To order online go to drkeller.metagenics.com

Before taking any Vitamin or supplement check with your physician.

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What you eat, in addition to lifestyle including activity and stress, directs your hormones.

These factors control how your hormones direct all the metabolic steps involved in storing and burning energy. Your hormones send messages to your brain to signal when to eat and to stop when you are full. They direct your body to either store or burn fat for energy.

Food is powerful medicine

The type of food and quantity determine how your hormones work. Food is a powerful medicine; it controls your hormones, which control your metabolism.

So it’s no wonder that if your hormones are not functioning properly and are not balanced it will be nearly impossible to lose weight. Your body will accumulate excess fat, and you will be at an increased risk for developing chronic diseases.

It is essential to balance your hormones if you want to lose weight and reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, PCOS, inflammatory diseases and possibly even cancer.

Food, insulin and weight loss are connected

There are many hormones involved in regulating your metabolism. The most important one is insulin. Insulin is the fat storing hormone; it is secreted by the pancreas in response to elevated blood sugar.

When we eat simple carbohydrates like bagels, breads, cookies and crackers, the body rapidly breaks these foods down to glucose. In response, insulin rises very high to try and get the glucose inside the cells to be used for energy. When insulin level remains high, excess calories are stored as fat, and fat cells are blocked from using the fat stored for energy. Again, when we eat simple carbohydrates like sugar and white flour our insulin goes up quickly and our bodies go into fat storage mode.

Fat cells make a hormone called resistin. Resistin causes insulin resistance. This is where the body does not listen to insulin. This causes blood sugar to stay high, causing the body to make more insulin and ultimately store more fat. More fat more resistin; it becomes a vicious cycle and harder and harder to lose weight.

Insulin levels can impact other weight-loss hormones

Glucagon is another important hormone that senses low blood sugar. It releases stored sugar from the liver and from fatty acids from fat stores. High insulin levels inhibit glucagon and this too inhibits the body from using stored fat for energy, and the vicious cycle continues.

Leptin is the hormone that tells your body “I’m full,” an essential hormone to control appetite. When we gain excess weight, we can become leptin resistant, meaning we have leptin but our brains won’t listen to it. The brain never hears “I’m full.”

Cortisol and weight loss

You can see how the foods we eat disrupt the balance of our hormones. Lets see how cortisol our main stress hormone, which is necessary for our survival contributes to weight gain.

Prolonged elevation of cortisol brought on by chronic stress, inadequate amount of sleep and excessive physical activity, causes increased appetite, increased blood sugar, increased insulin, and yes, you guessed it, increased fat storage. It also contributes to insulin resistance.

Adiponectin, also secreted by fats cells, helps cells become more sensitive to insulin. Obese patients have low levels of adiponectin which also works against trying to lose weight.

Ghrelin, another important hormone, stimulates your appetite; when you’re hungry ghrelin levels increase. Ghrelin increases when we are stressed or sleep deprived, which can cause us to overeat.

How appetite-regulating hormones work

There are several other hormones which regulate our appetite and metabolism. These include, Neuropeptide Y, which makes you hungry and increases your appetite especially for carbohydrates; it is increased in chronic stress, low protein intake and high carbohydrate diets.

Peptide Y makes you stop eating; protein stimulates a lot of PYY, but carbohydrates stimulate it very little. This is why you stay full longer after eating protein and are hungry shortly after eating simple carbs.

Glucagon like peptide (GPL 1) hormone works like leptin, it is released from the small intestine and sends a message to the brain to stop eating. Lower glycemic meals raise (GPL1) levels higher than meals that are mainly simple carbohydrates.

The hormone cholecystokinin also tells you that you are full. It increases much higher in response to a protein and fat meal than a simple carbohydrate meal like cereal. This is why we can eat a large volume of cereal, bread or pasta compared to meal of protein and complex carbs (vegetables).

The importance of hormone balance for weight loss

You can see that it is absolutely necessary to balance these hormones in order to get to your body’s correct weight. Eating the right foods can help accomplish this as well as making lifestyle changes that include exercise and stress management. In addition to hormones, our neuro-transmitters, which are the brain’s messenger system, can get off balance as well. This can lead to cravings and self-medicating with food.

In order to balance your hormones and neurotransmitters it’s important to get tested. This allows your doctor to identify the right treatment to get your body back on track.

Dr. Betty Keller, Medical Director of Optimal Wellness in Ridgewood New Jersey, specializes in balancing hormones and neuro-transmitters. She can help you get to your correct weight and reduce your risk of developing chronic disease. Optimal Wellness is located in Ridgewood, NJ. Call today to schedule your consultation at (201) 485–7930.

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In order to consistently change the way you eat, you need to change the way you think about eating. Many of us have lost and regained the same 5, 10, 20 or more pounds only to see it creep back on and unfortunately along with a few extra pounds. It can be discouraging once we lose the weight somehow our old habits that caused us to gain weight in the first place return. The only way to consistently lose weight and keep it off is to change the way we think. We need to develop a plan to control negative thoughts that sabotage and undermine our sense of control. We need to choose an eating plan that we can live with for life. Diets do not work in the long run. Changing your lifestyle, including, how you think about food, what and how much you eat, and engaging in regular activity. In addition, we need to develop ways to counter act the effects of excessive stress in our lives and make sure we get enough good quality sleep. These changes not only will help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight you will also feel better, have more energy, a more positive outlook and reduce your risk of developing chronic disease.

How can we change our thoughts? One way is through Cognitive Behavior Therapy. CBT has been very successful in helping people control their eating. CBT is a form of talk therapy that helps you identify these negative or unhelpful thoughts that can sabotage your healthy lifestyle. This form of therapy helps you develop effective solutions. The basis of CBT is awareness and change. You learn to identify negative thinking patterns, and develop tools to challenge these unhelpful thoughts and make choices that are positive. There are many books available as well as certified CBT therapists that can help you get started. A great way to learn more about CBT and how it can help you lose weight and keep it off is to read:

The Diet Trap Solution by Dr. Judith S. Beck

At The Optimal Wellness Center we take a holistic approach to weight loss. Including using CBT techniques to help our patients successfully lose and keep the weight off.

Optimal Wellness Center is located at 172 Franklin Ave Suite 4A Ridgewood NJ 07450

The post The Power Of Your Mind Is The Key To Successful Weight Loss! appeared first on Optimal Wellness Weight Loss Center.

Here are 10 basic tips to start you on your way to permanent weight loss, one step at a time:

#1 Start with a personal commitment to yourself.  Before you can make changes that last, promise yourself that you are doing this for real.  No medical consultation in the world is going to make a difference if you are not committed to making changes happen.  Your progress in choosing foods, activities and ways to reduce stress only work if you are ready and willing to make the new choices you’re giving yourself.

#2 Find what motivates you and work with that.  Only you know the real reasons you want to make a change.  No one can tell you the right reason. This has to be what you want for yourself.  Think about what means most to you, like “I want more energy and fun playing with my kids,” or “I want to feel more comfortable in my body.”   Write your reason down.  Keep it in mind.  These thoughts will help you make positive, healthier choices.

#3 Say to yourself:  I can do this! Your mind is powerful – the most powerful tool you have.  When you tell yourself “I can,” you’re helping set the course of your actions.  Your actions follow your thoughts.  “I can do this” leads you on to your own personal success.

#4  Look at how you think about food, and change the way you think about it. Food is meant as fuel for your body.  It gives you nourishment and the ability for your body to perform.  People may talk about “comfort” food.  But any “comfort” in eating doesn’t last very long.  Our thoughts and relationships about food are complicated.  Be willing to reflect on your thoughts and feelings about food, and decide which thoughts to keep.

#5  Take time to relax and enjoy yourself when you eat.  Enjoy your food.  Be mindful and allow yourself to sit down for your meal, and enjoy every bite. Don’t watch TV while eating, or check your email, or read.  Make meal time a pleasure and a break you take for yourself.

#6 For at least the first 3 weeks, write down what you eat in a food diary.  This isn’t forever, — it’s good to do at least for the first 21 days.  Keeping a food diary will help you become aware of the new habits and choices you are forming.  It will help keep you on track..

#7 Keep unhealthy foods out of your home.  Remove any foods you’ve decided to keep out of your life for now.  You save yourself a lot of stress and temptation if it’s not in your house.  Make sure you remove trigger foods from your home: those which you can’t stop eating once you get started.  Know that you’re not alone in having foods that are just not safe for you to have nearby:  There’s a reason why certain potato chips makers advertise that “You can’t eat just one.”

#8 Drink water.  Plan times to help yourself to a glass of water.  Drink a glass before you have a meal, and before you have a snack.  When you make sure to give your body enough water, you are less likely to make the common mistake of eating, thinking you’re hungry, when you are actually thirsty instead.  Drinking plenty of water also helps prevent food cravings, and keeps you from feeling fatigue due to dehydration.

#9 Get active.  Find an activity that you enjoy.  Make time to enjoy your activity for at least half an hour, 5 days a week.  Exercise speeds up your metabolism.  If you stay active for 60 minutes a day, you reach your weight loss goals even faster.  In addition to an activity that gives your heart rate and metabolism a healthy boost, find an exercise that helps you improve muscle strength.  Just two days per week of strengthening exercises is enough to improve wellness.  Your doctor can help you find a range of activities that are safe and beneficial to you.   Always check with your doctor before starting an exercise program.

#10 Start your day with protein.  Make your first meal of the day rich in protein — whatever time you have your first meal.  Protein helps keep you feeling full longer. It signals your hormones to tell your body to stop eating, you’re full.

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Get ready to lose weight with our 4 phases process. Find out how we determine what your body needs. See the medical reasons for why losing weight has been a challenge. Discover how to have satisfying meals, the right exercise plan, and new ways to manage stress so you lose weight and keep it off.

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