Weight Loss
Digestive Health
According to traditional Chinese medicine, strengthening the digestive system is very important when it comes to weight loss.
Stress can affect the digestive system and disrupt gut function. You can do some daily meditation to help with stress.
Click here to watch my guided meditation!
Food
Break the cycle of dieting.
Avoid fad dieting, as it isn’t sustainable. You may achieve some results, but they can be near impossible to maintain. This means that you will gain back all of the weight back and more.
Aim to lose up to 1 kg (or 2 pounds) a week, as this is sustainable. Anything more than this can be hard to maintain in the long term.
Incorporate a variety of food, local and seasonal, into your diet. Allow yourself to enjoy food, but also be mindful of what you are putting into your body.
Depriving yourself of food can lead to binging - this is a difficult cycle to break. Try to have three meals a day and incorporate enough proteins and carbs to keep you energized throughout the day.
Carbs aren’t the enemy. There is a misconception that carbs are bad for you. This isn’t necessarily the case, as carbs provide our brain with energy. Not eating carbs can cause you to feel tired and sluggish. However, it is important to remember that moderation is key. Make sure your diet is around 30% carbs, 40-50% protein, 30-40% fat.
Try to avoid eating at least up to 2 hours before you go to sleep. Eating right before going to sleep can disrupt the hormone cycle and other processes that happen while we sleep.
Think of your body as a car. You need to give the car fuel in order to drive. Your body requires nutritious food in order to provide you with the energy to function on a daily basis.
Things to Avoid/Reduce:
Salads
Cold drinks
Tropical Fruits (if you are not living in a tropical area)
Processed foods
Try to Eat/Drink:
Warm water
Lemon and honey with tea
Wide variety of local and seasonal cooked vegetables
More fibre
Fermented foods
Exercise
Exercise is extremely important when trying to lose weight. It is also a very good way to fight stress, anxiety and depression.
If you are just beginning to exercise, start with fast walking 30 minutes a day. The important thing is to make sure that your heartbeat becomes elevated (at least 20% more than normal) and you start sweating.
Strength training is also great for weight loss. When you build muscle your body burns more calories. If you were to do a session of strength training your body will continue to burn calories even after you are finished the work out.
There are various ways of doing strength training, and I recommend starting out with resistance bands.
Videos
Here are some that help strengthen your digestive health and metabolism and help with weight loss:
Don’t forget to be kind and have compassion with your self.
Changes take time, so be patient and remember:
one small action every day leads to a big change over time.
