Sign Up For Weight Loss WithMother Nature Newsletter -- FREE! According to a recent article in the International Journal of Obesity, there is too much emphasis on diet and exercise being the factors for causing obesity, and there are other lesser known but critical factors that are being completely ignored.
Some of these factors include:
1. Too Little Sleep Research shows that sleep deprivation leads to increased hunger and appetite. 2. Pollutants Many of the toxins in our environment mimic the hormone estrogen, which leads to increased fat deposition. 3. Comfortable Temperatures Before the invention of air conditioning and central heating, people had to use up energy to keep warm or cool, which decreased fat. Now that we have the capacity to keep our homes 72 degrees F at all times, we do not have this opportunity to burn fat. To view the other seven factors click on the link below.
1. Too Little Sleep
Research shows that sleep deprivation leads to increased hunger and appetite.
2. Pollutants
Many of the toxins in our environment mimic the hormone estrogen, which leads to increased fat deposition.
3. Comfortable Temperatures
Before the invention of air conditioning and central heating, people had to use up energy to keep warm or cool, which decreased fat. Now that we have the capacity to keep our homes 72 degrees F at all times, we do not have this opportunity to burn fat.
To view the other seven factors click on the link below.
Weight loss is more complex than eating less and exercising more.
Getting enough sleep, as one example, can be a tremendously important factor. It used to be thought that the connection between lack of sleep and obesity was due to insulin impairment.
However, it now appears that insulin may have just been a marker and that the more important dysfunction involves the hormone leptin.
Leptin, which is affected by sleep, is the way that your fat stores speak to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it.
Studies have shown that leptin plays significant, if not primary, roles in heart disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, reproductive disorders, and perhaps the rate of aging itself.
Stress can also be a factor in obesity, one that can create an especially vicious cycle where daily stress leads to lack of sleep, which leads to more stress, but also leads to an increased risk for weight gain. Weight gain will, of course, add even more stress to your life, contributing to the original stress that caused the poor sleep in the first place!
So when creating a plan to help yourself lose weight, remember that while diet and exercise are key, your whole life needs to reflect your commitment to better health.
I am pleased to have Dr. Pearsall contribute her insights on weight loss. She was the co-writer of Total Health and my most recent book, Sweet Deception. For the past year when she hasn't been working on the books she has been busy researching her passion, weight loss, and has compiled a comprehensive resource of different programs that are currently out there.
If you go to her site, Weight Loss With Mother Nature, you will be able to sign up for her reports on the different weight loss programs and see how they all compare.
On Vital Votes, Patricia from Winchester, Virginia weighs in on some of the problems with losing weight in modern American society:
"Our kids are fed ... breakfasts concocted of multisyllabic unpronounceable ingredients that only the FDA thinks is food. They have 20 minutes of recess a day and gym class twice a week. Owing to safety concerns, most kids do not walk to school, even in the suburbs and small cities. "Commuting dads get home after 7 PM, and working moms don't have the energy or culinary know-how to put together a delicious and healthy meal from scratch every night. Exercise? Fuggedaboutit. If I were a dot.com millionaire, I would hire a chef to give supermarket demonstrations on how to prepare easy and delicious dishes from whole foods."
"Our kids are fed ... breakfasts concocted of multisyllabic unpronounceable ingredients that only the FDA thinks is food. They have 20 minutes of recess a day and gym class twice a week. Owing to safety concerns, most kids do not walk to school, even in the suburbs and small cities.
"Commuting dads get home after 7 PM, and working moms don't have the energy or culinary know-how to put together a delicious and healthy meal from scratch every night. Exercise? Fuggedaboutit. If I were a dot.com millionaire, I would hire a chef to give supermarket demonstrations on how to prepare easy and delicious dishes from whole foods."
However, it is possible to eat healthier organic food, free from many additives and preservatives, on a budget and with a hectic schedule.
Other responses to this article can be viewed at Vital Votes, and you can add your own thoughts or vote on comments by first registering at Vital Votes.