Keep The Weight Off

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/111

Got a craving for something processed?

Don't worry, you're not alone - research reveals that pizza and cigarettes have more in common than one might think!

Join Marchelle and I on this two-part podcast as we dig into the science of addiction to show just how closely connected processed food addiction is with nicotine. Say goodbye to guilt over your snack habits – Tune in for a deep dive into addiction science that could prove life changing!

Episode highlights:

(10:17) The Surgeon General used three criteria to determine that tobacco products are addictive; the first is their ability to cause highly compulsive use, the second is that they cause mood altering effects, and the third is that use becomes reinforcing. Since that report was produced, research has identified a fourth criteria that we can use to determine if a substance is addictive, and that is its capacity to trigger strong urges or cravings.

(13:27) So it turns out that when you have machines do all the work, you create a product that has much higher addiction potential because there's much quicker absorption of the addictive substance. In addition, both the tobacco industry and the food industry use additives that enhance the addictive potential of the substance.

(18:39) In the processing of food, they've added chemicals to it to make it shelf stable, and really enhance the smell and the flavor and the texture of the food, and that's what enhances the addictive quality of it. They've also made it cheap and inexpensive.

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/110

Have you been seeing reports of the recent miraculous weight loss medications taking over headlines? People have questions - and understandably so! So, why don't we take some time to explore this topic a bit further? Join Marchelle and me as we demystify the latest greatest obesity treatment options on the podcast this week! Episode Highlights: (07:12) How does your brain know that there's food in your stomach? Well, there are hormones that come from your stomach and intestines, and they go to the brain and they tell the brain, "We just ate, we don't need to eat anymore". That's what GLP1 does, it gets the body prepared to digest food so we can absorb the nutrients. So, what people report when they're on this medication is that they feel fuller longer with less food, and that's what causes the weight loss. (16:36) There are specific criteria for when you should use anti-obesity medications. You should use them when the body mass index is 30 or over. Remember that body mass index is just a measure of your weight compared to your height, so there are people who have higher body mass index, they've got lots of muscle mass and they've got heavier bones, and so their body mass index might be high and they don't really suffer from obesity. But if you're somebody who's suffering from obesity and your BMI is 30 or above, that qualifies you to be able to use these medications, or if your body mass index is 27 and you have complications, for example, you have fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, hypertension, or you have prediabetes, these are the kinds of people who would benefit from these medications. (23:27) There are some people who can't take these medications; Anyone who has had medullary thyroid cancer or who has a family history of medullary thyroid cancer, or multiple endocrine neoplasias, which means cancer of several glands, can't use these medications.

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/109

So you're trying to get healthier and lose weight, but those pesky pounds just won't budge?

You'd be surprised how many foods labeled as "diet" are actually working against your goal! Find out what these sneaky snacks are this week on the podcast this week… Discover the truth behind "health" food – trust us, things aren't always what they seem!

Episode Highlights:

(04:42) If you've got a lot of insulin resistance, sometimes it can be super hard to burn off fat. But sometimes the problem is that people are choosing foods that they think are healthy but actually are not.

(11:27) Oatmeal; First of all, it's a grain, so you wanna be thinking about it as a grain. What happens with grains when they get digested? They get metabolized and they raise blood sugar. Any kind of grain is going to raise your blood sugar. There is fiber in oatmeal, but there are a lot of carbs that are going to raise your blood sugar and cause pancreatic stress.

(37:17) If I have any advice, it's to check the labels on everything you eat and even better try to eat mostly food that doesn't have a food label.

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/108

The weekend can be infamous for breaking all your hard work, so why not join us on this week's podcast and find out how to combat it?

Stop allowing two days of the week to ruin all that good behavior from Monday through Friday! Learn how you too could break free from those pesky weekend habits!

Episode Highlights:

(11:00) The disease of obesity creates over pleasure from food. A normal relationship with food is like when you were a young child: they're not all that interested in food, even if it's really good food, they just eat, but they're more interested in playing. And so as time goes on, we get a bigger dopamine hit from the food, and then we get more dependent on the dopamine hit, and then we get over pleasure, and overdesire for processed foods.

(13:35) Alcohol can really be a big issue for people, because a lot of people monitor alcohol on the weekdays because they know they have to get up the next day, and they don't want to be hungover. But on the weekends it's like "well, you know, I could sleep in, I don't necessarily have to worry about how much I drink". Then the next thing you know, the whole executive function of the brain is switched off. And then not only are they getting all the alcohol calories, but then they're overeating too.

(18:19) Most of us tell ourselves that it's hard to stay on track with good nutrition on the weekends. And so we prime our reticular activating system to look for all the ways that it's hard to stay on track on the weekends. And the reason our brain is finding all of these excuses is because we're telling ourselves it's hard, and our brain is looking for all the ways in which it's hard. So what if we prime our reticular activating systems in a different way? What if we tell our brains it's not a problem to eat well on weekends too?

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/107

It's my birthday week, and I like to take this time to 'check-in' with myself!

Every year I use this special occasion to step back from life as usual and take a personal inventory. By asking myself some key questions about the past 12 months, I'm able to create an energizing vision for what lies ahead. Why not join me in taking advantage of your own momentous milestones? Use these thought-provoking queries yourself: they may help you realize what's next!

Episode Highlights:

(08:42) It is possible to have a really wonderful, exhilarating physical experience in this world, regardless of how old you are. It just is. I've noticed a lot of people come to see us and they're in that state, they've reached these ages where they're about to celebrate that milestone birthday, or maybe they've just lost a relative and they're thinking; "I don't wanna live that story". And they begin to think about their lives and they think: "I don't want to go on living in this body that feels so heavy, I want to be able to move freely, I want my vitality back, I want my health back". And so these birthdays can be really motivating for some people. It's like, Hey, you know, time's running out, I gotta do this.

(11:02) Another theme for me this year, and it's going to continue … it's always about finding balance. Finding the right balance between work and play and relationships, traveling and having fun, all of that.

(19:19) If you love and respect yourself, your relationships are going to reflect that. So if you are not being treated well by other people, the first thing that needs to happen is you need to ask yourself: how are you treating yourself? Do you love yourself? Do you take yourself seriously? Are you attuned to your own needs? Because if you can't do this for yourself, how could anyone else do it for you? Think about it like that.

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/106

How well do you know the principles of weight loss?

Today I thought it would be fun to have a little True/False weight loss quiz, so you can test your knowledge! Follow along with Marchelle as I pose some obvious and not so obvious questions.

I think most of those of you who have been listening to the podcast will do pretty well, but who knows? There may be some surprises!!

Whether you're a weight loss novice or an expert, I bet there will be something here even YOU don't know - we won't tell if you miss one though ;)

Episode Highlights:

(04:23) My typical recommendation is that you can safely lose about a pound of fat every week if you're nourishing your body really well and you are not losing a bunch of muscle mass in the process. But you're not going to have any idea by using your bathroom scale. The truth is you can't depend on your bathroom scale to give you any accurate information about fat loss.

(15:09) When it comes to Keto, you want to have what's called a "well-formulated ketogenic plan." What that means is a lot of people hear about keto and they're like "oh yeah, all I have to do is just eat meat and cheese", and they just eat all kinds of processed keto bars and they're basically still eating processed crap food. That'll work for fat loss, but you're learning nothing about how to nourish your body! If you are going to do a keto lifestyle and you're going to bring your carbs down to less than 20 net carbs a day, you'll want to nourish your body with really good high quality protein, lots of nourishing vegetables, healthy fats, all of that.

(24:34) Obesity is a chronic, progressive, relapsing disease. The brain pathways that signal hunger and satiety, which means a sense of fullness or a sense of satisfaction, that sense of "I'm done" – those brain pathways are not working correctly. So the brain thinks you're starving and it's driving you to eat. For most people there's also an element of addiction in which the pleasure pathways of the brain have been hijacked by processed foods. So we're getting big, huge dopamine hits from the processed foods that we eat.

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/105

This week I got some sad news… news that actually impacts all of us in one way or another! I wanted to discuss this on the podcast, and I have had many meaningful conversations about this topic with patients in our clinic and with our Empowered Weight Loss members.

It is something so important that discussing it could potentially help bring massive social change - making conversation an important tool for progress.

Episode Highlights:

(10:59) I just want our listeners to watch what the food industry is doing, just notice these things; notice their marketing tactics, notice who they're trying to attract to purchase their products, notice that you can't go to a movie without getting messages, that you should drink soda, and you should eat candy and popcorn. And notice that you can't watch the Super Bowl without celebrities like Ben and JLo trying to get you to purchase Dunkin' Donuts.

(13:35) Many of you know people who already have diabetes and who have been struggling with diabetes. Many of you listening to this podcast may know somebody who's died from the effects of diabetes. So let's not let this continue to happen. Let's do something about it. Let's make sure that our children are eating whole foods, that we start our children at young ages, learning how to eat real food and not processed crap. Let's not let the food industry get our children addicted at such young ages to stuff that is really stimulating huge dopamine responses in their little brains!

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/104

Who hasn't been there? You're trying to lose weight, but you go on vacation, and suddenly all your intentions are thrown out the window!

Well, Marchelle faced such a dilemma recently - she encountered some mouthwatering food experiences that had her question if indulging was worth it! Thankfully though, we've got each other's backs here on our podcast. Tune in this week for tips to help navigate delicious temptations during vacay season!

Episode Highlights:

(14:43) When you think about the consequences of Vacation Splurge Mentality, just ask yourself: is it really worth it? We end up giving up our health for a really long period of time. After a week of splurging, we're feeling icky on our vacation; our bodies are trying to deal with all that sugar and flour, and then we come home and it's so hard to get back on track because our brains are back in that craving cycle again.

(20:57) The reason that doing something different from everybody else is really hard is because our primitive brains are really focused on staying connected with a group. And if you think about what life was like for our primitive ancestors, we would die if we were left alone. So if we did anything that went against a group norm and we were left abandoned, we'd die. So our brains are pre-programmed to follow group norms.

(28:10) Here are some practical tips:

1. Don't feel guilty about having healthy boundaries around food. There's nothing wrong with wanting to stick to a healthy eating plan.

2. Remember that there will always be lots of tempting snacks during the vacation, so if you want to eat well, make sure that you schedule regular meals, because when you're not eating regular meals, you're more susceptible to caving to junk food.

3. Just plan activities that don't involve food, like hiking or swimming, or taking a tour!

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/103

Despite the prevalence and growing rates of obesity, many still don't fully understand that weight gain is just one symptom of a much bigger problem. After spending 15 years in Obesity Medicine, I'm here to reiterate this important message: Obesity isn't due to any lack of self-control or moral weakness - it's simply an illness like any other!

It is not weak character that causes weight gain; instead, those extra pounds are just one symptom associated with a chronic and complex medical disease. So let's ditch any preconceived notions we may have had previously and focus on treating Obesity as what it really is – a true health issue requiring real solutions.

Episode Highlights:

(02:24) On June 18th, 2013, the American Medical Association voted to recognize Obesity as a disease. Weight gain is actually just one symptom of Obesity. Obesity is a dangerous, a life-threatening disease. It kills 320,000 people every year in the United States alone, and it's a disease that needs to be taken seriously.

(07:57) With the disease of Obesity, almost everything is out of balance, and we see signs of these imbalances in terms of elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, diabetes, high estrogen states, infertility, weight gain and lots of other issues. And the reason for the weight gain is because there's an error in fat metabolism, that's what causes the weight gain.

(10:25) One of the hallmarks of Obesity is inflammation. As a matter of fact, Obesity is a disease of inflammation. It's chronic inflammation, which means that it's long-lasting inflammation and the inflammation is affecting every part of the body, damaging tissues and causing accelerated aging. You could say that inflammation is destroying the body from the inside out.

For more details on this podcast visit:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/102

Does your brain have an ulterior motive?

This week on the Podcast, Marchelle and I are revealing all! We discuss our internal drama - the thoughts in our mind that just don't quit! We'll explore if these 'harmful' ideas have any real benefit, or whether they're simply on autopilot...

Tune in to find out how you can develop strategies for losing weight and keeping it off without being kept hostage by your own brain's pesky drama!

Episode Highlights:

(05:16) I think the payoff is that we become paralyzed and then everything stays the same, and when everything stays the same, the primitive brain is really happy! It wants everything to stay the same because that means survival.

(10:17) These paralyzing thoughts that bring all this brain drama and are completely designed to scare the crap out of us and keep us right where we are.

(13:17) If you follow these thoughts out, the feeling that they create is one of discouragement or even worse shame, and then you're completely paralyzed and you're unable to take any real action that will get you the results that you want. So it's just super important to become an observer of all of these little thoughts that our brain is presenting to us. Just because our brain presents a thought to us doesn't mean that it's true or even very helpful!