Getting into the LBD (little black dress)... is there a missing link to shaping up for the party season?
Here comes the party season and it's time to scan the wardrobe for those impressive slinky LBDs. Losing the inches with a special occasion in mind can often tempt us to try 'crash' diets or silly 'only eat pine nuts and jellied eels' nonsense. But don't be tempted by the headlines - maybe you are missing a trick and it's all to do with your digestion and absorption.
Take a closer look at how your body is working. Don't just ask - are you giving it the right nutrients? Also ask - is it efficiently digesting the nutrients you put into it? The role of digestive enzymes is an important one - particularly in weight loss.
How digestive enzymes help you lose weight
Enzymes are vital to nutrition, as the food we eat consists of large complex molecules that need to be broken down into small particles as they enter our bodies. Enter digestive enzymes - and they are necessary at various stages as food passes through the digestive tract.
Large amounts of enzymes are needed to digest the food we eat and if insufficient are made by the body, we bloat and suffer from digestive problems. If this problem is long-standing it can lead to digestive infections, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome and weight gain. How does this happen? For example, protein is well known for its satiating effects - eat more protein and you feel fuller and so become less inclined to snack or eat more than you should. However, if you lack protease and pepsin enzymes, protein won't be digested as effectively and you'll limit its hunger suppressing effect. The result is you'll feel hungrier and eat more.
In a similar way, enyzmes are needed to absorb nutrients. When these nutrients are absorbed this sends messages indicating to both the brain and body that sufficient nutrients have been taken in. This in turns dampens down hormones that control feelings of hunger. Or put another way, if you don't absorb enough nutrients because of lack of enzymes, you'll continue to feel hungry and you'll eat more.
Low levels of digestive enzymes can also result in bloating and pain as well as constipation, which contributes to that uncomfortable feeling of fullness. With a lack of digestive enzymes you can find it more difficult to digest foods and undigested particles of carbohydrates and fats and proteins enter the lower bowel. These partially digested molecules then cause digestive irritation, inflammation and putrifaction which creates pain and bloating.
Digestive enzymes make the digestion of foods possible. If foods are not properly digested, the foods are not properly absorbed. Absorption of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, and essential amino acids is critical for all metabolic function.
But, if our bodies are supposed to digest food and make sufficient enzymes, why aren't people producing sufficient enzymes? Firstly, if you eat 100 fresh raw foods then you get enough to digest those foods. However, cooked foods have zero enzymes. If you are like most people who are stressed, don't exercise, eat foods with additives and don't get enough sleep, then consider helping your digestion by supplementing enzymes.
What's good about... Vitamin D for weight loss
Vitamin D is not just about building bones... it may be another vital link in the fight against weight gain. A recent study linked the levels of vitamin D with the amount of adipose tissue (fat) and concluded that vitamin D deficiency may have a bearing on fat accumulation.1
Unfortunately, many of us do not get enough D; and may even be D-deficient. In obese and overweight people this could be very significant. Excess body fat absorbs and holds onto vitamin D, making it unavailable to the body. Vitamin D ensures the proper functioning of leptin, which is a hormone that signals to the brain that you are full and should stop eating. So if you are in doubt about your appetite and hunger pangs make sure you have enough vitamin D in your diet - or supplement. Vitamin D is found in eggs, oily fish and mushrooms.
What's bad about... Salt++ = water retention!
Pass on the salt and shed pounds fast! Sprinkling salt onto and into your food disturbs the balance of all salts, or electrolytes, in your body. In order for our bodies to function properly, it is important that the concentration of electrolytes in our bodies remain constant. The body, in an effort to restore the balance, holds on to water in the tissues to dilute this higher concentration. Water retention is the result.
A diet high in salt content is also typically associated with weight gain. One of the reasons is that high levels of salt in our diets usually come from calorie dense, fiber poor, processed foods, like those found in fast food and on supermarket shelves, as well as in restaurant meals. If you adhere to a low salt diet, it will encourage the consumption of the healthier foods associated with weight loss.
For more information: The Low GL Diet Cookbook - Patrick Holford & Fiona MacDonald-Joyce £12.99 available from your salon.
ANP presents:
Digest-Pro and Probiotics..
Digest-Pro is a blend of vegetarian digestive enzymes and herbal extracts to help maintain healthy digestive function. The enzymes that are included in the formulation are:
- Protease - breaks down protein
- Amylase - breaks down carbohydrate
- Lipase - breaks down fats
- Lactase - digests lactose , the sugar in milk
Levels of digestive enzymes reduce with age so this can also help older people with digestive difficulties, especially if they have weight problems too.
Probiotics powder contains beneficial bacteria - Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidus - to aid digestion and help support the immune function of the gut. It is useful after infections and use of antibiotics, which delpete the body's store of 'friendly' bacteria. It can be sprinkled on food and is ideal for children and adults who don't like swallowing capsules.
Probiotics create a barrier against a variety of different types of harmful substances, including bad bacteria, pollutants, free radicals, and allergens. If you are prone to tummy bugs take the 'tummy trio' of Probiotics, Digest Pro and Glutamine. Probiotics ward off foreign bacteria, digestive enzymes help digest foods, and glutamine soothes the intestinal lining.
Edited by: Lucy Ibbison
Refs:
1."Adiposity, Cardiometabolic Risk, and Vitamin D Status: the Framingham Heart Study," Cheng S, Massaro JM, et al, Diabetes, 2009 Oct 15.
