Women know how easily they can put on weight and how difficult it is for them to lose it. Wondering why this happens? It is because of a simple fact that women are usually smaller and lighter than men. When you have a smaller body, you have lower calorie needs. When you have lower calorie needs, your relative deficit (20%, 30% etc) gives you a smaller absolute deficit and therefore you lose fat more slowly than someone who is larger and can create a large deficit more easily.
There are also various other factors that make it difficult for women to lose weight easily. They are:
Body Mass: Women have less lean body mass than men and more fat cells. The lower the lean body mass the less muscle they have and unfortunately muscle burns more calories than fat. This is why personal trainers usually suggest women to strength train – strength training builds muscle and therefore burns more calories.
Thyroid: It’s an endocrine gland in our bodies whose primary function is to control how quickly the body burns energy. Women, more than men, have thyroid problems.
Pregnancy: The potential to become pregnant is what makes women have less lean muscle mass – a women’s body has 20% more fat cells than men.
Brains: Women’s brains make them have a harder time resisting foods they crave than men. They are also more likely to overeat than men and more likely to have eating disorders or behaviors such as binge eating.
Sleep & Stress: These two go hand in hand. Lack of sleep (night-time parenting) causes stress. Stress AND lack of sleep causes the levels of cortisol (a hormone) to increase. High cortisol levels leads to an increase in appetite and thus causing women to overeat. They need to stop doing all the household chores and get some good beauty sleep if they want to have better control of their eating habits.
Exercise: Women don’t exercise hard enough. They all know the importance of it but very few are aware of how hard they need to exercise in order to lose weight. To lose weight women need to work out at 80% of our Max heart rate because that is their Aerobic Zone.
Source: http://www.fitwatch.com/weight-loss/why-women-lose-weight-more-slowly-than-men-650.html and http://fitnesscheerleader.com/lazy/why-women-cant-lose-weight/
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Watch our video to learn more on weight management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2ZF9BSrlY
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Are your friends making you fat?
Social networks can influence you in a lot of ways and one of them is that your friends can make you gain weight. Yes this is possible and many researches and studies have been done on this subject. A study on this, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, finds that the obesity epidemic can spread like a virus through social networks. When a person becomes obese, his friends and siblings are likely to gain weight as well.
James Fowler, one of the study's authors and an associate professor of political science at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) says that this may be due to the fact that friends may subconsciously share ideas about what constitutes a healthy weight.
The researchers found that when a person becomes obese, the chances that a friend will become obese increases by 57 percent. Siblings of obese people have a 40 percent increased risk of obesity, and their spouses' risk increased by 37 percent.
On average, having an obese friend made a person gain 17 pounds, which put many people over the body mass index (BMI) measure for obesity.
Female friendships did not seem to be impacted by obesity. But the chances that a man might gain weight from having a fat pal doubled for so-called mutual friends - friends who both listed each other as buddies.
However this doesn’t mean that you should blame your friends for your obesity as a lot of other factors are involved like genetics and individual lifestyles. To prevent this domino effect from affecting your weight the focus should be on staying fit and healthy and what better way to do it than getting your friends and family involved in this process.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/story?id=3413751&page=1 and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12237644
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Watch our video to learn more on weight management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2ZF9BSrlY
James Fowler, one of the study's authors and an associate professor of political science at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) says that this may be due to the fact that friends may subconsciously share ideas about what constitutes a healthy weight.
The researchers found that when a person becomes obese, the chances that a friend will become obese increases by 57 percent. Siblings of obese people have a 40 percent increased risk of obesity, and their spouses' risk increased by 37 percent.
On average, having an obese friend made a person gain 17 pounds, which put many people over the body mass index (BMI) measure for obesity.
Female friendships did not seem to be impacted by obesity. But the chances that a man might gain weight from having a fat pal doubled for so-called mutual friends - friends who both listed each other as buddies.
However this doesn’t mean that you should blame your friends for your obesity as a lot of other factors are involved like genetics and individual lifestyles. To prevent this domino effect from affecting your weight the focus should be on staying fit and healthy and what better way to do it than getting your friends and family involved in this process.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/story?id=3413751&page=1 and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12237644
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Watch our video to learn more on weight management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2ZF9BSrlY
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sautéed Greens
This simple recipe is not only tasty, but packed with nutrition. Kale can be exchanged for any dark leafy green – collard greens, Swiss chard or spinach.
Serves 2
1 large bunch black kale
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp red chili flakes
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Cracked pepper to taste
Thoroughly wash and de-stem kale. Shake excess water from the kale, but do not dry. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and garlic to the skillet, stirring until lightly golden. Add the chilies and kale, toss together with oil, garlic and chili. Sprinkle kale with salt and cover for 3-5 minutes to stem the greens. Uncover and continue to toss over high heat until greens are wilted. Add lemon juice. Crack pepper over top and serve immediately
Watch our video to learn more on weight management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_RJnm_QceM
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Serves 2
1 large bunch black kale
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp red chili flakes
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Cracked pepper to taste
Thoroughly wash and de-stem kale. Shake excess water from the kale, but do not dry. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and garlic to the skillet, stirring until lightly golden. Add the chilies and kale, toss together with oil, garlic and chili. Sprinkle kale with salt and cover for 3-5 minutes to stem the greens. Uncover and continue to toss over high heat until greens are wilted. Add lemon juice. Crack pepper over top and serve immediately
Watch our video to learn more on weight management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_RJnm_QceM
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Monday, March 15, 2010
Basic lifestyle changes you can make to maintain a healthy weight
Reducing the daily stress on your body is key in maintaining a healthy weight. And although you can’t prevent or avoid all stress, there are a number of stressors you can control that will provide your body with a sound foundation. Some of the steps you can take include:
1. Identify and address hormone imbalances and food intolerances. Talk to Drs. Young or Larsen about what testing is appropriate for you.
2. Forming a habit of going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day.
3. Eliminating/reducing factors that disrupt your sleep: household noise, interruptions from pets, artificial lighting in your sleeping area – electronics, street lamps, night lights, etc.
4. Eating your meals at regular times each day.
5. Eating nutrition dense, whole foods.
6. Eating your last meal/snack at least 2 hours before bed.
7. Allowing yourself 10 minutes in the morning to wake up and start your day well: expose your eyes to sunlight, breathe deeply and set a simple intention for the day.
8. Practicing stress management techniques that work for you (exercising, meditation, deep breathing, etc.) for at least 10 minutes every day and during times of stress (commuting, dealing with difficult people or situations).
9. Be sure you are not habitually eating with friends. (Meaning you don’t need to treat yourself to desert or an extra drink just because everyone else is.)
Creating a healthy, lean body is dependent on how well each individual’s body copes with the demands made on it. The right balance is unique for each individual – what works for your friends may not work for you. Start by knowing what the common factors are, then identify what’s likely affecting you, and finally, let us help you make a plan to address them.
Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_RJnm_QceM
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
1. Identify and address hormone imbalances and food intolerances. Talk to Drs. Young or Larsen about what testing is appropriate for you.
2. Forming a habit of going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day.
3. Eliminating/reducing factors that disrupt your sleep: household noise, interruptions from pets, artificial lighting in your sleeping area – electronics, street lamps, night lights, etc.
4. Eating your meals at regular times each day.
5. Eating nutrition dense, whole foods.
6. Eating your last meal/snack at least 2 hours before bed.
7. Allowing yourself 10 minutes in the morning to wake up and start your day well: expose your eyes to sunlight, breathe deeply and set a simple intention for the day.
8. Practicing stress management techniques that work for you (exercising, meditation, deep breathing, etc.) for at least 10 minutes every day and during times of stress (commuting, dealing with difficult people or situations).
9. Be sure you are not habitually eating with friends. (Meaning you don’t need to treat yourself to desert or an extra drink just because everyone else is.)
Creating a healthy, lean body is dependent on how well each individual’s body copes with the demands made on it. The right balance is unique for each individual – what works for your friends may not work for you. Start by knowing what the common factors are, then identify what’s likely affecting you, and finally, let us help you make a plan to address them.
Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_RJnm_QceM
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Common factors that cause excess weight gain
In order to maintain a healthy weight your body requires the right nutrients as well as a decrease in perceived stressors. While a seemingly simple concept, it can be difficult to determine what your body fat regulating system feels threatened by. Below are some of the common factors that cause excess weight gain.
* Emotional & Environmental stressors: Depression, anxiety, fear and apprehension can all cause your body to feel threatened. These stressors can either be from internal strife or from reactions to your environment – home, work, etc. Often it is an emotional or environmental stress that first cues or chemistry to change. Ruling out depression, anxiety and fatigue from lifestyle is a critical portion of decreasing unwanted weight.
* Chemical stressors: Hormones (thyroid, sex hormones, cortisol) and neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers that your body makes to direct its internal functions. As we have emotional, environmental and physical changes these messengers can be altered in such a way that they work against us. Chemical changes can result in adrenal fatigue, blood sugar problems (diabetes or insulin resistance), hypothyroidism, and even early onset hormone decline in both men and women.
* Physical stressors: Some common physical stressors include chronic pain, insufficient sleep, and over exercise. Chronic pain changes our chemistry, especially cortisol our main stress hormone. Insufficient sleep is perhaps the least talked about or recognized problem contributing to weight. Sleep apnea, insomnia, and waking often all contribute to weight gain. Over exercise is very surprising to most of our patients. If a person is not meeting their basic needs, like proper nutrients and sleep, and they are exercising heavily often there will be a decrease in basal metabolic rate. Persons in this situation can exercise daily and still not lose weight.
* Other environmental stressors: These include stimulants, poor nutrition and irregular eating. Caffeine, nicotine and sugar can all cause excess stress on your body both by inappropriate stimulation of your nervous system and by affecting your glucose-insulin interactions. Poor nutrition is not only eating bad food choices, but also poor choices for you such as foods you may be intolerant to. Insufficient vitamins and minerals, essential amino acids, and healthy fats will deprive your body even if you are eating enough. Often we check to be sure this is not a more serious problem with a blood test. Irregular eating habits, like skipping meals and binging on junk will also trigger your body to store extra weight.
As you can see from the list above, emotional, chemical and physical stressors play a large part in your body fat regulation system. Your body’s inherent response when it’s under increased stress is to stock up on fuel to defend itself.
Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAlAuxF5cys
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
* Emotional & Environmental stressors: Depression, anxiety, fear and apprehension can all cause your body to feel threatened. These stressors can either be from internal strife or from reactions to your environment – home, work, etc. Often it is an emotional or environmental stress that first cues or chemistry to change. Ruling out depression, anxiety and fatigue from lifestyle is a critical portion of decreasing unwanted weight.
* Chemical stressors: Hormones (thyroid, sex hormones, cortisol) and neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers that your body makes to direct its internal functions. As we have emotional, environmental and physical changes these messengers can be altered in such a way that they work against us. Chemical changes can result in adrenal fatigue, blood sugar problems (diabetes or insulin resistance), hypothyroidism, and even early onset hormone decline in both men and women.
* Physical stressors: Some common physical stressors include chronic pain, insufficient sleep, and over exercise. Chronic pain changes our chemistry, especially cortisol our main stress hormone. Insufficient sleep is perhaps the least talked about or recognized problem contributing to weight. Sleep apnea, insomnia, and waking often all contribute to weight gain. Over exercise is very surprising to most of our patients. If a person is not meeting their basic needs, like proper nutrients and sleep, and they are exercising heavily often there will be a decrease in basal metabolic rate. Persons in this situation can exercise daily and still not lose weight.
* Other environmental stressors: These include stimulants, poor nutrition and irregular eating. Caffeine, nicotine and sugar can all cause excess stress on your body both by inappropriate stimulation of your nervous system and by affecting your glucose-insulin interactions. Poor nutrition is not only eating bad food choices, but also poor choices for you such as foods you may be intolerant to. Insufficient vitamins and minerals, essential amino acids, and healthy fats will deprive your body even if you are eating enough. Often we check to be sure this is not a more serious problem with a blood test. Irregular eating habits, like skipping meals and binging on junk will also trigger your body to store extra weight.
As you can see from the list above, emotional, chemical and physical stressors play a large part in your body fat regulation system. Your body’s inherent response when it’s under increased stress is to stock up on fuel to defend itself.
Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAlAuxF5cys
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Monday, March 8, 2010
Regulating Body Fat and the Role of Stress
To work on achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, it’s necessary first to understand the basics of how you regulate body fat and what factors affect this system. Your body fat regulating system is charged with ensuring your body has the energy it needs to function properly. Normally, your body maintains a small amount of stored energy as fat to balance your daily needs with your food intake. Daily needs range from exercise to providing basic nutrients to your cells.
If your fat regulating system perceives a threat, it will respond by switching into protection mode. In protection mode, the amount of energy that your body saves increases, the visible result of which is the accumulation of excess body fat. This effect is compounded by low caloric diets. The less energy you give your body, the more it saves. Really, this type of reaction is a positive adaptation for survival. If you were to lose weight when you are stressed and starving you would die.
Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAlAuxF5cys
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
When was the last time you were slim
One of the first things we ask patients is “When was the last time you were slim and what has happened since.” Weight changes can correlate with extreme stress or life changes. Some examples are divorce, or death of a loved one, moving, hormonal changes (like puberty, pregnancy or menopause) or even serious injury such as a car accident. There are many different reasons one gains weight. Understanding what has happened is an important part of your journey to find the answers you have been looking for. Once we have a clear picture of your history we will decide what testing or treatment suits you best.
Given the complexity of most patients’ issues it would be difficult to help lead you to your diagnosis in a blog. Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLfq1d0NNdk
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Given the complexity of most patients’ issues it would be difficult to help lead you to your diagnosis in a blog. Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLfq1d0NNdk
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
A Holistic Approach to Achieving and Maintaining a Healthy Weight
How many times have you heard you are over weight because you're eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, at the wrong time each day or you are just not exercising enough? What if you are following all of the right advice and still not getting results?
As a nation, we spend an estimated 30-40 billion dollars a year on diets and weight loss products. Despite our efforts, an estimated 65% of Americans are considered overweight and over 23% of Californians are obese. We feel it is our responsibility as Naturopathic Doctors to find the root cause of whatever ails you, including what makes you gain weight and hang on to extra pounds.
So, why is weight management such a difficult issue? Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a balancing act between good nutrition, balanced hormones, regulating emotional stress and keeping in good physical condition. We can control our diet and our physical conditioning. Our emotional, stress, hormones (chemical stress) and physical stress can sometimes get the best of us. At the point a person has tried diet and exercise and has been unsuccessful they need intervention from a medical professional. In the United States, our current medical model is to restrict calories, perform surgical procedures or use drugs to reduce weight. Naturopathic medical school teaches a much different approach.
Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLfq1d0NNdk
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
As a nation, we spend an estimated 30-40 billion dollars a year on diets and weight loss products. Despite our efforts, an estimated 65% of Americans are considered overweight and over 23% of Californians are obese. We feel it is our responsibility as Naturopathic Doctors to find the root cause of whatever ails you, including what makes you gain weight and hang on to extra pounds.
So, why is weight management such a difficult issue? Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a balancing act between good nutrition, balanced hormones, regulating emotional stress and keeping in good physical condition. We can control our diet and our physical conditioning. Our emotional, stress, hormones (chemical stress) and physical stress can sometimes get the best of us. At the point a person has tried diet and exercise and has been unsuccessful they need intervention from a medical professional. In the United States, our current medical model is to restrict calories, perform surgical procedures or use drugs to reduce weight. Naturopathic medical school teaches a much different approach.
Watch our video to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLfq1d0NNdk
Contact Young Naturopathic Wellness Center for your weight management
The Young Naturopathic Wellness Center was founded to provide patients with appropriate diagnoses and effective, individualized treatment and education to help them achieve wellness.
To achieve your own wellness, call 408.761.6781 today to schedule your appointment. For more information about the Young Naturopathic Center for Wellness, visit http://www.drreneeyoung.com/ and http://www.youngwellnesscenter.com
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