June 23, 2023
I started this blog to try and help you become nutritionally fit. I started looking around and saw that we were becoming unhealthy. We all have to find a balance between being physically fit, nutritionally fit and mentally fit. Setting goals can keep us motivated and focused with a feeling of improvement and accomplishment.
There is something called the yo-yo syndrome. It is mostly used in describing pitfalls of unhealthy weight loss when weight is lost and regained, over and over. Just consider for a moment the stress on your body when you lose 10 gain back 15. Lose 20 gain 30. Think of all the readjusting your body has to do during this turmoil. Overtime this dreaded yo-yo occurrence can do quite a bit of damage to your body. And it is not only a problem with weight going up and down, but also things like uncontrolled blood sugar and blood pressure. Over an extended period of time, our bodies tend to weaken internally which may cause damage. Of course, simply stated, we need to avoid the yo-yo syndrome.
Keeping your body nutritionally fit incorporates maintaining a healthy weight, controlled blood sugars and blood pressure, all of which are also directly related to being physically and mentally fit.
Basically what I’m saying is that you need to find a balance to keep your body healthy and stable.
We are born with a certain number of fat cells. By losing weight, these fat cells may shrink, but they never go away. If you lose weight in a safe and healthy manner, those diminished fat cells may stay stable and controlled. A safe weight loss program means losing 1 to 2 pounds per week. If done properly, you will find yourself also losing some bad eating habits while developing new and improved ones. Those changes will benefit you greatly in the long run. You may start to see improvements in other areas of your health with your new nutritional development.
If the weight loss was unhealthy and unsafe, you may not be able to maintain and sustain yourself on a poorly designed and
inadequate nutritional plan. Old habits may start to creep back in and you will find yourself refilling those old fat cells and possibly developing more, leading to an excessive weight gain, often greater than what you lost.
My goal as a clinician is to encourage you to seek good health. We need to also inspire our children to be physically active and allow their taste buds to evolve, finding healthy alternatives to poor food choices. Rally around your journal. Journal with your children, helping them see what it is you are all actually consuming. This is the a great tool to open up discussion about the importance of healthy eating. You can actually see if you’re eating too much butter with breakfast and ways to cut back on that, maybe you’re using too much salad dressing or too much cream and sugar in your coffee every day. Use the concept of reflective nutrition to help push you toward accomplishing a nutritionally sound diet.
We need to get back on the right track to good health. Don’t lose sight of our goal to be physically and nutritionally fit, in good metabolic shape and feeling those strong, healthy vibes we all need to move forward.
