Is Inflammation Making You Fat?

This Could Be the Real Reason You Can’t Lose Weight

Do your pants immediately feel tighter after dinner?

Do you find yourself noticing extra fat around your midsection?

If this sounds familiar, you know how frustrating bloating and stubborn belly fat can be. While self-pity is unproductive, there are things you can do each day to improve these issues by addressing the real cause.

The Real Reason You Feel Fat

Inflammation could be one of the reasons you can’t shed those pounds or get rid of inconvenient bloating. This is great news if you haven’t seen the results you’ve wanted from diet and exercise alone.

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation is a component of the body’s defense mechanism. For short periods of time, it’s a good thing.

For example, your body will induce a temporary fever to help ward off foreign pathogens when you’re sick.

This causes an intentional inflammatory response aimed at making you better.

However, long-term inflammation is different. Long-term inflammation is caused by food intolerances, stress, and poor digestion. When left unchecked, this can cause fat-storing hormones to be released excessively.

How to Lose the Fat Caused by Inflammation

Here are some of the top inflammation-fighting practices you can get started on right now:

1. Remove Inflammatory Foods

These inflammatory foods tax your body and immune system and can lead to increased body fat. Try to remove the following foods and ingredients from your diet and household:

✦ Gluten
✦ Dairy
✦ Corn
✦ Eggs
✦ Soy
✦ Nuts
✦ Nightshades

tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes, eggplants

✦ Citrus
✦ Yeast

baker’s yeast, brewer’s yeast, and fermented products like alcohol

2. Remove Added Sugar 

Sugar has an immediate effect on the body and causes widespread inflammation.

A little natural sugar found in fruits is okay, but added sugar or sweeteners should be avoided.

Added sugar can even be found in food that doesn’t taste sweet, such as soup, bread and salad dressing. Get in the habit of checking nutrition labels and steer clear of foods with added sugar.

3. Reduce Your Salt Intake

Sodium blocks normal hormone signals that make you feel full.

This is why salty foods tend to make you overeat even when you’re not hungry.

Check the sodium content of foods and sauces in your home and keep track of how much you consume each day. When possible, prepare your foods at home and use spices instead of salt.

4. Take Curcumin (Active component inside Turmeric root)

Curcumin is the powerful anti-inflammatory ingredient inside turmeric that has incredible healing properties known to fight inflammation and oxidative stress.

Lowering oxidative stress can help regulate the release of fat-storing hormones, which makes it easier to lose weight.

This is a must-have in your daily routine if you want to combat stubborn fat caused by inflammation.

5. Try Icelandic Sea Kelp

Icelandic Sea Kelp contains fucoidan, an anti-inflammatory complex carbohydrate that fights oxidative stress.

The fiber in sea kelp also helps you feel full, which can help promote weight loss.

6. Add a Little Ginger To Your Drinks & Meals

Ginger is an amazing anti-inflammatory agent that helps support healthy digestion. It’s great for upset stomachs and can easily be added to water if your tummy needs a pick-me-up!

7. Astragalus

Astragalus is an incredible plant that supports the immune system, also known as an adaptogen.

Adaptogens are activated by stress and help lower cortisol levels in the body. Maintaining low, healthy cortisol levels is essential for weight loss.

8. Eat More Pineapple

Pineapples contain an enzyme called bromelain, which helps break down protein and reduce bloating.

Pineapples are one of the only fruits that leave alkaline residuals in the gastrointestinal tract to help decrease inflammation.

With a little patience and these tips, you can fight bloating and stubborn belly fat caused by inflammation. It's never too early to start, and this might be the push you needed to finally fit into those skinny jeans!

Hypothyroidism Lifestyle: Foods to Avoid, Essential Oils to Use & Activities to Do

Hypothyroidism Lifestyle: Foods to Avoid, Essential Oils to Use & Activities to Do

If you are living with hypothyroidism or under-active thyroid—a condition that causes the thyroid glands to produce too few hormones, you may be living with reduced energy and increasing weight gain. Other symptoms may include depressive or irregular mood swings, slow heartbeats, cold sensitivity, and/or menstrual irregularities. The thyroid glands help to regulate the body’s metabolism (the rate at which food is converted into energy).

If you want to approach living with hypothyroidism in a natural way, follow the suggestions provided below.

Avoid Certain Vegetables, GMO’s and Nuts

seed grain

Scientific studies have found that eating cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnips, cassava, soybeans, and mustard greens, may hinder thyroid functioning. Nuts provide healthy fats, protein and a variety of helpful nutrients, but stay away from peanuts, peanut butter and pine nuts, for they impair thyroid functioning, as well. Choose almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts and seeds (hemp, flax and chia). Steer clear from any foods labeled GMO, especially soy product.

Processed or Enriched Carbohydrates

Processed or enriched carbohydrates, such as white flour and sugar, are foods that have lost valuable amounts of nutrients during food processing. Not only is refined foods null and void of vitamins and nutrients, they are considered to nutritionists as “dead food.” Processed foods bring about negative impacts on blood sugar, trigger mood swings, and are very acidic and inflammatory to the body (not good for people living with hypothyroidism, for it may lead to bloating and constipation). Too much gluten in the body from grains is also not the best for people fighting low production of hormones. Limit your intake of gluten (even the whole grain kind). Instead, replace your processed foods for fresh starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, squashes, sprouted grains.

Saturated Fats and Trans Fatty Acids

Saturated fats and trans fatty acids, or trans fats, are considered unhealthy fats that can increase the risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease. Limit and avoid saturated (animal fats and animal by-products) and trans fats (often found in fast food, fried foods, processed meats and cheeses as well as cookies, crackers and processed frozen foods) and increase intake of omega-3 fats from krill, flax, hemp and chia seeds and nuts, such as almonds and walnuts. You will see your immune system functioning and brain respond better!

What to Eat?

One of the most potent and powerful foods in helping the thyroid to function normally is sea vegetables and blue-green algae because of the high iodine content. I suggest eating these foods daily: Iodized sea salt, seaweed, sea kelp, and other sea vegetables, small saltwater fish.

Tyrosine and selenium

Tyrosine and selenium are also important for proper thyroid function—to increase your intake of these compounds, consume fish, meat, chicken, turkey, dairy, avocados, almonds, seeds, wheat germ, and beans. 

 Supplements

“Consider adding both a B-vitamin complex and a fatty-acid supplement (such as fish oil) to your diet (using capsules) to further regulate your body's production of hormones. Fish oil has been shown to positively affect thyroid function. To reap these benefits, consume 5 to 10 g of a high-quality fish oil in capsule form daily.” (EHow)

Also, check out the use of turmeric and curcumin for incredible benefits!

https://lyfebotanicals.com/health/turmeric-benefits/

Essential oils

For people who use essential oils, the following essential oils are natural, soothing, contain antioxidants, and supports healthy gastrointestinal function and maintain healthy digestion*

➣ 10 drops Clove essential oil
➣ 10 drops Peppermint essential oil
➣ 10 drops Lemongrass essential oil

Use in combination with Fractionated Coconut Oil along spine and bottoms of the feet 2 times daily or in veggie capsules (3 capsules. One capsule for clove, one for peppermint and one for lemongrass).

or

➣ Place 1 drop of Frankincense Oil under the tongue (intra-oral) daily
➣ Rub 2 drops of Frankincense Oil on throat/thyroid area
➣ Rub Balance Oil Blend on bottoms of feet, nightly
➣ One a day Multi-Vitamins daily
➣ Diffuse Myrrh essential oils in the air

or

➣ Mix 3 drops of some or all of the following oils in a capsule and take every other day; Rosemary, Lemongrass, Geranium, Grapefruit and/or Clove

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These suggested products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Activities & Exercises

Aerobic exercises and strength training is very improves the metabolic functioning of the body, so light to moderate. Best exercises from Thyroid Guide recommends: rowing, swimming, walking, cycling, hiking and dancing—activities that get your heart pumping and cause you to sweat—as good aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and lungs and burn calories. Exercising is a great body circulation promoter and natural mood elevator and antidepressant that can help the depression that often accompanies an under-functioning thyroid.

If you do not have time for a brisk 30 minute walk 5 days a week (recommended), then strength training exercises done at the gym or in the comfort of your home will also do the trick to protect the joints, tendons and ligaments and build strength for handling everyday activities such as carrying groceries. Practice lunges, leg raises and pushups or work with light kettle bells.

Additional sources: Livestrong, Thyroid-Guide.org, webMD