3. Is Weight Gain inevitable? (3rd in the series of 6 blogs.)

In the previous blogs, we talked about how for most of us, weight starts creeping up and we suddenly find ourselves weighing 20 lbs., 30 lbs., 40 lbs., 50 lbs. or 60 lbs. more than what we weighed a decade or two ago. The root cause for this weight gain is our diet –  on an average we consume more than 200 grams of carbohydrates per day. At any point of the day, how many teaspoons of sugar or glucose do you think our body can carry in our blood stream?  How about a wild guess? 12 tsp or 6 tsp at a time?  Well – it is just one teaspoon.  Yes!  Are you shocked?  What happens to the rest of it? Of course, our body secretes the hormone insulin which converts excess glucose into fat and stores it in our liver as glycogen. When the liver gets full – the glycogen overflows as fat into other visible and also non-visible parts of our body. There are no good carbs vs bad carbs. All are converted to glucose by our body.

Go Hungry all day then? What are your options then?  Do you just cut out all high carb foods such as grains, legumes (including peanuts, lentils, legumes and beans that are peeled), potatoes and beets and still eat a low-fat diet? Won’t it make you hungry all day? Is that sustainable for a human being to feel hungry and function at normal levels?  Of course not!!

Three Food Groups. There are ultimately three food groups – carbohydrates, proteins and fats. When our dietary guidelines that came out in the 1950’s made fats the villain, we naturally replaced it with carbohydrates. But what has happened since then? Metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, dementia, rheumatoid arthritis and even cancer have increased by more than 80 percent throughout the world. Instead when we give up a majority of our intake of carbohydrates, we have to start eating more healthy fats!  Eating more proteins causes other problems – so recommendation is to keep it at a moderation (I would say a fistful of proteins a day).

llustration credit – www.ruled.me

Eat Fat and Get Thin! What happens when you start incorporating more healthy fats into your diet? (1) You feel fuller sooner (2) You don’t feel hungry for a long time (3) You start shedding weight (4) Your brain gets sharp and no more foggy brain after lunch or dinner (5) Your body starts using the glycogen in your liver to produce glucose – no more fatty liver (6) After all the glycogen is used up, your body produces ketones from your stored fat and dieWhat are the healthy fats? Extra Virgin Olive Oil (in salads or add after cooking; not for cooking), For cooking – Coconut Oil for cooking, Butter (Organic pasture-raised better), Ghee (clarified Butter) organic palm oil and sesame oil. Also, avocado and egg yolks (whole eggs are great for you!). Eliminate all the refined fats from your diet such as canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean oils, peanut oil, vegetable oils, etc.

When do you start losing weight? When you cut down your carbohydrates, you will start losing weight on day one.  Carbohydrates in your diet tends to make your body retain water in your body. When you cut out carbohydrates drastically from your diet, you will urinate more and will lose all that bloating. Please drink a lot of water and maybe one cup of plain coconut water (nature’s Gatorade) a day to prevent cramping of leg muscles.  Keep hydrating yourself throughout the day!