Finding Your Healthy Weight

Have the fad diets failed? Are you feeling sabotaged by the conventional dietary wisdom? Have you been huffing it on the treadmill only to find your weight isn't budging?

Been there, done that.

While we treat the extra pounds as though they themselves are the problem, the truth is, they're simply a warning sign that something ELSE is wrong. When your weight goes up or down dramatically in a way that's not normal for you, that's not a sign that you don't have willpower or that you're not trying hard enough; it's a signal that something is off.

It may very well mean that you're eating too many snackey-cakes in front of the TV. However, it may also mean other things, such as:
* Stress - this could be emotional/mental OR physical stress. It may be stress you're not even aware of!
* Hormonal imbalance - we live and die by hormone levels, and our health depends on their harmonious balance. If things get out of hand, that can trigger changes in metabolism, which can make the difference between storing or burning fat.
* Exercising too much - it's hard to believe, but quantity does not equal quality! Results are not linear; i.e. the more you exercise, the more you hang onto your weight!
* Not exercising correctly - the type of exercise can make or break your progress. Chances are, you're working A LOT harder than you have to!
* Eating the wrong ratios - eating fat will not make you fat. However, too many sugars will!
* Not eating often enough - going surprisingly briefly without a snack triggers our bodies to store--not use--fat.
* Eating the wrong combinations of food - different types of nutrients require different pH levels in the digestive tract, and your digestive tract can only be at one pH level at a time. This means that one thing you ate is getting digested--while the rest isn't.
* Unknown food allergies and sensitivities - these can mess with your metabolism and create inflammation, which can lead to excess (or not enough) weight. Some people drop a lot of weight when they identify and eliminate problem foods.
* Toxicity - our bodies may be overwhelmed with metabolic wastes and environmental toxins, which means we don't break down and eliminate these substances correctly. The body stores the excess in the fat cells to protect the organs.
* Malabsorption - proper metabolism depends on several cofactors (often vitamins and minerals), and when these cofactors are missing, metabolism gets inefficient, and intermediate products or by-products will end up in the fat cells.
* Neurotransmitter or emotional issues - these directly affect the nervous system, which governs practically everything, including digestion and metabolism.

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who don't weigh enough. These people may be suffering from the same types of imbalances; they just manifest them differently. This side of the coin is every bit as serious as the person piling on extra pounds. Too many pounds and we start to worry about inflammation, diabetes, and heart disease. Too little, and we start watching for wasting diseases, abnormal growths, anemia, and/or malnutrition. The point is, you want to be at a healthy weight.

The Registered Dieticians (RDs) have it all wrong;
Counting Calories is a waste of time!

The next dragon we have to slay is the one that won�t die: the calories-in-calories-out myth. It seems logical enough, but it's not that simple. Why?

First, calories are NOT all created equal. This means they can't be counted, because 1 does not always equal 1. Calories behave differently, depending on whether they come from fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. There are other non-calorie factors to consider, such as vitamins, minerals, other cofactors, enzymes, coenzymes, phyochemicals, phenols, and other substances that make a big difference, even though they don't contain calories themselves.  Saying you consumed 1800 calories is like saying you ate "food".  Some packs more punch than others. Saying you ate "food" isn't meaningful because it doesn't tell you anything about the quality, size, or potency of the clouds.

Next, let's address the "calories-out" side of the equation. Actually, it's not "calories" you want to burn, but FAT. (You're less concerned about burning off the meal you just ate than you are about burning off the extra tummy flab, right?)

Ask yourself why gym memberships work the way they usually do; sure, a few of them offer short-term or month-to-month arrangements, but most of them lock you into long-term contracts that are nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get out of. This is because, deep down, the people who parrot the conventional wisdom that "cardio burns calories" know that this isn't an effective way to trim fat and they know that if they didn't lock you in to a long-term contract, you'd get discouraged after a few months of working your tail off and getting nowhere, and quit.

What if physical activity was easier, more fun, more varied, MORE EFFECTIVE, and took a LOT LESS TIME? And what if your meal times were more FUN, your food more TASTY, and your food worked WITH your body and your goals instead of AGAINST them? (Hint: it's all about controlling certain hormones that govern fat storage, and controlling the expression of certain genes that contribute to easy accumulation of fat! And this control is easier than you think.)

Dr. Sweeney's Experience:

Dr. Lara Sweeney has spent nearly the last 10 years researching ALL KINDS of different diets and nutrition philosophies. She has seen the Grapefruit Diets of the 1950s, the low-calorie diets of the '80s, the low-fat diets of the 90s, the Atkins/Zone/Southbeach diets of the 2000s, the Macrobiotic Diet, the Raw Food Diet, the Blood-Type Diet, the Ornish Diet, Mediterranean Diets, variations of vegetarian and vegan diets, Metabolic Type diets, and the Paleo diet. She studied The China Study, Joseph Mercola's No-Grain Diet, Andrew Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Diet, and loads of others. She has personally done the "Standard American Diet", Zone Diet, Food-Combining Diet, a vegetarian diet, an Ayurvedic diet, and has now settled on a hybrid of Paleo/Hunter-Gatherer, Food-Combining, and Hypo-allergenic. By absolute necessity, she is 100% gluten-free, casein-free, peanut-free, and egg-free. She also effortlessly maintains a very healthy weight and Body Mass Index (BMI).

Since studying Functional Medicine and Functional Endocrinology, which included specific education in the management of diabetes, adrenal disorders, metabolism, detoxification, and weight control, she has taken the best nuggets from each diet and exercise plan and philosophy and created a hybrid that is surprisingly natural, intuitive, and enjoyable.

The days of huffing it on the treadmill or feeling nutritionally deprived are OVER.

Our Personal Programs are the perfect place to start!

Working with Dr. Sweeney, you'll learn:
* Why diets and exercise regimens don't work
* How to enjoy eating and moving again
* How to eat well on a hypoallergenic diet, without feeling deprived!
* How to make the most of your physical activity time
* How to feel energized instead of depressed or fatigued
* How to burn--not store--your body fat 24 hours a day

You will have to read food labels and do some minor math, but it won't involve counting calories or berating yourself for "slipping". Depending on your current diet, you may have to make some drastic changes to your belief system and/or your eating habits. Please understand that these changes are lifestyle changes to be adjusted to and adhered to forever, NOT some short-term quick-fix crash diet meant to reach an unreasonable goal in record time, only to revert back to the previous eating habits that caused the problem in the first place.

Together, we can:
* Design a nutrition plan around YOUR body needs, desired goals, and favorite foods!
* Design a physical activity plan around the way the human body was designed to work best! You'll be amazed at how little time it takes.
* Target certain metabolic functions with highly-specific supplements designed to get your body back on track faster!

Getting the priorities straight:

Remember, weight loss isn't the primary goal here. The real goal is getting HEALTHY. However, it's no coincidence that getting healthy usually comes with the terrific side effect of shedding unwanted pounds!