“Obesity Rates Ballooning” – Here’s What You REALLY Need to Know to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

In recent years, the US government and other agencies have pledged to battle our country’s obesity epidemic. But instead of getting healthier, we’re actually getting fatter.

One recent report claims obesity rates have increased in 23 states over the past year and have decreased in none.¹

What’s gone so terribly wrong?

Yes, there’s been a resurgence of locally grown, whole produce and an attack on high-fructose corn syrup. But processed food, chemicals and additives are more prevalent than ever.

Stress, cramped schedules and lack of sleep contribute to the desire to reach for a candy bar from the vending machine instead of fresh carrots from the farmers market.

Cravings and emotional eating make the destructive cycle hard to break.

So while the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has said that it aims to reduce obesity rates to 15 percent in every state before 2010, the food industry is still in the business of making us eat more, and more often.

It’s troubling to see how badly America’s obesity rate is ballooning. Obviously, fad diets don’t work. But what does?

Here are some interesting facts:

• In 1980, the average US obesity rate was 15 percent; now the average is 34.3 percent, and another 32.7 percent are overweight. Sadly, obesity rates among children have also climbed, with more than 30 percent now overweight or obese. ²
• If you’ve been dieting for years with little success, you may even feel worse than before you started! Traditional “diet” foods can wreck havoc on your body and mental state.
• The key to losing weight, keeping it off and feeling better is to get back in touch with your body and re-train yourself to crave food that actually feeds your health and restores your inner ecosystem.
  
• Losing weight and keeping it off is not dieting in the traditional sense. It’s a lifestyle of eating well, exercising and feeling better that should be sustainable and enjoyable over a long period of time.

How do you “re-train” yourself and jump-start weight loss?

The Body Ecology solution promotes lasting, natural weight loss because it genuinely nourishes your body at the cellular level. When your body is truly nourished, you will find that you don’t even feel like eating as much. Your body will no longer cry out for nutrients because it will be so satisfied.

Why We Crave Processed Food

Many of us reach for sugary, starchy or salty snacks for instant gratification. The food industry knows this, and puts out products that actually increase appetite and physical cravings.

Body Ecology’s Solutions for Natural Weight Loss

Begin by eliminating energy-zapping sugar and processed foods from your diet. Then, learn how to introduce new sources of nutrients.

But know this:  To get to the “core” of weight loss, you must balance your inner ecosystem.

When your inner ecosystem (in your intestines) is balanced, you have plenty of good bacteria and good yeast to protect you from pathogens and disease. An out of balance inner ecosystem means that pathogenic bacteria and yeast have taken over. One of the symptoms is cravings.

The easiest and best way to restore you inner ecosystem and nix cravings is by incorporating probiotics) into your diet with fermented food and drinks.

Here’s why probiotic-rich fermented foods and drinks are so effective for weight loss:

• Fermented food and drinks) contain live, active beneficial bacteria and yeast (called probiotics) that populate your gut with the microflora (good bacteria and yeast) you need to cleanse your system and keep you healthy.
• Microflora reduce cravings for carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol. Research has found that obese people have different bacteria in their intestines than people of normal weight³. Scientists think that good bacteria can keep you from gaining pounds.
• With all the buzz about probiotics these days, remember that fermented foods and drinks are far more potent than many probiotic supplements on the market.

Probiotic-rich fermented foods and drinks multiply the nutrition in your food hundreds of times, nourishing you more with less food.

If you’re trying to build the population of fat-fighting good bacteria in your gut, you need to know aboutprebiotics, too.

In fact, a new study concluded that daily consumption of oligofructose – a prebiotic– may lead to weight loss by suppressing levels of hormones linked to hunger.³

Here are some important things to know about prebiotics:

• Simply put, prebiotics act as food for the probiotics. They allow the probiotics in your gut to help you digest food, assimilate more nutrients, and fight the growth of bad bacteria and infections even more rapidly.
• Prebiotics are found in fruits (like Green Granny Smith apples), sweet vegetables (like garlic and onions), and Body Ecology grain-like seeds (like millet and quinoa).

The easiest and most versatile way to add prebiotics to your diet is with EcoBloom, a 100% natural powder chicory extract FrutaFit, Inulin (often called FOS). FOS is fructooligosaccharides, which serves as food for beneficial microflora. EcoBloom can be added to everything from tea to salad dressings to fermented foods!

In addition to adding probiotics and prebiotics, our third solution is to eliminate sugar and processed foods. If this seems too difficult, here’s an easy first step: replace your sugar with all-natural sugar substitutes Lakanto or Stevia.

Here are some important reasons to eliminate sugar and still satisfy your sweet tooth with Lakanto or Stevia:

• Sugar creates acidic blood, which can rob your body (and especially your bones) of much needed minerals. This can set up a “starving” condition in your body, even though you’ve just eaten, leading to cravings and overeating.
• Sugar feeds candida, a systemic fungal infection. Cravings and fatigue, are two of the many symptoms of candida. Both of these get in the way of  healthy weight loss.
• Sugar causes your body to produce more insulin, which then blocks leptin, a hormone that reduces appetite and induces fat burning.

While Stevia is an old favorite brought into the US by Body Ecology founder Donna Gates, Lakanto is new in the US (but used for years in Japan. Donna Gates brought Lakanto into the US as a way to provide an all-natural sweetener that does not feed candida and even better, that tastes and bakes just like sugar.

Since the sweet taste is one of the important tastes we all need to satisfy, you can still enjoy sweets with calorie-free, all-natural Lakanto and Stevia. Neither Lakanto nor Stevia raise your blood sugar levels or feed candida, making them ideal for diabetics or anyone with blood sugar or weight issues.

In fact, the Japanese Ministry of Health doesn’t just approve Lakanto,  but actually recommends Lakanto for weight loss, obesity and blood sugar problems like diabetes

So if you thought being healthy required a “tastes like cardboard diet,” think again!

Making Lasting Changes For A Healthy, Naturally Slim Lifestyle

These changes may not be easy to stick with in the beginning, but hang in there!

If you stick to your healthy Body Ecology lifestyle for 4 – 5 days, you give your body a chance to heal from unwanted cellular memories of food you used to crave. Your gut lining turns over, your body sheds toxins and you start to get in touch with the kinds of foods that will truly nourish you.

It’s not just about exercising more and eating less – although those factors are certainly important to weight loss.

With Body Ecology, you won’t need to starve yourself, eat diet foods or go on an exercise binge. Instead, you will find that your focus is feeling good AND you may be surprised at how delicious Body Ecology food is!

In fact, you’ll find that you no longer crave sugar or processed foods because you are so satisfied and well nourished.

With fermented foods and drinks, prebiotics, all-natural sugar substitutes like Lakanto — along with an exercise routine you love and plenty of water — you’ll have all the tools you need for making lasting weight loss a part of your healthy lifestyle.