining a healthy weight is important, but the lesson here is that it may not be enough. Extended periods of time we spend not moving appears to cause us harm. We should all try to avoid too many hours watching television even though we exercise. Being fit is no excuse for being a couch potato!

After almost three years, I'd like to think I have weight management dialed in pretty well. Of course, it's not perfect. And after you get over the basics of eating better and exercising, you really need to dig deep if you want to continue to make progress.

The fact is that there are many factors that determine how hard it is to manage our weight. In particular, there are a family of hormones that can determine if calories are burned as energy or stored as fat. These hormones also affect how hungry we feel and the types of food we crave. The hormones I want to discuss in this article are insulin, ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol.

I've discussed insulin many times on this blog. Insulin is an anabolic hormone, meaning that it tends to make us larger rather than smaller. Insulin does this by removing sugars from the bloodstream and storing it in our cells--including our fat cells! We also crave more food after the blood sugar levels fall. Insulin is necessary for normal metabolism of carbohydrates; however, too much--triggered by eating too many sweets and other refined carbohydrates--causes us to gain weight and crave more of these same types of foods. If you are trying to lose weight, the very first step would be to eliminate sweets and refined carbohydrates, especially sodas.

Ghrelin is another anabolic hormone. It is also an appetite stimulator and has, in fact, sometimes been referred to as the hunger hormone. It tends to exist in higher levels before a meal and lower levels after. Starvation diets may increase your levels of ghrelin. To minimize ghrelin levels, you should avoid missing meals, and you should always have a substantial breakfast.

In many ways, leptin is the counterpart to ghrelin. Whereas ghrelin makes you hungry, leptin makes you feel satisfied. Obviously, then, if your goal is to lose weight, you want to increase your levels of leptin. It's possible that carbohydrates decrease leptin levels whereas fat increases them. Obviously, greasy fried foods are not the ideal diet food, but eating fat throughout the day is recommended. Of course, not all fats are created equal and so you should focus on eating healthy fats (mostly unsaturated fats from vegetable and fish sources) in addition to watching the amount. Note that I also recommend eating some protein with each meal to minimize some of the appetite-building effects of carbohydrates.

Last but not least is cortisol, the stress hormone. For everyone who has felt that they gained weight during periods of stress, this was likely a direct result of cortisol. When we are stressed, our brains are telling our bodies that an emergency is coming. Unfortunately for us, the body responds as though you may need to fight for your life when the actual emergency is more likely to be along the lines of needing to make a good impression on coworkers.

Consider for a moment what you would do if a major emergency was coming tomorrow. Would you cook a large meal for all your friends and family? Probably not. Instead, you would want to conserve your food and other resources so that they would be available during uncertain times. The effect of cortisol is similar. It causes less calories to be burned as energy. It seems to do this by making our cells less sensitive to insulin. The result is that our blood sugar levels rise, which increases our insulin levels. The result is that we have less energy and more calories are stored as fat. It's possible that this process also puts us at a higher risk for diabetes. In the effort to ensure more nutrients are available to handle any coming emergency, cortisol also increases appetite. No matter how you slice it, elevated cortisol levels work against our attempts to lose weight.

It's not possible to eliminate stress from our lives, but we can work to minimize its impact through exercise, meditation, and trying to simplify our lives. Also, it's important to understand that cortisol levels can increase from seemingly minor physical stressors such as not enough sleep, not eating enough, or even eating too much!

The bottom line is that efficient weight management is a lifestyle and not just something you do part time. It takes a commitment to improve your overall wellbeing in addition to just eating right and exercising.

Anyone who’s read about nutrition has almost certainly heard about free radicals and antioxidants. But both are somewhat obscure topics and not everyone who reads about them understands them. In this blog, I’m going to provide a bird’s eye description of both.

If you have an understanding of chemistry, you know that certain molecules can combine with different molecules to produce still other molecules. In some cases, when the molecules combine, they have parts left over that did not fit within the resulting molecule. The human body is much like a chemistry set. The foods we eat are broken down and combined with other molecules to create body tissue and energy. And in some cases, they can have parts left over. One of the parts that gets left over is the free radical.

A free radical is an atom with an unmatched electron. While you don’t need to know the technical details, the main point is that a free radical is unbalanced. When a free radical comes into contact with other electrons, natural forces tend to want to combine them together to put things in balance, even when the electron is from a molecule that is part of a healthy human cell.

Needless to say, having electrons removed from healthy cells is less than ideal. For starters, it can damage the cell by causing its underlying structure to become imbalanced. It can also product other free radicals. If a cell’s DNA is damaged as a result of a free radical, the instructions in the DNA can become corrupt. This is thought to be one way a cancer is started.

Free radicals are a normal part of life. They occur during normal, healthy metabolism. Foods are processed and energy and body tissues are produced. Free radicals can also occur in response to environmental factors such as pollution, cigarette smoke, and chemicals added to foods we eat. Some suspect that free radicals are the driving force behind our aging. Either way, they definitely can produce undesirable effects. So is there a way to combat free radicals? They cannot be eliminated completely, but many can be neutralized by antioxidants.

Antioxidants are molecules that can give up an electron and still remain stable. When they come into contact a free radical, the free radical can steal an electron from the antioxidant and both are left in a stable state. Once stable, the free radical will no longer try and steal an electron from other molecules. The two most common antioxidants are vitamins C and E: C being water-soluble and E being soluble in fat. But we can get antioxidants from a wide variety of sources.

Not surprisingly, fresh fruits and vegetables are some of the best sources of antioxidants. And things like pollution, smoking, and excess eating are some ways to increase your free radicals. If you think you see a pattern here, you are correct: The same things you’ve heard all your life to be healthy also helps contain free radical damage. So to maximize your health, potentially reduce your chances of getting cancer, and increase your chances of living longer, avoid those bad activities that increase your exposure to free radicals, and increase your intake of whole, natural fruits and vegetables.

We are very complex, but being healthy isn’t always that complex. The back-to-basics recommendations for healthy living take care of much of the complexity for us.

Much of this blog has focused on reducing insulin resistance, and I reported some time ago that I saw my blood sugar levels creeping up (although not at all to diabetic levels). In this blog, I want to update you to the latest on this front, and to discuss a couple of supplements I’m taking.

While combating insulin resistance remains top priority to this day, and I feel I’ve learned a great deal about it, it still remains somewhat of an enigma. And I’m just not clear about what causes the unexplained fluctuations that I observe.

In recent months, I started trying some new supplements that include Resveratrol and Grape Seed Extract. Both supplements are extracts from the grape.

Resveratrol comes from the skin of the grape, red grapes in particular. It is thought to protect the grape from fungus and other biological dangers. Most of us have heard that drinking a glass of wine each day provides some protection against heart disease—it now appears that resveratrol is the component in wine that provides that protection. There is currently research going on looking at resveratrol and it’s potential to slow the aging process.

As the name suggests, grape seed extract is an extract from the grape seed. Some research suggests grape seed extract helps make lean tissues more supple—something that may be a major benefit to diabetics (or former diabetics).

Both resveratrol and grape seed extract are potent antioxidants. In addition, both supplements are also being looked at for potentially helping maintain healthy glucose levels.

Because of this information, I decided to include regular intake of both supplements. Of course, six to twelve months will probably be needed before I can try and assess what the effects may have been. That said, I’ve recently noticed that my blood sugar level readings have been some of the lowest I’ve measured. I had one reading of 75 mg/dL the other day. And, in the mornings, when my levels tend to be the highest, I’ve had very good numbers.

Does this mean these supplements have made the difference? Unfortunately, I just cannot say. There are way too many variables going on, and I’m not interested in reaching conclusions that have weak foundations. That said, the grape supplements definitely did not hurt. And I will keep a close eye on the relationship between these supplements and my glucose levels.

Of course, I will also report, right here, whatever information I find.

For those who are at risk of developing diabetes, those who are reversing diabetes through lifestyle changes, and even those with full-blown diabetes, minimizing insulin resistance should be the top priority.

I’ve written about insulin resistance many times in this blog because it is so very important. In over two years of lifestyle changes, this has been my number one goal Looking back, I’d like to discuss what I’ve continued to learn about minimizing insulin resistance.

After more than two years, I’ve lost 150 pounds. The last time I purchased pants, I bought them with a 32-inch waist. In order to continue weight loss, my diet is perhaps even more strict than the one that so successfully reversed diabetes years ago. Although my routines have varied over time, I have also continued to remain active.

Even with all these favorable changes, I’ve noticed that my blood sugar is not as low as it has been earlier in those two years. My levels are not diabetic and, often, the numbers are still considered good. But after putting so much effort into reducing blood sugar levels and increasing insulin sensitivity, it is certainly time for me to reflect on why my glucose levels are not as low as they were.

While I cannot rule out effects of continuing to age, or the result of damage caused by my previous diabetes, the main element that seems to have changed is the amount of intense, aerobic activity I do.

As I age, some of the activities caused some soreness and I’ve adjusted my activities accordingly. For example, extreme hiking was hurting my knees, and riding a bike too much was causing seat problems. More recently, I’ve been going to the gym three times a week, doing both intense weightlifting and 20 minutes of aerobic exercise on an elliptical machine.  I’ve also been walking the dog pretty much ever day, along with an occasional hike.

I’ve heard a lot recently about how bodybuilding increases insulin sensitivity because the increased muscle mass can burn more calories and consume more glucose. Every indication is that this is true. However, my best assessment at this time is that this is not enough of the right type of exercise to minimize blood sugar.

When I started, I was riding a bike around 30 minutes every day and my glucose levels regularly would get down to the low 70s. I’m just not seeing those kind of numbers these days.

So I just want to pass along that the intense aerobic activity is what I’m finding to be the most effective at staving off diabetes and optimizing your health by maximizing insulin resistance. I will look for ways to adjust my program accordingly. And for those trying to improve their health yet are barely exercising at all, well, I think my thoughts on the wisdom of that should be pretty obvious by now.

Let me just say at the outset, I do not view the world in spiritual terms. But, while some consider meditation a spiritual exercise, I think it provides very real and physical benefits to those who practice it.

There’s no question that there is strong connection between the mind and the body. Although there is much about this connection that is simply not understood, it can easily be demonstrated in a variety of ways. Stress makes the heart work harder and can raise blood pressure. It also increases cortisol, which seems designed to ensure we have plenty of energy to confront the impending danger implied by psychological stress. To maximize energy stores, cortisol causes the body to minimize fat burning, promote fat storage, increase hunger, and increase blood sugar. All of these actions can contribute to negative health conditions if maintained over time.

Stress can be countered a few different ways: Exercise is the natural way of “burning off” stress chemicals, good nutrition can improve our general feeling of well being and improve our ability to handle stress, and meditation can put us in a relaxed condition to reduce cortisol and other reactions to stress. Those being affected by stress should employ all three methods.

There are many different approaches to meditation but the basic idea is simple: Quite your mind and relax your body. Perhaps the simplest approach is to find a quite location and make yourself comfortable. Close your eyes and take some slow, deep breaths. Focus on the tension leaving your body each time you breath out.

Most important: concentrate on your breathing and forget about the things that you are stressing about. When other thoughts creep in your mind, don’t panic. Simply put your thoughts back to your breathing. There are more elaborate techniques as well, which are described in many books on meditation.

If you’ve never tried this before, you might find it difficult at first. But, like anything else, the more you do it, the better at it you become. Try to do this for for 10 to 30 minutes each day and see if this doesn’t improve the way you feel.

I’m convinced of the health benefits of meditation and find it improves the way I feel when I do it regularly. Unfortunately, I’ve found this surprisingly difficult to do on a regular basis. Like anything else, it needs to be a priority to have the time set aside for it. And sometimes I find it difficult to meditate when I’m very stressed, and I guess I don’t consider it much of a priority when I don’t feel stressed.

We each have our own way of dealing with stress and not all of us are aware of the negative effects it may be causing. If stress is affecting you, consider adding mediation to your arsenal of ways to improve your health.

Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body and is essential to good health. It helps maintain a healthy heart rhythm, promotes healthy blood sugar levels, and provides a host of other beneficial functions as well.

Magnesium also has a relaxing effect on the body. In some cases, supplementation will make you feel noticeably more relaxed. This relaxed feeling is more than psychological. By relaxing the cardiovascular system, magnesium helps to maintain normal blood pressure.

Unfortunately, many of us don’t get enough of it. Foods that tend to be high in magnesium include halibut, nuts, dark green leafy vegetables, and many types of beans.

Not only do many Americans not eat enough of these types of foods, but much of the soil used to grow our foods tends to be depleted of magnesium. And fertilizers generally do not include magnesium.

Of course, I recommend you eat a healthy diet that would include organic foods that naturally contain magnesium. But, if there’s any question about whether or not you are getting enough, it might make good sense to start taking a good magnesium supplement.

Not only could magnesium supplementation provide better health in general, but if your blood pressure tends to be high, it might help that as well. And, as mentioned, you may also notice a calming effect from taking magnesium.

Okay, so this entire site is about how I turned my health around and lost lots of weight in the process. To that end, I hope to post numerous articles on this site on different aspects of how I did it. But I decided I probably should also write at least one article that sums up how I did it as best I can.

To recap what it was I did, I went from very diabetic (A1C of 11.9%), very obese (perhaps 325 lbs at my peak), and very hypertensive. At this point, two years later, my A1C is lower than the average non-diabetic, I’ve lost about 140 lbs and am still losing, and am off all medications, including those medications for hypertension (high blood pressure). I accomplished this by completely changing the way I live.

The first, key, area is diet. Previously, I ate a typical American diet—and lots of it. I’ve always had a big appetite, but due to imbalances acquired over the years in response to poor lifestyle choices, I had a number of unhealthy cravings and a need to eat more to prevent feeling very poorly. It wasn’t easy to break these habits, but once I completely reversed this, those cravings and need to eat diminished significantly. My diet changes centered primarily around reversing the diabetes and so, of course, no sugar. But I went much further than that. I pretty much eliminated all significant sources of starches such as potatoes, bread, pasta, and the like. In fact, when I realized the salt I ate was affecting my hypertension, I pretty much eliminated prepackaged foods altogether.

Instead, my staples are vegetables such as kale, lacinato kale, collard greens, chard, mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, etc. I cut out most fruit except some berries and an occasional Granny Smith apple (although I recommend that those with no sugar cravings or blood-sugar problems eat plenty of fruits). I drastically reduced my intake of meat. I didn’t eliminate it entirely, however, consuming fish a few times a week and occasionally small amounts of chicken and very rarely grass-fed steak. Note that while all meat portions are limited, I do eat try to protein with each meal, using tofu or tempeh as needed. Protein helps keep you feeling full longer and is needed if you are exercising. My fat intake was also drastically reduced, almost eliminating all saturated fats and instead getting my fat from unsaturated sources like fish, flaxseed, and olive oil. Over time, I’ve moved almost exclusively to eating foods from organic sources.

A good way to work slowly into this type of diet is to fry these vegetables in olive oil. However, there is some question as to how healthy olive oil becomes when it becomes too hot. So, over time, more and more of my meals are just steamed. I realize fat-free meals consisting of steamed vegetables and no salt will not sound good to the average American. But, then again, the average American is unhealthy. And as I mentioned before, many of the cravings we experience simply go away once we eat healthy. My tastes have adapted and I do not feel deprived.

I now eat a tiny fraction of what I ate before. However, I never restrict myself from eating when I feel hungry. Instead, I try to reduce my hunger by eating the right foods. In fact, I now baby myself in a number of ways, such as making sure I get enough sleep, don’t get too stressed, don’t go too long without eating, because I know these things can increase adrenalins such as cortisol, which can increase appetite. So these days it’s more about reducing appetite rather than depriving myself when I’m hungry.

The second area is exercise. I realize this is a no-go from the start with many people. But the fact is that we were designed to be active. It’s what stimulates our bodies to become more efficient. (Diseases like type II diabetes are, initially, nothing more than the body becoming inefficient at metabolizing carbohydrates after the cells are bombarded with carbohydrate signals when those cells don’t need it because the body is not active.) I walked even when I was out of shape. But I started riding a bike and hiking. Currently, it’s Winter here and I’m lifting weights and doing aerobics in a gym three times a week. Obviously, your current condition dictates what type of exercise you can do and you should only exercise under the supervision of a qualified physician if you are over 40 or have any health conditions. But doing what you can is very important.

The third area is supplementation. As a general rule, I don’t think we need many supplements when we are healthy. However, I wasn’t healthy. So I take a number of natural supplements designed to optimize my health. This is a complex area with the vast majority of supplements not even being fully understood by the experts. Perhaps I will provide more information about supplements on this site in the future. A good multivitamin and mineral supplement is probably a good idea even for those who are healthy as it isn’t easy to make certain you are getting enough of the full range of nutrients. My current multivitamin is organic and food-based (and very expensive). However, I was recently tested for vitamin D levels and, while in range, they were at the very bottom of the range even though I had been taking the multivitamin. I now take a separate vitamin D supplement as well.

Beyond that, I just try to live healthier. Although I didn’t often drink alcohol before, I would binge drink on occasion. But I don’t do anything like that now. I only smoked cigarettes as a kid and certainly I would never do that now. I also try to use common sense in general, avoiding excess pollution where I can, not taking any medication unless absolutely necessary, and other things of that nature. Stress continues to be a problem for me at times. I do the best I can with that.

The bottom line is that there is really no trick to this. The only tricks are that (1) you may be surprised at what you are capable of if you set your priorities right, and (2) you may find that things you don’t think you are capable of are actually pretty easy once you get yourself healthy and in balance.

Like many Americans, I needed to lose weight and I’ve done that in spades. But I want to emphasize I’m doing more than simply trying to lose weight. In the end, I would call this a holistic approach to health because my approach is to simply be as healthy as I can. No one knows what the future will bring, but we can increases our changes of living longer and, more important, being healthier. Dropping 140 pounds and feeling better are just side effects.

An increasingly common condition these days in developed countries is now referred to as the Metabolic Syndrome (previously called Syndrome X). This condition is characterized by a number of metrics including raised blood-sugar levels, excess bodyweight, abdominal fat, abnormal blood fats (cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.), high blood pressure, and more.

This condition is associated with insulin resistance, where your body produces insulin but the cells do not respond correctly to it. Metabolic syndrome has many health risks associated with it. Left unchecked, it can lead directly to type II diabetes, a disease that has become a national epidemic and carries a whole host of very negative health risks. If you are overweight, you may be heading down the path of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. The good news is that, if you can correct this, you will address your weight issues in addition to your health.

How do you know if you have metabolic syndrome? Well, you are a good candidate if you are overweight. If you carry much of your excess weight around your midsection, have cravings for carbohydrate or sweets, have high triglycerides, or high blood pressure, you almost certainly have some degree of metabolic syndrome.

Fortunately, you can simply treat yourself for metabolic syndrome and it will almost certainly be beneficial for you. And it just might make all the difference in the world. The common denominator of this condition appears to be blood-sugar (glucose) levels. And keeping glucose levels low and steady will almost certainly improve your health.

When I was diabetic, I was obsessive about measuring my own blood sugar. It isn’t enough to get it checked annually or anything like that. Blood sugar goes up and down throughout the day and I wanted to understand how my own blood sugar levels responded to the different foods and activities encountered during the day. Now that I’m no longer diabetic, I still continue to monitor my blood sugar. Why? First of all, previously being diabetic puts me at high risk for being diabetic in the future. Checking my blood sugar regularly lets me know if I start getting into trouble again. But it’s much more than just this. I maximize both my health and weight loss by keeping my blood sugar as low as possible, and this would likely be the same for you as well.

It might seem extreme, but there are good reasons for you to start monitoring your own blood sugar. If it were possible to test things like cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. at home as quickly and easily as you can test your glucose, I'd be doing those tests as well. If you are overweight or show any other signs of the metabolic syndrome, the benefits of monitoring blood sugar may be considerable. Glucose meters are now widely available. They aren’t too expensive, although the test strips can add up if you test often. If you can adjust your lifestyle to keep your blood sugar levels low and steady, the result just might be a lower bodyweight, longer life, and better health.

Ideally, your blood sugar will be maintained between 70 and 100 mg/dL. Levels will tend to peak after meals, particularly if starchy or sweet foods are consumed. If you are eating the types of foods that cause blood sugar to spike much higher than this, then you now have a tool to provide feedback about how your lifestyle is affecting your health and your waistline.

If you find your blood sugar is going above around 140 mg/dL after meals, then it becomes even more critical that you address this. Not only is this preventing you from losing weight, but it’s starting to affect your health and you are on the path to even more serious complications, including diabetes. I simply cannot overstate how much you may be improving your health by adjusting your lifestyle to prevent this. Eating whole foods, more fiber, less animal products, eating regularly and introducing exercise are all likely to improve your blood sugar levels.

If, on more than one occasion, you measure your blood sugar at or above 26 mg/dL while fasting, or at or above 200 mg/dL at any time, you have diagnosed yourself with diabetes. In this case, lifestyle changes are more important than ever. But don’t even consider addressing this condition without the help of a good physician. Diabetes is a life-threatening condition.

Diabetics generally test before a meal and again two hours after. This allows them to determine if their glucose levels have returned to near normal levels after processing a meal. However, I test one hour after a meal. Depending on the type of food eaten, our blood sugar tends to peak around an hour after eating. Measuring at this point allows me to better know what my peak levels are. If I can keep my peaks under control, then I know I’m on top of things.

Note that if your blood sugar is in range, this doesn’t necessarily mean all is well. We release the hormone insulin to signal cells to take in the blood sugar, removing excess levels from the bloodstream. But in early stages of metabolic syndrome, you may produce extra insulin to compensate for its diminishing effects. Still, you are likely to see more pronounced peaks and valleys in your blood sugar levels when you have this condition. If your blood sugar looks great but you are still struggling with weight issues, you may want to have a doctor measure your fasting insulin levels to ensure they aren’t high. Either way, you will always benefit from living the same lifestyle that promotes lower blood sugar levels.

For some of you with this condition, you may fear having blood sugar going too low. In fact, you may have concerns that your blood sugar already falls too low at certain points in the day, and that this is why you need that soda pop. Without it, you feel just terrible. I simply cannot overemphasize how important it is for these people to follow what I’m saying. It is excess insulin that is causing this to happen, and that soda pop, while it may make you feel better for a little while, is exactly the type of food choice that is making you feel this way. Eliminating sweets will make your blood sugar levels more steady and will eliminate this feeling. Also, as I know too well, you may feel a little strange reducing high blood-sugar levels down to normal, but you will quickly get used to it and feel much better once they are under control. Unless you have an unusual health problem, the only way you will suffer from low blood sugar is if you are producing too much insulin, and that condition is corrected the same way you correct high blood sugar.

We’re all different. But you may be surprised how good of a tool this could be for determining what lifestyle changes might be the most beneficial for you. No one likes poking their finger in order to draw a drop of blood. But, then again, no one likes being overweight and dying at a young age either.

If you are overweight, reaching optimum health will involve losing that extra weight. Unfortunately, this is much easier said than done.

Some of the reasons why weight loss is hard include being inconvenient, improper education about nutrition, and needing to satisfy cravings for certain tastes. But more often than not, the reason ends up being plain old hunger. If you have been unable to lose extra weight due to inconvenience, education, or taste, then you already know what you need to do. Important things are seldom convenient, you need to educate yourself about proper nutrition, and you have to make sacrifices about your cravings for certain tastes. (Fortunately, most of those cravings go away once you eat the right foods.)

But if you are troubled by hunger, you might not be certain how you can deal with that. In fact, if you were like I was, it may be more than just hunger. You may get to where you are simply unable to function when you try to diet. If you simply cannot function when you cut back on excess calories, I have some bad news and some good news for you. The bad news is that you are probably on the road to poor health. The need to consume extra calories is a good indication that you are out of balance in one or more ways. The good news is that, if you can address these issues, you will find weight loss much easier.

In my case, I had to eat all the time to minimize feeling lousy. Mind you, this didn’t mean I felt great. Instead, I was trying to avoid feeling worse. Once I was able to turn things around, I now eat a fraction of what I ate before and feel much better. This doesn’t mean I always feel great now—I don’t. But if you can get your system in balance, the impediments to losing extra weight just seem to go away.

Exactly how you address this depends on your individual circumstance, which I can’t address in detail here. But a likely culprit is refined carbohydrates. If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, then perhaps you should think hard about getting sweets out of your diet. And if you really don’t think you could eliminate sweets, then I would say you absolutely need to do just that. Excess cravings for sweets are not healthy or natural. And the stronger those cravings are, the more important it is that you deal with what is causing them.

For the record, I even limit fruits because I was diabetic. If you have healthy blood sugar levels, then fruit should be okay. But if you could go as far as to eliminate everything that is refined or contains sugar (as I have done), you would be much better off. If you crave sweets, you would almost certainly see your hunger and cravings diminish, and the weight would come off. In addition, you would most likely find that you could function much better.

I can’t come close to addressing all my thoughts on this issue here, but the bottom line should be that, just because you feel terrible when you eat less, it does not mean that you cannot change this. If you eat healthy, you are likely to find that you can eat far less than you needed to before and feel better as well. Your food choices should be foods packed with the most nutrients and not those packed with the most calories.

Note that this change may not be possible to do overnight. While I would recommend dropping sweets and refined carbohydrates overnight, your body will need time to adjust. In fact, I felt horrible when I was first making this transition. But once the transition had been fully made, the results were nothing less than amazing to me.

There is a related issue I should mention, and that is stress. If you are easily stressed out (whether you are aware of it or not), this can impact your health and diet in a number of important ways.

Stress can cause your body to release various types of adrenalines. In order for your body to prepare you for the impending emergency suggested by your emotional stress, the response is to raise blood-sugar levels, stored fat, and prevent the release of stored fats. This is to ensure you will have plenty of energy available once that emergency arrives. If that’s not enough, it also stimulates appetite to further increase the amount of available energy.

While this response may be appropriate in some stressful situations—situations you are unlikely to run across in modern times—the long term effects of such conditions damage both your waistline and your health. Some research even suggests that stress can contribute to diabetes, as it may have in my case.

Don’t underestimate what proper nutrition can do for you. Just because you feel you absolutely need to continue your bad eating habits, don’t assume that you cannot change this. You should learn what you need to know about proper nutrition and then make the switch, and then give your body time to adjust. If those cravings don’t eventually go away then, most likely, you have simply not changed enough.

While hunger is natural, excess hunger and cravings are not. Deal with the cause of those cravings (often poor diet and health) and the rest will follow. The bottom line is that losing excess weight is easy when you follow a healthy lifestyle.