Five Reasons People Gain Weight

There are a multitude of reasons as to why people gain weight. Everyone is different, but here are the top five that apply to majority of people. Choosing five may be a gross oversimplification, but these are the five most common reasons I see for weight gain.

Diets

Wait, what? Aren’t diets the pinnacle of health? Isn’t that how people lose weight and keep it off? No. Diets are restrictive, counterproductive, and promote an unhealthy relationship with food. Food is amazing. It is meant to be enjoyed, it is meant to be cooked from scratch using good ingredients, it’s meant to be savored. Food is not meant to be processed low-calorie, low-carb, low-sugar junk. It is time consuming and unenjoyable to weigh food, to count food, to portion it out into a teeny tiny allowance that doesn’t negatively affect your caloric intake for the day. Diets are not something that can or should be maintained on a long-term basis. This is why majority of people who start diets give up shortly after. Restricting your intakes, whether it’s fat, sugar or carbs, leads to binge eating. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat real, whole, healthy food. If you need help with this, check out my 21 Day Lifestyle Transformation.

Fat Phobia

We have been duped. We have been told time and again that fat is bad. Fat is the enemy. Saturated fat is going to clog your arteries, give you heart disease and kill you. You have been fooled. There is literally no convincing scientific evidence that saturated fat is bad for you. In fact, it’s the opposite. While we’ve been encouraged to eat low-fat, no fat, and polyunsaturated fat, we’ve gotten fatter, we’ve gotten sicker. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and obesity have grown exponentially. The truth is, fat is good for you! You don’t need to avoid fat, you need eat the the right fats! Pastured meats, egg yolks, butter, wild seafood, coconut oil and avocados should be staples in everyone’s diet. These are some of the healthiest foods we can eat. But we avoid fat, and our bodies suffer both physically and mentally. Do not fear fat, enjoy it. Just eat the correct fats.

Bad Nutrition Advice From Government Agencies

While the recommendations have improved, governmental nutrition advice still has a long way to go. “Healthy” whole grains and low-fat protein and dairy is the basis of their recommended diet. They advise people to avoid saturated fats and instead replace them with canola oil. There is no mention of organic food, grass-fed meats, wild fish, avoidance of GMOs, and choosing the correct fats. Mostly because they fats they endorse are rancid vegetable oils that are high in the very inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. Do not take nutrition advice from the government. Hell, I would say don’t even take nutrition advice from registered dietitians. RDs are trained following a government-approved cirriculum. Do your own research!

Cardio

Running endless miles is not going to help you. In fact, it’s going to hurt you. My boyfriend used to love running. When I met Scott, he loved running. I mean loved it so much he would run seven miles several times a week. Evetually, he ran so much he destroyed his knee, and without the muscle tone to support his body, he got really hurt. He had to undergo a surgery that left him bedridden for over a week. So many people turn to cardio when they want to get fit and what they need to turn to is weight lifting, resistance training and high intensity interval training. Running doesn’t build muscle, it doesn’t give you a toned definition, it doesn’t make you healthy (in fact it’s a very inflammatory exercise). Very few people can run themselves fit, and because it’s so taxing on the body, hardly anyone can keep running on a long-term basis (and really, no one should!).

Toxins

This is really #1 in my opinion. Genetically modified food, vegetable oils, soy, gluten, artificial flavors, dyes and the multitude of toxins in modern day food leads to obesity and degenerative diseases. One of the most important things you can do for your health and weight is to cook majority of your meals from at home, from scratch.

You don’t need to count calories or carbs, you don’t need to weight and portion out your food, you need to eat unprocessed, nourishing foods. Your diet should consist of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, meats, fermented foods, seafood and grass-fed dairy. Eat what your ancestors ate!