Many of us are hard on ourselves when it comes to our bodies, which may be the reason we try all those diets. Three-quarters of women and two-thirds of men think they’re overweight, according to a 2007 body image survey conducted by Core Data Australia. At the same time, 95 per cent of women worry about things like their overall body shape and cellulite, the survey found.

Yet here’s a truth we all know: there is no single, ideal shape or weight. Yes, it’s obvious we can’t all be unnaturally tall and skinny and, hopefully, we don’t want to be. The minimum percentage of body fat considered safe for good health is 12 per cent for women and 5 per cent for men — a long way from the too-thin celebrities we may aspire to imitate.

Medical experts know that women athletes who lose too much fat risk injury, decreased performance and health issues including menstrual disorders and decreased bone mass. A normal level of body fat is not just healthy — it’s essential to long-term wellbeing. It really is time to celebrate the acceptance of our bodies.

If you haven’t reached a peace with yourself yet, we suggest that finding the perfect weight for you through the best eating and lifestyle program you can manage is the key to body bliss. We share the latest advice on how to achieve this.

 

Diets are not the answer

If diets worked, you’d only have to go on one of them. A recent study by the University of California found that, while you can initially lose 5–10 per cent of your weight on any number of diets, the weight returns.

The comprehensive analysis of 31 long-term diet studies concluded that diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people. It also found that at least one-third to two-thirds of people on diets regained more weight than they lost within four or five years. Rather, eating in moderation along with regular exercise was the key to sustained weight loss, said researchers.

Anti-ageing expert and medic Dr Michael Elstein says: “Diets imply a short-term change of behaviour, whereas what you need for ultimate good health is a long-term lifestyle change.”

 

Natural versus processed foods

Emerging opinion suggests something we may all have suspected for years: chemicals can make us fat. Research by Dr Retha Newbold at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the United States has shown that certain environmental chemicals interfere with hormone signals in the body while a child is developing in the womb.

Dr Newbold suspects that obesity could be an adverse effect of environmental chemicals that we do not see until children have grown into adults. Meanwhile, in The Detox Diet — Eliminate Chemical Calories and Enhance Your Natural Slimming System, author Dr Paula Baillie-Hamilton suggests the root cause of all weight gain is directly related to our natural weight control system being overloaded with toxic chemicals from skincare, food, cleaning products and the environment.

Her argument is: toxic synthetic chemicals are highly fat-soluble, so when the body is exposed to these substances, it creates fat tissue as a storehouse for those toxins that cannot be processed and eliminated from the body. Toxic chemicals, even in small amounts, also have the ability to directly disrupt hormones, says Dr Baillie-Hamilton.

While research continues into the chemically caused obesity argument, the immediate message is clear: eat foods as close to their natural state as possible and rely on processed, packaged and takeaway foods at your peril. Toxic chemicals in personal care and skincare products are culprits, too.

 

Fat-burning nutrients

The quality of food you eat is also very important in helping your metabolism run efficiently, says nutritionist and author Zoe Bingley-Pullin. “Your body has to work harder to break down the fibre and complex carbohydrates in whole grains and vegetables than it does to break down fibre-free refined flours or simple carbs such as honey and sugar. This also applies to high-protein foods.”

But, more than that, metabolism is governed by thousands of separate chemical reactions that require specific nutrients — for example, B vitamins are essential to carbohydrate metabolism, she says (which is why it’s important to eat a balanced diet).

Says anti-ageing specialist, Dr Michael Elstein: “Fish oil, chromium, zinc, alpha lipoic acid and magnesium also help insulin sensitivity, which is important to fat burning.” Brewer’s yeast is a good source of chromium, while oysters are loaded with zinc and wheatgerm with magnesium. High levels of B vitamins can be found in mushrooms and watercress as well as seed foods.

Confirms international nutritionist Patrick Holford, author of The Optimum Nutrition Bible: “Your ability to burn fat does not depend just on the kind of food you eat. It also depends on the presence of vitamins and minerals that help to control the careful breakdown of glucose, which in turn releases energy to body cells. Any lack of these will result in less energy and consequently a greater predisposition to laying down fat.”

Bingley-Pullin says she is in favour of organic food simply because it supplies as much of these nutrients as possible without any toxic chemicals or heavy metals. She says it’s always better to get the nutrients you need in healthy food. However, if you suspect you may be short of the essentials, you can take supplements. It’s always best to get the advice of a naturopath or nutritionist.

 

A healthy gut

Having a healthy bacterial balance in your gut may be linked to maintaining a healthy weight. After all, an important part in losing weight is to ensure that your digestive system is working to its best ability.

Many practitioners believe that Lactobacillus can help you lose weight by improving metabolism and killing harmful intestinal micro-organisms that contribute to fat formation. Recent studies have shown that lactic acid bacteria can help break down certain hard-to-digest complex carbohydrates, thus reducing bloating and gastrointestinal discomfort.

In 2008 a Stanford University Medicine team found that a group of patients given probiotics in supplement form lost 70 per cent of excess weight, compared with 66 per cent for the control group. Other studies have suggested that part of the obesity problem may be associated with not enough good beneficial bacteria and a predominance of bad bacteria in the gut. Researchers said it was probably better to take a supplement than to try to get 2.4 billion colonies of Lactobacillus from yogurt.

Hormonal imbalances After puberty, the sex hormones — oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone — along with growth hormone and DHEA (a steroid produced in the adrenal glands that’s metabolised into oestrogen or testosterone) remain high for a decade or so, says Dr Elstein. “But, starting in your 20s, many of these, as well as other important hormones like melatonin, start to decline.

“In women, any decline in oestrogen may cause a loss of insulin sensitivity, which inhibits fat burning.” Testosterone also helps burn fat, so a decrease of this in men can be an aggravating factor in middle-age spread. “We also tend to exercise less as we get older.”

Even if you’re not middle-aged, you may come into hormonal strife because of food allergies, poor diet or stress. “Food allergies can cause inflammation and inflammation interferes with hormone function and that can lead to insulin resistance.” Food intolerances such as gluten can also cause bloating in the stomach.

If you suspect hormonal imbalances or food allergies, see a doctor or naturopath. As a general rule, to keep insulin function healthy and, therefore control weight, follow a low-GI diet, says Dr Elstein. Schedule in regular relaxation time, too. Stress can cause adrenal exhaustion, leading to hyper-thyroidism and, later, hypo-thyroidism and weight gain, says Bingley-Pullin.

One of the biggest culprits is cortisol. A constant state of stress stimulates excess cortisol. Excess cortisol stimulates glucose production. This excess glucose then is converted into fat, ending up as stored fat. The other factor we know causes imbalances in cortisol is the over-consumption of simple carbohydrates. Research into stress and its effect on the body has shown it has insidious effects. A 2000 study by Yale University researchers found that non-overweight women who are vulnerable to stress are more likely to have excess abdominal fat.

Exercise physiologist Carl Matthews (www.manlyfitness.com.au) advises that if you are very stressed what you may need to help control your weight is not more cardiovascular exercise but regular eight-hour blocks of sleep or an early-morning yoga class.

A key benefit of resistance exercise such as Pilates or yoga is that it builds muscle strength, and muscle in turn helps burn more energy. Yoga teacher and author Jessie Chapman says postures also stimulate the glands, circulation and organ function of your system if it is sluggish, or will relax you if you are feeling overworked.

Two other tricky hormones

In 1994, Rockefeller University published a landmark paper that identified a hormone called leptin (Greek for “thin”) produced by the obese (ob) gene. Leptin is made by the body’s fat cells, which help to regulate food intake and energy expenditure. The researchers showed that mice lacking the ob gene do not produce leptin and become extremely obese.

Five years after this discovery, Japanese researchers identified another hormone, ghrelin, which they called the “hunger hormone.” Ghrelin is made in the stomach and tells the brain when it’s time to eat. Ghrelin levels rise just before mealtime and fall after we eat. Scientists are now working on ways to manipulate both leptin and ghrelin.

 

Importance of beauty sleep

Professor Cappuccio of the University of Warwick has recently discovered that short sleep duration may lead to obesity through an increase of appetite via hormonal changes. Lack of sleep produces higher-than-normal levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite by lowering leptin levels.

 

Boosting a slow metabolism

You may think a slow metabolism is the reason you can’t shed kilograms, or keep them off. While it’s true that metabolism slows as we age — by about 2 per cent each decade, says exercise physiologist Mark McKeon (www.mckeon.com.au) — and that genetics is a factor in metabolism, unfortunately it’s more likely to be a lack of movement behind excess weight. Hormonal abnormalities can sometimes be a factor as well — see ‘Hormonal Imbalances’ above.

Says Bingley-Pullin: “We used to walk 20,000 steps a day; now the average is about 3000. Movement is not just about going to the gym. It’s about the everyday, inconsequential movement.” In other words, you need to deliver that message in person, not by email, or walk to work instead of taking the bus.

Even if you truly believe a slow metabolism is holding you back from your ideal body, exercise is still the answer, says McKeon. “Building muscle, staying active and increasing the quality of food you eat are all things you can change to increase your BMR,” he says. “Muscle burns kilojoules at rest; fat does not. In fact, muscle is eight times more metabolically demanding than fat cells.”

Another big factor in how fast you burn kilojoules is water, says Bingley-Pullin. “Your body needs two to two-and-a-half litres of it for metabolic processes.” Certain foods help stimulate your metabolism, too, such as green tea, and spices such as cayenne and cinnamon when added to a meal.

Don’t skip meals, says nutritionist Karen Fischer, as it slows down your metabolism as your body has a famine response and holds onto fat.

 

Other sneaky weight gain factors

Candida may also cause malabsorption of nutrients as well as fatigue, says Bingley-Pullin. She recommends eliminating simple sugars and glutens and introducing some gut support in the form of a high-quality acidophilus and aloe vera juice.

Fluid retention is also a weight issue, but the answer is to drink more water, not less, she says.

 

Fats are not the enemy

Udo Erasmus, a doctor of nutrition and author of Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill claims that essential fats found in fatty fish, nuts, seeds and their oils actually help to burn fat and reduce bloating by helping the kidneys eliminate excess water from tissues.

The correct intake of essential fatty acids is two (omega-3) to one (omega-6) and at levels of about 10 to 15 per cent of our energy intake, he says.

Certainly we need fats in our diet to help us absorb nutrients and maintain the health of cell membranes, skin and nerves. Fat is important for carrying fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and certain antioxidants.

The best fats to eat are:

• Mono-unsaturated, such as extra-virgin olive oil and almond, avocado, macadamia, pumpkin seed, sesame and canola (in limited amounts) oils.
• Polyunsaturated omega-3 found in deep-sea cold-water oily fish and fish oil capsules, flaxseed and walnuts.
• Polyunsaturated omega-6 (in limited amounts) found in unrefined corn, safflower and sunflower oils (do not heat in cooking!). Evening primrose also has omega-6 and is taken as a supplement.

Saturated fats, found in processed and takeaway food, marbled meats and high-fat dairy products, are best minimised by anyone who wants to maximise their health and minimise their waistline.

Finally, eat foods rich in nutrients to satisfy your body. When you eat junk food, the body is still hungry because it hasn’t been satisfied nutritionally, so you crave more food. Eat high-quality, organic food where possible. Good gut health ensures that you are getting the most out of your food, from the absorption to manufacturing of nutrients.