by Brendon Groves | 19/10/2019 at 9:00am | Spring, Summer, Weight Loss
Dear reader, welcome to my weight loss summary blog. If you have missed the extended version, here is a brief review, covering real benefits and tips for weight loss.
First of all, that identify some cutting edge suggestions that you can use to improve your weight loss:
- Double your weight loss with a food diary writing down what you ate, when you ate and how much you ate.
- Get a coach helps you to stay on track and keep you motivated.
- Measure yourself regularly improves your weight loss results.
Some common mistakes people make when trying to lose weight.
- Doing the latest fad diet. These quick-fix solutions always rebound once you finish. The answer, find a diet program that has a proven track record, with a weight loss phase followed by a maintenance phase to keep the weight off.
- Overdoing one type of food. Salads are typically overdone with carb-loaded toppings — the solution healthy salad with protein to satisfy your hunger.
- Cheat days, firstly you are cheating, and the second you are eating for a whole day.
- The solution, have 1-3 free meals and spread out over the week.
How your microbiome, the good and bad bugs, in your gut, influence your weight.
- Dysbiosis is where there is an imbalance, where bad bugs increase in numbers and produce more absorbable fat from carbohydrates.
- Probiotics can correct dysbiosis and balances the microbiome in the gut, reducing inflammation and fat absorption.
- Both exercise and eating whole-foods helps to produce more healthier microbiome.
A study that showed when participates lost 4 kg they had a drop of 4.5 points in systolic blood pressure — proving that weight loss can reduce blood pressure. However, DO NOT rely on the diet alone to control blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure see your doctor. Heart disease can be life-threatening. More than 50% of people that have a first heart attack do not survive. The diet that has the most research for cardiovascular health benefits is the Mediterranean Diet.
Goals are like a map to success. They show you where you are going, and help you plan your journey.
- Tracking and recording your weight can be motivating. The recording also helps you to makes adjustments quickly if you start gaining weight.
- Tactics to overcoming obstacles, be ready for challenges have a plan to manage each one before it shows up.
- How to boost your chance of success, set goals and enrol a health care professional to support you, that way you are more likely to succeed.
- One of the best diets for weight loss is the Ketogenic diet.
Stress is an evolutionary body response, that puts you into an automatic state fight, flight or freeze.
- Symptoms of stress, short-term low energy, difficulty sleeping, poor memory, mood, IBS, constipation, long-term weight gain, thyroid issues, reduced immune function
- Chill out formula, magnesium, b vitamins, essentials fat acids, herbs to calm the nerves system.
- Diet changes to reduce stress, lower caffeine, avoid sugar, have protein for breakfast to stabilise thyroid.
- Exercise & meditation if practised regularly reduce stress hormones.
- Questions people don’t ask before starting a diet, what do I have to do? How long before I start losing weight? The best way to get a personalised answer is to see a health care professional who specialised in weight loss and can answer your specific questions for you.
- Ways to make sure you do not fail. Match the diet to your needs include any health conditions, medication, sleep issues, stress levels and budget.
- Irresistible benefits of ketosis, most people lose more weight with a ketogenic diet than other diets. It has clinical evidence demonstrating positive results; dropping triglycerides levels, increasing good cholesterol, improving insulin levels.
Personalised Q & A
If there are any aspects of your diet or symptoms, you would like to discuss or clarify, please feel free to contact me through this web site or if it is of a more private nature contact me through my direct email.
Ultimately, my goal is to provide you with the knowledge to make an informed decision on what diet best supports your health needs.
In wisdom and good health
Brendon.
Phone: +61 409 278 320
Written by: Brendon Groves Clinical Naturopathic Practitioner and Founder of Groves Naturopathics and the Groves Lifestyle Diet.
by Brendon Groves | 19/10/2019 at 9:00am | Spring, Summer, Weight Loss
The keto diet is the goto diet to lose fat. That is exactly what the diet is designed to do. It was discovered originally not as a treatment for obesity but to treat seizures in epileptic children who could not take or be therapy-resistant to the epileptic drugs of the 1920s, ref. Ketogenic Diet
How the keto diet reducers fat?
Expect to lose weight around day 4 of starting the diet as your body switches from using glucose as a fuel source to burning fat. The fat is broken down in ketones and your body can use this as an alternative fuel source to glucose.
From my own clinical observations on average between 1-2 kilos per week is a realistic value for weight loss when you stick to the plan.
Studies show that the ketogenic diet can preserve muscle mass more so when compared to a low-fat diet. That means you will no muscle mass loss the you are in ketosis. Losing muscle mass is associated with poor health and fragility.
Once you are in ketosis you are losing weight 24/7, even when you sleep.
The benefits of keto diet on sleep?
In addition to weight loss, the keto diet is going to promote sleep. When you adhere to a ketogenic diet you may find you sleep deeper and you are more alert during the day. Another benefit if you are eating proteins like turkey and chicken. It is that they are high in the amino acid tryptophan which is a building block the body uses to make:
- Serotonin – stabilising neurotransmitter promotes sleep duration
- Melatonin – helps with sleep onset.
How keto diet effect anxiety?
After all the keto was original develop to manage a mental illness in children, epilepsy. Ketogenic diet will over time:
- Increase the production of a GABA neurotransmitter that clams the brain has a calming effect on anxiety
- Act as a neuro anti-inflammatory
- Reduce excretory neurotransmitters like glutamate, making you calmer.
Also, reset studies in 2018 suggest that “Keto diet should be considered as a promising intervention in research in mood disorder therapeutics”, ref
P.S. Are you inspired and feeling passionate about this article? Let me know, I would love to hear from you. Furthermore, if you think of a friend or someone special that you would like to read this story… feel free to share it with them, it might be the change they are looking for. Ultimately, my goal is to provide you with the knowledge to make an informed decision on the way to best support your health goals.
If there are any aspects of your diet or health, you would like to discuss or clarify. Contact us through this website or if it is of a more private nature contact me directly.
In wisdom and good health
Brendon.
Phone: 0409 278 320
Written by: Brendon Groves Clinical Naturopathic Practitioner and Founder of Groves Naturopathics and the Groves Lifestlye Diet.
by Brendon Groves | 14/03/2019 at 11:54am | Autumn, Services, Weight Loss
Firstly what is a health mentor?
A health mentor provides the knowledge from their expertise as a health care professional to guide you to reach your health goals, and supports you to:
- Stay on track and guide you.
- Keep you honest, and hold you accountable.
- Helps you achieve action steps you would not usually do on your own.
- Looks out and keeps an eye on you.
- Ask questions that you would not normally ask yourself.
- As a resource of practical information.
- Motivate you when you need it.
- Provide emotional support.
What to know about seeing a mentor
Secondly, don’t make this decision lightly, it is a comment to ‘you’ your future health and wellbeing depend on your commitment to yourself. It would be wise to look at your health from a long term perspective. As you have more time to integrate the body and mind, making adjustments at a moderate achievable pace. And then, you will need to make time to do your homework, follow a diet, exercise, get adequate sleep, spend time actioning the steps towards your health goals.
It is an incredible journey of discovering. However you may have some good days and some challenging days. There is no doubt that you will reach your goal, the only reason you will NOT is if you ‘give up’ and stop taking steps to get there. After all, you are 100% in control of your success. Besides that, I want you to succeed. My reputation relies on it.
My role as a health mentor
As a health mentor my role is not to make you feel good. But here to help you overcome your beliefs that are stopping you from getting healthy. At the same time, I will provide support through the difficult times so that you can get back on track. On the whole, my job is to guide you towards reaching your goals, and show you:
- What you have:
- To do.
- To give up.
- To do more of.
- Show you the way and help you grow.
- Review and make adjustments.
- Use supplements to assist you along the journey.
Lastly, leading by example, what I teach you I do myself. On account of my health, I see a mentor to help deal with my osteoporosis that was diagnosed one and a half years ago. I have incorporated a plan that covers my diet, lifestyle and exercises specifically for bone building. As well as seeing other health professionals to measure and check my progress as my body heals. This is a long term, ongoing treatment for the rest of my life.
After reading this article are you…?
Are you inspired and feeling passionate about this article? Let me know, I would love to hear from you. Furthermore, if you think of a friend or someone special that you would like to read this story… feel free to share it with them, it might be the change they are looking for. Ultimately, my goal is to provide you with the knowledge to make an informed decision on the way to best support your health goals.
If there are any aspects of your diet or health, you would like to discuss or clarify, please contact us through this website or if it is of a more private nature contact me and request a call back
In wisdom and good health
Brendon.
Phone: +61 409 278 320
Written by: Brendon Groves Clinical Naturopathic Practitioner and Founder of Groves Naturopathics
by Brendon Groves | 10/03/2019 at 2:33pm | Autumn, Weight Loss
Emotional Eating.
If you are an emotional eater and you are struggling to maintain a healthy weight you are not alone. It doesn’t matter who you are emotional eating happens to everyone. But when it starts to be unhealthy and sabotages your weight-loss efforts, it’s a problem. Let’s look at what the cause is behind these emotions and how we can get back on track to our weight loss goal.
Why do we all do it?
Turning to food, not because you’re hungry but because it solves a problem to your chronic stress temporarily, is futile. Besides that, we all know the side effects, you feel ordinary 15-minutes later, and you end up the with some extra weight that you didn’t need. Comfort foods like potato chips, chocolate, cake and ice cream are favourites because they stimulate reward hormones. Specifically, serotonin and dopamine build strong chemical bonds between you and the “comfort food”. As a result, we feel happy each time we eat these foods.
Common triggers are:
- Fatigue
- Financial stress
- Work stress
- Relationship issues
- Health issues
What makes us eat emotionally?
It just so happens researchers have discovered what is behind the triggers that contribute to emotional eating, ref. The results of the study found a correlation with the following conditions:
- Depression 40%
- Anger 7%
- Anxiety 6%
Where depression is the most likely, followed by anger and anxiety to cause emotional cravings towards eating.
Furthermore, the cravings strike when we are our the weakest, and it’s hard to resist. And then it can happen without you thinking about what you’re doing. As a result of a difficult problem at work, stressed or feeling alone, food serves as a distraction instead of dealing with the situation. Most people, will reach for foods that are high in carbohydrates and fats because they work to help them feel better for a short time.
Nevertheless, the good news is that you can take control and get back to your weight loss goal.
How do you get back on track?
Unlike your emotions that show up suddenly. You need to be prepared and have some strategies in place to cope before the negative feelings appear and become an urge to eat. Here are some smart strategies:
- Keep a food diary. Write down what, when, how much you eat, as well as how you feel. You may notice patterns. We know that just by keeping a food dietary that it increases your weight loss chances by a factor of 50%
- Eat at regular times throughout the day, to minimise cravings.
- Chose a diet that suits your needs, ref.
- Exercise: is a great way to release stress, like yoga, meditation walking or gym.
- Work, do some work, housework, gardening, or help a friend out.
- Deep breathing.
- Drink a glass of water, wait 5 minutes for the craving to past.
- Support network, tell a friend or family member, ask them to support you by being your accountability partner.
- Remove temptation. Remove the high carb foods from your space that will sabotage your weight loss. Go through your kitchen and eliminate your comfort foods. When restocking, never go grocery shopping when you are emotional or are hungry.
- Plan healthy snacks. Prepare a backup plan and have a healthy snack ready, if you feel hungry.
- Write down 100 benefits of your goal to lose weight:
- Benefits to you
- Benefits to your friends and family
- Benefits to the greater community
- Ask if you still can’t control the emotional eating, it may be wise to seek the support of your health care professional. You can learn ways to manage those feelings so that you don’t sabotage your weight loss goal and continue on your journey to a healthy happen life.
P.S. Are you inspired and feeling passionate about this article? Let me know, I would love to hear from you. Furthermore, if you think of a friend or someone special that you would like to read this story… feel free to share it with them, it might be the change they are looking for. Ultimately, my goal is to provide you with the knowledge to make an informed decision on the way to best support your health goals.
If there are any aspects of your diet or health, you would like to discuss or clarify. Contact us through this website or if it is of a more private nature contact me directly.
In wisdom and good health
Brendon.
Phone: 0409 278 320
Written by: Brendon Groves Clinical Naturopathic Practitioner and Founder of Groves Naturopathics
by Brendon Groves | 09/03/2019 at 2:05pm | Autumn, Weight Loss
The struggle to lose weight when you are over 60 is real
Losing weight when you are in your 60s is different from losing weight in your 20s and 30s, due to your hormones slowing down as your metabolic rate decreases with age. The reduction in hormones, specifically human growth hormone and testosterone, cause a loss of muscle mass. As a result weight loss becomes more difficult to burn off those extra calories.
The most effective tactic to lose weight over 60
Firstly, thanks to a new study published in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism found that by following a low calorie, high-protein diet, when you are over 60 can effectively lose weight and reduce body fat while still keeping muscle mass and maintaining healthy bones, ref.
The results of the study found that participants lost about 8 kilos more than the control group. 87% of the weight loss was fat, and they also maintained their muscle mass and preserved bone mass. At the same time, they reduced their risk of diseases such as diabetes and stroke. Areas where the fat was lost:
- Stomach
- Hips
- Thighs
- Bottom
How to get the best 60 plus years
To get the most out your 60’s and beyond consider my “four pillars of health” designed to build a solid foundation and keep your “health span” going for as long as possible. Your “health span” is the length of time of activity where your health does not stop you from enjoying what life has to offer. So, here are my “four pillars of health” that I recommend to my patients:
- Diet is essential to maintain proper nutrition to keep the cells functioning at their optimum level. Also, it would be good to incorporate a diet that reduces heart disease and diabetes, for that I would recommend the Mediterranean diet
- Exercise to strengthen and build muscle mass. As well using weights to build bone density, there is emerging evidence for build density with weights, ref. It would be wise if you are starting with weights that you seek the professional guidance of an exercise physiologist.
- Lifestyle an active lifestyle helps to normalise hormones and reduce stress. Activities like gardening, meditation, study, hobbies or interests, adequate sleep, social connections all play an essential role in your overall health and feeling of wellbeing.
- Supplementation nutritional science has come along way in the last 50 years. Vitamin and minerals deficiency do occur in our modern lifestyle. It is wise to assess nutrients deficiency before you embark on supplementation. Check with your health care professional for any nutrient-drug interactions if you are taking prescription medication. All that being said here are my supplement recommendations for maintenance:
- Fish Oils, studies show that omega 3 supplementation reduces the risk of stroke, ref
- B. Vitamins – supports healthy cognitive function in older adults, ref.
- CoQ10 may also help with muscle growth and muscle strength, ref.
Prevention is better than cure, diet, exercise, lifestyle and supplementation are all pieces of the puzzle that fit together to maintain a healthy life.
P.S. Are you inspired and feeling passionate about this article? Let me know, I would love to hear from you. Furthermore, if you think of a friend or someone special that you would like to read this story… feel free to share it with them, it might be the change they are looking for. Ultimately, my goal is to provide you with the knowledge to make an informed decision on the way to best support your health goals.
If there are any aspects of your diet or health, you would like to discuss or clarify. Contact us through this website or if it is of a more private nature contact me directly.
In wisdom and good health
Brendon.
Phone: 0409 278 320
Written by: Brendon Groves Clinical Naturopathic Practitioner and Founder of Groves Naturopathics
