Introduction
In this article we will cover briefly the endocrine glands and hormonal instability that can cause weight gain. Having discussed the adrenal gland in the previous article we can turn our attention to the liver, ovaries and the thyroid.
The Thyroid
Its biological purpose
The purpose of this small gland (about 2.5 inches wide) is to regulate metabolism which it does by secreting 93% of Thyroxine (T4 Storage hormone) and 7% Triiodothyronine (T3 Active hormone). Metabolism regulates the burn rate of food to produce energy, controls tissue production for hair and nail growth, acts as our internal thermometer, and cholesterol level regulation by breaking down cholesterol into more LDL particles . How well you feel is partially under the control of the Thyroid since it can regulate serotonin levels in the brain, increase cardiac output as needed and controls basal metabolism regulating functions that include breathing, blood circulation, body temperature, cellular growth and muscle contraction. The thyroid works like this, whatever the host is doing or experiencing; if its cold and you need to increase your heart rate, and/or your need to get things moving for sex or sports etc, then the HPT(Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Thyroid) axis kicks in. This is a relatively simple feedback mechanism involving the hypothalamus that senses the circulating levels of T3/T4 in the blood, and if too low, it will send a downstream signal thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) to stimulate the Pituitary to secrete thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) to stimulate the thyroid to manufacture more T3/T4. The feedback circuitry from the thyroid, back to the hypothalamus, regulates hormone production by turning off the hypothalamus signal once blood levels of T3/T4 have normalised.
The essentials of Iodine
The thyroid requires iodine to produce thyroxine in amounts approximately 50mg.year ( 1 mg/week) which is absorbed from the GI Tract and into the blood from the diet. Although most iodides are excreted from the body by the kidneys, ⅕ is extracted by the thyroid from the blood, which is concentrated to around 30-250 times what it is in the blood by the thyroid’s iodide pump (The concentration of iodide depends on the concentration of the TSH signal). The thyroid has the ability to store its manufactured hormones for 2-3 months. Nothing is wasted in the body’s many biological processes and the production of Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine is no exception. These hormones are produced from oxidised iodine and the amino acid tyrosine within a large glycoprotein molecule called thyroglobulin manufactured within the Golgi apparatus of the cell, but approx ¾ of the iodinated tyrosine within the thyroglobulin never become T3/T4 and the iodine is cleaved and recycled ready for another round of hormone production next time. Once these hormones enter the bloodstream they bind with proteins ( thyroxine binding globulin) synthesised by the liver and are then released into the tissue cells ( ½ of the thyroxine is released approx every 6 days 46% T4, while Triiodothyronine 7% T3 is released in approx 1 day). As we explained in the article on Autoimmune conditions this long duration of T4 release is due to various tissue sensitivity. In general, the thyroid hormone activates the nuclear transcription of many genes giving rise to the production of huge numbers of protein enzymes, structural proteins, and transport proteins in virtually every cell increasing functional activity throughout the body.
Why does a dysfunctional thyroid cause weight gain
So why should a dysfunctional thyroid turn a body into a shapeless, overweight individual ?. Conventional medicine state that its due to a deficiency of thyroid hormones…yes..but WHY?? There are two main reasons that cause these problems..Autoimmunity, excess estrogen, (some cases problems with the ovaries such as fibroids can cause an excess of estrogen to be Produced). However, there is another reason which causes the thyroid to down regulate, and that is a low calorie diet. ( 800-1500 calories /day). We described autoimmunity in the article on Hyperthyroidism ( known as Graves disease) and Hypothyroidism ( known as Hashimoto’s disease). If you consume non organic food you run the risk of consuming food that has been sprayed with some kind of weed killer(Herbicides, fungicides for example) which are estrogenic or commonly referred to as ‘endocrine disruptors’. At the cellular level estrogen inhibits the binding of the thyroid hormone to its receptors. This estrogen problem manifests itself in pregnant women who experience a loss of thyroid function because of excess estrogen production. Normal thyroid function regulates cholesterol, phospholipids and triglycerides in the blood, but inefficient function will cause an increase of fats in the blood and cause excess fat deposits in the liver. The rate of cholesterol bile secretion is also affected, since, under normal circumstances the thyroid hormone induces increased numbers of the LDL receptors in the liver allowing rapid removal of LDL particles from the blood and thus encouraging cholesterol secretion in the lipoproteins by the liver cells.
Restoring thyroid function
One way to counter this build up of excess estrogen is eating daily anti-estrogenic food such as Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, brussel sprouts, bok choy and radish, although these vegetables can deplete iodine; the effect is minimal so nothing to worry about there. So the simple answer to our original question to do with weight gain is that not all calories taken in are spent as energy, when the thyroid is working in-efficiently the body stores this ‘excess’ as fat. There is one other problem that masks a thyroid dysfunction and that is a dysfunctional liver since the liver is responsible for converting Thyroxine to Triiodothyronine (T4 to T3) using an enzyme Thyroxine 5-deiodinase which is a selenoprotein and thus requires a sufficient quantity of selenium. It is important to supplement Selenium and the best way is from food, and richest source are Brazil nuts, so assuming that each nut contains typically 50mcg/nut you need to eat 6 per Day. The other advantage with brazil nuts is that they contain cesium another important mineral for the P53 anti-cancer gene.
The Liver
We finished the last section discussing the liver and thyroid hormone conversion, but the liver either chemically alters or excretes secreted hormones such as all the steroid hormones (estrogen, cortisol and aldosterone) and without the interplay of the liver an excessive accumulation of one or more of these hormones in the body fluids will cause overactivity of the body’s endocrine system. In terms of vitamin storage the liver stores a good quantity of Vitamin A, D and B12 providing the host with a reservoir of nutrients that can last for 10 months, 3-4 months and several years respectively. It’s the bodies main detox organ breaking down and eliminating the resultant waste from all toxins entering the body, but it needs sulphur for this process, which it can get, providing the host consumes sulphur rich foods such as the cruciferous vegetables ( Broccoli. Cabbage, radish, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts). Onions, garlic and kale. If the liver is abused by heavy consumption of alcohol and poor diet then overtime it can fail to perform its detox function allowing toxins to just keep circulating in the body, while some become trapped in the liver altering liver function. Furthermore, weed killers, herbicides, pesticides etc are pro-estrogenic, and taking pharmaceutical medicine can further incur liver damage.
Fat burning hormones
All fat burning hormones such as Growth hormone, Insulin like growth hormone, Glucagon, Adrenaline, thyroid hormones thyroxine/triiodothyronine and testosterone work through the liver, so if dysfunction exists, it can create hormonal imbalance causing weight gain around the belly area which could be fat or fluid leakage from the liver. A poor diet of nutritionless man made food packed with refined sugar can cause constipation resulting in a ‘backed-up liver. It is not only sugar which, as we discovered earlier in our discussions, but its the replacement substance, high fructose corn syrup, which is even more damaging on the liver. Since the liver is the only organ that can metabolise fructose, and given its daily limit of approx 30mg, this value can easily be exceeded depending on the individual’s daily diet. If the liver reaches fructose overload it stores the fructose as excess fat deposits exploding the adipocytes. I don’t know if you are aware but pharmaceutical medicine, not designed for the body, is treated as such, and the liver makes a courageous effort to rid the body of this poison, but if the host is taking many different medications this can overwhelm the liver causing potential damage and thus causing further liver dysfunction.
Fat Storing Hormones and intermittent fasting
The number one fat storing hormone is Insulin. Whenever you eat anything, insulin is released out of the pancreas and its purpose is to feed the cells with glucose from the bloodstream but it will also store it into fat cells as potential energy. Years ago the normal eating habits involved 3 meals per day which allowed for the body to fast between meals, but now consummation is higher and meals have become more frequent with some snacking in between, so insulin is released more frequently causing increased stored energy leading to weight gain. In the more extreme cases, which have virtually become the norm, high insulin levels are maintained and the cells become saturated and refuse any more glucose. In this case the glucose levels in the blood rise, and the body continues releasing insulin to lower the glucose levels which it can’t do, so it becomes a viscous circle of high insulin and high glucose levels in the blood. Overtime if this is not corrected it can lead to insulin resistance and onset diabetes. The easiest way to correct this situation is intermittent fasting, since fasting lowers the insulin levels and eventually the sugar glucose will decrease in the blood plasma and things will return to normal. Intermittent fasting has other benefits such as improved cognitive function and weight loss. Many people believe that intermittent fasting will cause the body to shut down and your body will lose energy, but this is not what happens, in fact the body gains energy since it will force the body to tap into fat cells to burn and create energy, and there is almost an infinite supply of fat or what should be called potential energy. This is the perfect solution for obesity, dietary changes avoiding foods that spike insulin and intermittent fasting.
The Ovaries
The ovaries are the female equivalent to the testes or gonads in the male. The ovaries have a dual purpose, to produce the ova or follicle egg cells and function as an endocrine gland secreting both estrogen and progesterone hormones which are crucial for reproductive development. They are the size of a large grape and are located on opposite sides of the pelvic wall, either side of the uterus attached to the fallopian tubes by fimbria tissue. The estrogen secretion comes in 3 flavors Estradiol, Estrone and Estriol. The ovaries also secrete a hormone Relaxin ( to loosen the pelvis in preparation for labor) prior to birth and Inhibin which signals the pituitary to cease FSH (Follicle stimulating hormone). Once puberty is reached in a young lady the ovaries begin to release a single egg each month ( typically a female baby is born with around 2 million eggs that reduces to approx 400,000 eggs at puberty, but only 400-500 eggs will ever mature during a woman’s lifetime, where one is released every menstrualcycle.) called ovulation. This is under the control of the hypothalamus that instructs the pituitary gland to release FSH and Luteinizing( used to trigger ovulation and development of the Corpus Luteum) hormones which are required for reproduction and menstrual cycle regulation. The corpus luteum is an essential ( for pregnancy) temporary endocrine gland that develops in the ovaries as the egg migrates down the fallopian tube, and is responsible for progesterone secretion. Progesterone secretion is needed to thicken the uterine lining in preparation for pregnancy. If pregnancy does not transpire the corpus luteum decays within 10 Days.
Menopause
During menopause the ovaries begin to go into retirement and estrogen production drops significantly compared to a woman’s fertile years, but progesterone production also drops and generally more so than estrogen, so the woman becomes estrogen dominant. The symptoms of estrogen dominance include Breast tenderness, irritability, depression, chocolate cravings, weepy emotional state, weight in the hips and stomach, low libido, fibroids, cancer, and endometriosis. There is also an antagonist relationship between progesterone and estrogen. To maintain homeostatic balance the Adrenal glands are a backup system to the ovaries, so during menopause, in terms of hormone production the adrenal glands make the same hormones the ovaries did before they retired. So the body may become stressed normally once the ovaries cease to produce estrogen and progesterone, which will activate the adrenals to take up the slack, and in its response to the perceived stress the adrenals will produce Cortisol, the bodies main anti-inflammatory substance, but cortisol needs progesterone for its production so it will reduce the progesterone level even more thus leading to estrogen dominance.
Controlling estrogen levels
In terms of biological decision making, the body considers stress management much more important than hormone depletion. If you are stressed within menopause your body will get out of balance and as cortisol production increases, while progesterone levels decrease, estrogen levels increase especially if you are already overweight. Our adipose fat cells produce estrogen and I am sorry ladies the further away you are from your normal healthy weight ( leaning toward obesity ) the more estrogen you will produce. Unfortunately there is enough scientific evidence out there providing causal associations between the overproduction of estrogen and endometrial and breast cancers, It is therefore extremely important that you consume 7 cups of cruciferous vegetables daily which are anti-estrogenic that contain (DIM), an Aromatase estrogen inhibitor. Furthermore it is important to consume organic vegetables, since non organic vegetables are quite likely to have been sprayed with some kind of weed killer which are estrogenic in themselves, which is why the weed killer residues are referred to as endocrine disruptors. Cruciferous vegetables include Cauliflower, broccoli, radish, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and also try to consume some green leafy vegetables to maintain your calcium and potassium levels. Green leafy vegetables include Kale, chard, spinach, dandelions beet leaves etc. Eat organic meat (hormone free) and take iodine ( in food form such as sea Kelp). Supplement with Nettle root for some extra natural aromatase inhibitors.
Estrogen variants
Natural estrogen comes in 3 flavors Estradiol, Estrone and Estriol. Estradiol is the main estrogen that drives the development of women, initiated at puberty it drives breast development, feminine body shape ( widening of the hips), bones and joints development, fat distribution and vagina/vulva maturation. It also acts as a growth hormone for tissues relating to the reproductive system, the lining of the vagina, cervical glands, the endometrium (outer layer of the uterus which thickens for pregnancy or sloughs off during the menstrual cycle). Estradiol also has an effect on the human skeleton where estradiol is part of the Osteoblast ( the building of bone), but unaffecting the Osteoclast process ( the tearing down of old bone). During menopause since estrogen declines the osteoblast process declines leading to potential osteoporosis in some women. Estrone is less potent than Estradiol(approx 1/10) and is produced by belly fat cells and is the major estrogenic form in menopausal women.The body however can convert Estrone to Estradiol or vice versa. Estriol is a waste by-product of metabolised Estradiol which causes ‘morning sickness’. In the imbalanced body Estriol ,this estrogenic waste product can block estrogen receptor sites from active estradiol, and elevated levels of its breakdown product, 16-hydroxyestrone, increase the risk of developing breast and cervical cancer. After menopause Estrone becomes the predominant estrogen although the ovaries still produce a small amount of Estradiol and Testosterone which can be converted into estradiol. The adrenals continue to produce Androstenedione which can be converted into estrone or estradiol by the adipose tissue, the muscles and skin cells. Estrone is a known carcinogen, and excessive Estradiol can increase the risk of carcinogenesis. Estriol also buffers Estradiol to keep it within acceptable levels, since Estriol is anti-carcinogenic. As you can appreciate it is quite a balancing act, but with a little dietary and lifestyle change it can make all the difference in supporting your body to balance these different estrogens.
Endocrine synergism
One other point is that organs and glands do not work in isolation so if there is an excess of estrogen this can also block the thyroid, and the adrenal glands act as backup to the ovaries when they go into retirement mode at menopause so it is absolutely important that you have little stress that can burden the adrenals. So low stress, consume cruciferous vegetables and organic meat and your potential hormonal imbalance should normalize.
Wrap-up and conclusive remarks
Obesity the unstoppable pandemic
Obesity is the single most health concern this century with no sign of abatement and there never will be. As long as governments continue to support the current food and beverage industries the populations of the planet will get fatter and sicker. This problem will never be fixed on a national level nor a worldwide level. World governments will continue to tell the world that they are addressing the problem but you and I know the problem has become a leviathan and out of control. I understand they cannot just shut down the industries that are driving this problem but they could demand a much healthier nutritional product especially within the beverage industry which in my opinion is the main driver and as Michael Moss writes in his book ‘Salt sugar fat: how the food giants hooked us’ he quotes Jeffrey Dunn an ex executive of Coca Cola who said :
“But the obesity trend is an epidemic, ” Dunn continued. “And there is no question its roots are directly tied to the expansion of fast food, junk food, and soft drink consumption”.
Sugar Busters
Interestingly Dunn who spent many years rising through the ranks of coca cola, the company his father had worked for, suddenly began questioning his moral ethics and aggressively pushing sugar beverages knowing full well there were health risks attached. His epiphany moment began when a book appeared on his desk called ‘Sugar Busters’ written by 4 doctors H.Leighton Steward, Morrison Bethea, Sam Andrews and Luis Balart in 1995, reinforcing the message that high fibre, low glycemic diets should be embraced to fight the statistic that obesity had risen as much in the last 10 years as in the last 4 decades. The book promoted modern society eat like their ancestors who consumed zero refined sugars ( because general mills, kraft, coca cola were not around), and ate whole grain and unrefined foods…natural foods found and eaten as nature intended. The book also stated that diabetes in the US population had risen 600% between the years 1958-1998, and that every US taxpayer was paying several hundred dollars to feed the $44 billion or so ( this is a 2003 figure, but lets update that to $174 billion in 2007, and in 2012 $245 billion) spent treating a disease that is easily preventable and reversed, from a diet and lifestyle change. The diet advocated in ‘Sugar Busters’ was 40% carbs ( fruit,vegetables and grains and seeds), 30% protein and 30% fat, a balanced diet, not necessarily a weight loss diet. Their diet advocated avoidance of white potatoes, white rice, bread made from refined flour, corn products, beets and all refined sugars, corn syrup, molasses and honey. As a result Dunn attempted to make changes within the company by introducing Dansi bottled water, but he was not to last long in the company, since his motivation to push a beverage that were causing illhealth had gone.
Awash with soft drinks
Americans are drinking on average —more than 40 gallons of Coca Cola delivering 60,000 calories and 3,700 teaspoons of sugar, per person/ year just on a beverage alone. If you think that drinking commercial orange juice is any better, than you would be surprised to learn that making juice is an industrialized process. It involves peeling the fruit, extracting the juice, adjusting the sweetness by blending various varieties, and evaporating the water out of the juice. What’s left is pure sugar; fiber, vitamins, minerals gone. This by the way is how fruit concentrate is made, which for example was squirted into Capri sun another ‘Natural fruit drink. No artificial ingredients’ beverage despite containing high fructose corn syrup as the main sweetener with just a dash of fruit concentrate so as the advertising could state Natural fruit drink..deceptive and misleading. Michael Moss informs us that the Capri sun wild cherry flavor contained 28 grams of ‘sugar’ ( HFCS & Fruit concentrate) in 6.76 ounces of product vs a 12 ounce coke that contains 39 grams of ‘sugar’. A Florida grandmother who purchased the beverage thinking it was a health drink, sued Kraft and won, resulting in a label change to ‘no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives’ from ‘all natural’ and the product’s ‘sugar content was reduced to 16 grams. This is yet another reason to avoid commercial beverages, when you have to sue the company to make them less poisonous.
Taste & texture fat & sugar
Since sugar or high fructose corn syrup has narcotic effects on the brain’s reward centres including the Nucleus Accumbens and the Ventral Pallidum. Does fat provide the same addictive high ??. Edmund Rolls a neuroscientist working at Oxford University UK, by examined various brain scans on an MRI when subjects were fed sugar and canola oil. He found that both fat and sugar lit up the reward centres of the brain with equal effects In Rolls opinion, the fact that some neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex respond to fat texture but not to other textures has important implications for the food industry: low energy-dense foods could be made highly palatable through the incorporation of substances that trigger a fat texture response. Rolls identified palatability and variety as two additional factors to consider when evaluating whether obesity may be related to overstimulation of the food reward system. Enhanced palatability in the human diet may lead to an imbalance between sensory reward and satiety signals, and enhanced variety may lead to increased food intake as a result of satiety being partly sensory-specific. In the book Fat Detection: Taste, Texture, and Post Ingestive Effects by Montmayeur JP, le Coutre J (biophysicist from Nestle) is a compendium of papers published by 50 food scientists. In one paper the author points out that different brain neurons exist that detect fat texture and fat viscosity, and that fat texture sensitivity neurons reside in areas in the prefrontal cortex including the rostral insula and secondary taste cortex in the orbitofrontal cortex. paving the way forward on understanding the representation of fat in the mouth and the taste processing in the brain. As Michael Moss in his brilliant book states :
If sugar is the methamphetamine of processed food ingredients, with its high-speed, blunt assault on our brains, then fat is the opiate, a smooth operator whose effects are less obvious but no less powerful. Quote from the book ‘Salt sugar fat: how the food giants hooked us’
Sucrose masks fat content
Let us be clear here, fat is absolutely essential for human survival because our bodies are made from the stuff, but its healthy saturated fats from coconut, avocado, organic dairy, organic meats, nuts, but the fats used by the food industry are highly processed hydrogenated liquid fats like corn, canola etc oils. We also have to consider the study that was done by Drewnowski & Schwartz on ‘invisible fats : Sensory Assessment of Sugar/fat mixtures. Visible fats include cooking oils, butter etc, however, apart from detecting the richness, smoothness and viscosity of say a heavy cream, fats in most processed food are invisible, such as food made from liquid fat like canola and corn oil. Therefore it’s easy to detect high sweetness in food, it’s a lot more difficult to detect a high fat content of the ‘bad fat’ variety. In this study they gathered 50 college females of normal weight who tasted 15 stimuli that resembled cake frosting composed of 20-77% sucrose, 13-53% butter, polydextrose and distilled water. What they found was that the higher the sucrose level the more it masked the fat content and thus the tasters in this experiment concluded that the sweeter the stimuli the lower in fat content which is why sweet high fat desserts are viewed as carbohydrate rich foods as opposed to high fat rich foods.
What makes these fats also dangerous for consumption is that they are more than likely originated from genetically modified seeds. Seeds that are engineered to destroy bugs and weeds also cause health problems in humans. In a 1990 nutritional survey it reported that added sugars contributed 13% of calories but unhealthy fat contributed 37%
If you want to know more about Gentically engineering seeds I suggest you read the article ‘Microbiome and disease Part 2, and here is the link https://www.drjohnbergman.com/the-microbiome-and-dis-ease-part-2/
Dietary intervention to avoid and correct Obesity
If you are considered obese then you can do something about it. Correct your nutrient deficiency by taking all 90 essential nutrients with a product like Body balance from Life force international which will reduce and eliminate the cravings for certain foods that may be the culprit that’s causing the weight gain and then simply avoid it. Avoid all man made food and I quote from Dr Bergman:
‘If God did not make it then don’t eat it’
Ensure you start eating 1 cup of fruit and 6 cups of vegetables specifically cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, radish, cabbage and include carrots, asparagus. Putting sprouted radish and/or sprouted alfalfa and seaweed in a sandwich using sprouted organic bread with cheese or live pate..makes a great lunch. Occasionally eat some fermented vegetables twice a week. I would also introduce some blended green leafy vegetables (include Kale, chard, Spinach, dandelions, broccolini, you can choose 2 of 3 from the list) with some ginger, lemon and/or lime, celery, cucumber with a banana or 2, apple, cranberries just to sweeten the taste a little and put all these ingredients unpeeled into a blender with a mixture of filtered water and organic apple cider vinegar.
Improving your health and feeling better
Within a few months you will have gained a better status of health which should switch you into having at least 2-3 bowel movements/day, so now you must think of doing some light exercise..walk for ½ hour to start and once those pounds begin to disappear and you feel up to it change the walk into a light jog and always stretch before and after your exercise routine. Because of the weight loss you may have to rebuild muscle tone so try some strength exercises in a gym..weights etc. Within a year I am sure you will have to visit the retouche to adjust your clothing..now isn’t that something to look forward to..no more gasping for air when you climb the stairs, your body will want to move..more energy, no more digestive problems..belching, bloating, flatulence..you will be at a maximum burn rate. Very important…you only lose weight when you are sleeping so get 7 hours worth of sleep and contain your stress level ; don’t get angry when somebody takes your parking spot, that negative energy will only come back in your face. To help your mood when exercising specially if you love music, as I do, get an ipod and some bluetooth headphones and listen to whatever music you prefer..ES Posthumus, Atticus Rose, David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, Goldfrapp, Audiomachine, ambient chillout, this is all good music for your exercise regime.
Conclusions
So I have spent a lot of time explaining the science behind Obesity leaning toward the poor consumer who has become addicted to food at the hands of the food companies that have spent a lot of time manipulating the insatiability of their food, causing that feeling that you want to eat more. As you have read, weight gain is not just binge eating stimulated by bioengineered palatability causing food addiction, but it can also be caused by hormonal problems caused by dysfunctional endocrine glands, so this has to be taken into consideration on the road to weight loss and health. However, the cause of obesity is the flooding of insulin and high glucose levels in the bloodstream, a perfect diabetes type II storm. You can stop the body turning into the dunlop tyre man and avoid the very food that is causing this excessive weight gain and start to internittently fast and the first stage is to go back to the way of eating that was common in the 1970’s, Breakfast, lunch and dinner and no snacking in between and ensure that you eat your last meal at 18:00 hours. Under no curcumstances should you eat before going to bed, since this will create more free radicals in your mitochondria, because you interrupt the electon transport chain which is the energy factory within the cell. Whenever you eat, ultimately the body creates electrons from it to feed the electron transport chain, but if you are sleeping and thus sedentary, how are you going to burn this potential energy. The answer is you can’t, so these unspent electrons begin to become oxidised since they are virtually dormant within the energy producing electron transport chain. Once you feel comfortable with eating only 3 meals a day you can try fasting longer..for example don’t eat anything after your last meal the previous day and don’t eat again until say noon the next day which amounts to only 2 meals/day lunch (brunch) and dinner. Try this for 2 weeks then go back to 3 meals/day. There are no hard and fast rules, but your fasting regime should be what is more comfortable for you. The benefits are simple, no type II diabetes, energy to exercise, weight loss..OBESITY BE GONE, what could be better.
Everything’s bigger in America. We’ve got the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest companies, the biggest food, and finally: the biggest people. America has now become the fattest nation in the world. Congratulations! Nearly 100 million Americans today are either overweight or obese. That’s more than 60% of all US adults. Since 1980, the the total number of overweight and obese Americans has doubled. The fattest state in America: Mississippi, where one in four people are obese. Obesity is now second only to smoking as a cause of preventable death in America, with an estimated 400,000 deaths from related illnesses.
Companies spend billions to make sure that you know their product. In 2001, on direct media advertising, that’s radio, television and print, McDonald’s spent 1.4 Billion dollars worldwide. On direct media advertising, Pepsi spent more than a billion dollars. To advertise candy, Hershey foods spent a mere 200 million dollars internationally. In its peak year the Five-a-Day Vegetable Campaigns total advertising budget in all media was a lowly 2 million dollars, 100 times less than just the direct media budget of one candy company.
This is the best part of the day, when I get to be fat, on the bed, with my quart of Coke.
My body… officially hates me. Morgan Spurlock
Quotes from the movie Supersize me 2004
References/Acknowledgments :
-
- Invisible fats : Sensory Assessment of Sugar/fat mixtures. Drewnowski & Schwartz 1990
- Textbook of physiology Guyton & Hall 2006
- ‘Salt sugar fat: how the food giants hooked us’ book 2014 Michael Moss
- Sugar Busters book 1995 H.Leighton Steward, Morrison Bethea, Sam Andrews and Luis Balart
- The new body type guide book 2017 DR Berg
- Estrogens and endometrial cancer in a retirement community T.Mack, M.Pike, B.Henderson, R.Pfeiffer, V.Gorkins, M.Arthur. S.Brown June 1976 NEJM
- Estradiol, Estrone and Estriol Wikipedia
- A critique of Women’s Health Studies 2002-2006 J.Clark OCT 2006 NCBI
- An overview of the ovaries Robert Sargis Endocrine Web
- All about estrogens Precision Nutrition
- Why estrogen dominance after Menopause Dr Berg
- Relationships Among the Brain, the Digestive System, and Eating Behavior: Workshop Summary Book 2015 Edmund Rolls – Integrating the evidence NCBI
- Fat Detection: Taste, Texture, and Post Ingestive Effects book 2010 Montmayeur JP, le Coutre J
- Quotes from the movie Supersize me 2004 Wikiquotes
Author: Eric Malouin