Whilst waiting for a flight back in November I picked up a couple of books in Birmingham airport that caught my eye. Now, I used to be an avid reader of books but these days do most of my reading online. One of the books was called “Ultra Processed People…why do we all eat stuff that isn’t food…and why can’t we stop” by Dr Chris van Tulleken ( the other book I picked up was written by a hostage negotiator but that’s for another day 🤣). This book has completely changed my views about weight gain and food and taken me on a journey of new learning about genetics, lifestyle and cellular health and how we can be predisposed to gaining and retaining excess weight.
Now, I’m not particularly overweight but probably not in the best shape metabolically …I eat a plant- based diet but do like my crisps and wine. I exercise regularly but probably not as much as we are told is a healthy amount. Fortunately I am pretty healthy day-to-day on the surface for my age, but do wonder how I’m doing on a cellular level. I did have some bloods done earlier this year …..my fats in my blood aren’t great and I also had a test to see how balanced my Omega 3 versus 6 was. This is important for maintaining normal cell and tissue function and helps the body control inflammation My results indicated a severe imbalance…😱
I’m in a lot of social media groups and I see similar stories ….people doing their best to manage their health and weight and really struggling, especially as we get older or hit menopause. Still eating the same and exercising the same but gaining and struggling to shift the weight.
Now here’s the bit of the book that blew my mind…..it isn’t down to eating our 5 a day, doing our 10,000 steps a day, eating less and moving more to lose weight or keep to our targets. Undoubtedly all these actions are needed but despite doing all this many people really struggle …..
The basic message is that our propensity to gain and retain fat is down to the food we eat and our genetic predisposition. Here in the UK our supermarkets are crammed with highly processed products; our high streets awash with fast food horrors... chemically modified to make some raw ingredient edible. This highly processed food is often the cheapest and most convenient, with minimal nutritional value. For many people this is literally poison and messes up our body’s natural processes for regulating appetite and fat storage.
The popularity in weight- loss injections in the UK has skyrocketed over the last couple of years. Already In the USA approximately 5 million Americans have used weight- loss injections; that’s 6% of the adult population. These work by supplying your body with a synthetic drug that mimics GLP-1 hormone which regulates appetite and controls hunger. They can work but for many the side effects are intolerable. Also to get them legitimately prescribed you need to be over a certain BMI.
Now as an aesthetic nurse I’m aware that you can get pretty much anything on the black market, whether that be anti-wrinkle injections …..yes a lot of the incredibly cheap Botox deals you see are unlicensed products, and as such illegal and uninsurable, if you were to have an adverse outcome. Same with the injections they need to be prescribed following a face to face consultation with a medical professional …..and should come in a measured dose pen , not in a vial or syringe.
For those that want a more holistic and gentler alternative there is a new GLP-1 activation product launching in the UK soon. It doesn’t supply your body with the a synthetic drug that mimics GLP1 hormone ….it helps your body to repair, so it can produce its own, which really makes sense to me and aligns with the idea that cellular health is key to maintaining our bodies ( and our skin)
If you would like more information about the product please do get in touch.
Whichever route you choose I think the key messages from all my reading is that what we eat and our cellular health are key. Yes, we do need to try and make healthier choices ….eat cleaner, move more etc, but for most of us, in addition to this, we probably need to undo some of the damage from 21st century living and give our bodies the chance to heal and function better. And stop feeling shame about our inability to “lose weight” when the odds are really stacked against us.