Everything You Need to Know About Naturopathy Weight Loss Program

Reviewed by: | Author: Manoja Kalakanti

You have perhaps tried losing weight for the longest period of time. You have tried crash dieting, exercising for hours together, the works, but the pounds which you have tried so hard to shed have stayed put, and maybe even accumulated more in all the wrong places. But have you ever tried naturopathy for weight loss? It is a holistic approach to weight loss; not really treating the symptoms but addressing the underlying causes of weight gain. Where other weight loss efforts don’t provide lasting results, naturopathy can help you shed the excess pounds and keep them off.

naturopathy-help-you-lose-weight

Why Should You Go for A Holistic Weight Loss Effort?

Weight loss is not only something you do physically, it also depends on your mental approach. Like, have you bothered to find out why are you putting on weight? Is there any plausible reason for it? Is your diet not in order or your exercise regime not working? Or is there a psychological disorder forcing you to overeat? Many people who suffer from depression or other psychological disorders find solace in over-eating. So here is why you should seek naturopathy diet for obesity. To get to the bottom of all the emotional and physical problems ailing you to no end, the approach to weight loss should be balanced on three pillars: physical, social and psychological. An approach which caters to all these issues forms the crux of naturopathy.

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Different Holistic Approaches

Besides the usual approaches, namely eating right and exercising, there are other ways to lose weight. They may not give you quick results, but they will give you lasting results. Explore the following ways and see if you can incorporate these methods to help you lose weight.

  • Positive messages- You should always establish a healthy relationship with food. Rather than considering food as your enemy, reiterate the fact that you have control over food, food does not have control over you. Also, when you eat something with guilt, somehow, it has an adverse effect on you. Eat to nourish yourself, slowly chewing, so that the nutrients of the food get easily absorbed. Even your childhood experience with food can affect your weight positively or negatively. If your parents had banned certain kinds of foods from your daily meal plan, you might end up over-indulging in them as you grow up.

positive-messages_healthy-relationship-with-food

You can control your cravings by giving yourself a pep-talk. “I can do it, I can control my cravings,” or “I am not really hungry.” Eat with a peaceful bent of mind and establish a healthy relationship with food. Don’t eat with a cluttered mind, or you will end up punishing or rewarding yourself with food. For example, if you had a bad day at the office, you head straight to a fast food joint, and start eating, thinking you deserve to be rewarded as the day was full of trials and tribulations. Get a hold of yourself and don’t capitulate to food!

  • Meditation- Meditation is another holistic approach for weight loss, because a calm mind functions better, you are more content, and that helps you deal with things with a more positive approach. Surprisingly, it also helps drive away your inner angst, turmoil and the knotted tension which curbs your ability to think clearly and work well. When you are stressed, you gain weight; binge-eaters can then realize when they are over-eating and why are they doing so. They are able to deal with food cravings better and when they are able to do that, they lose weight easily.

meditation

  • Psychotherapy- This is an approach which helps you modify your behavior. CBT or cognitive behavior therapy is something that will alter your mind to cater to your specific goals, which in this case is weight loss. A cognitive behavior therapist helps you deal with your inner problems, because sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and it is the job of the therapist to condition your thinking process in such a way that make you get the balance back into your life. Nursing a dream about having a dream body is okay, but if you are obsessing about it too much, it is not a healthy approach to address weight-loss issues. So this therapy will help you to delve deep and find out the reasons why you tend to binge eat and deal with the same with a positive frame of mind.
  • Monitor your own self- Sometimes you are yourself unaware of the number of times you sneak in a doughnut or a piece of cake, and you just dismiss it as a small piece that doesn’t matter. But it all piles up and by the end of the day, you are unable to maintain the calorie deficit which will enhance your weight-loss efforts. So writing a journal is a great way to keep a tight rein on your cravings. When you write down the number of things you eat in a day, you will be surprised to see what a mammoth number of calories you end up in consuming, despite trying your best to control your calories. So when you write it down, you cannot sneak in more calories, you will be more aware of your binging habit.

monitor-your-own-self

  • Exercise- You exercise every day or most days of the week, yet you are unable to lose weight, does it happen to you? Try this then, do something you don’t enjoy, like do a chore absent-mindedly; do you get the desired results? If your answer is no, then you will find out that the same thing happens to your exercise regime. You do it without finding any real interest, then it becomes tedious, and a fruitless pursuit. Find a regime which challenges you and is also a source of happiness. If you are fond of dancing, then choose something like zumba, aerobics, or try to learn a new dance form, and you will lose weight while having fun with it. You will be able to stick with it for longer, instead of losing interest and giving it up mid-way.
  • Visualization- This is a technique where you visualize about a slimmer version or a healthier version of you, and work towards achieving that. Every time you move away from your point of focus, visualization will help you stay on a straight and narrow path. This will also help you to think and ponder upon the ways and means to lose weight.

visualization

  • All methods in conjunction- The Naturopathy diet for weight loss says that no one method works, you will only get results if you utilize all the methods in conjunction. If a diet works for one person it does not mean it will work for everyone else. Your diet plan, exercise routine, visualization methods should all be used together to lose weight.

Treatment Plans to Treat Obesity

Once your naturopath finds the reason for your obesity or weight gain, he/she will chalk out a treatment plan. It is definitely not your usual one treatment suits all. They will ask you to undergo different tests and find out the underlying reason for your weight gain. A few major causes of weight gain are as follows,

  • Insulin resistance or imbalance in blood sugar levels.
  • Liver not functioning at the optimum level.
  • Not enough stomach acid to aid digestion.
  • The absence of good fats to enable proper metabolic functioning.
  • Thyroid problems and its impact on the metabolic rate of the body.

treatment-plans-to-treat-obesity

You need to be healthy first and lose weight later. If you have gained weight due to an overload of toxins, you need to detox and get rid of the accumulated toxins first, as they not only sabotage your weight loss efforts but also lead to a number of chronic diseases. So here is how a naturopath goes about things: the naturopath will delve deep into your family history to examine your psychological and physical health. Healing the metabolism should be the first step, because it’s the only way you will be able to maintain your ideal weight, otherwise there are greater chances of you gaining back all the weight you painstakingly lost.

The naturopath’s plan will be to give you a systematic schedule to follow, which will emphasize upon,

  • A balanced diet of whole foods is key to building optimum health. If your diet is wrong, you cannot fix it with anything, a good diet will improve your insulin sensitivity and fix other endocrine disorders.
  • Nutritional supplementation is another way to fortify your body; we sometimes are unaware of the fact that we suffer from nutritional deficiencies until we are affected by the symptoms. Natural supplementation is sometimes the best way to help with weight loss.
  • Stress management- As we have already said, managing stress is one of the best ways to combat weight gain, and managing stress can be done by following techniques like visualization, meditation, exercise, so on and so forth.

Supplementation for WeightLoss

A naturopath’s best technique for intrinsic healing is natural supplementation. Mother Nature has an abundant source of nutritional wealth which can treat the deadliest of all diseases. What a pill cannot achieve, a natural herb or spice can, and weight-loss is no exception.

  • Curcumin- Curcumin, found in turmeric is a powerful medicine said to heal many chronic diseases along with obesity. Curcumin has a favorable impact on obesity and insulin resistance, as well as the complications resulting from these diseases.

curcumin

  • Coconut oil- Consuming coconut oil helps stave off disease and illnesses as it has antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties. It also has thermogenic properties, which helps increase the metabolism and hence burn fat faster.
  • Gurmar or Gymnema- This herb is a wonderful natural remedy for diabetes. It can also be used to treat arthritis, diuretic, anemia, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, asthma, constipation, microbial infections, indigestion, and is also an anti-inflammatory. This herbal extract helps to reduce weight, and also lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
  • Milk thistle- If you are gaining weight because of liver problems, then milk thistle can come to your aid. It helps combat chronic hepatitis, gall bladder disorders, insulin resistance, and lowers cholesterol levels; it also helps lower the proliferation of cancer cells, especially when it comes to the prostate gland, breast, and cervix.

milk-thistle

  • Betel leaves- Betel leaves not only help with conditions like gastric ulcers and controlling blood sugar levels, but also help in weight loss. If betel leaves are used along with cowpea seeds, it will have a positive effect on your weight loss efforts.
  • Bitter melon- This is a plant which not only helps with controlling the sudden spikes in blood sugar levels, but also to lower cholesterol. Since it is able to control insulin sensitivity, it can help in weight loss as well.
  • Mangosteen- Garcinia mangostana is pretty effective in stopping the formation of fat cells, and it also helps in breaking the existing fat cells. It is a great supplement to protect your body from cardiovascular diseases.
  • Caralluma- The succulent plant, cactus to us, helps decrease appetite, which results in weight loss. These are consumed in India either in pickle form or cooked vegetable form. The striking feature of this plant is that it helps in reducing abdominal obesity.

caralluma

There is a host of other natural supplements like cinnamon, bilberry, fenugreek, green coffee, green tea and so on which are as effective and should be used for the overall benefit of your body.

What is a naturopathy diet? It is simply a diet that has wholesome foods to support and balance your body. All of our systems depend on one another, and if there is an imbalance in any one of them, the others suffer, making weight loss a miserable uphill battle. Whether it’s an imbalance of hormones, adrenal dysfunction, digestive dysfunction, neurotransmitter dysfunction, inflammation, or imbalance in the detoxification system, correcting it is one way to natural and permanent weight loss and eventually to your overall health.

Throw away your weighing scale, or better still, let it not define your personality. You might be a few kilograms overweight, but it should not act as an obstacle in your path to happiness. The most important tenet of naturopathy is accepting you as you are, don’t try to be what you were once or what you want to be in the future, just be happy, live for the moment and everything else will fall into place.

Naturopathic Weight Loss Program – Your Path to Wellness – PDF

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