Are You Resistant To Weight Loss? It Could Be This

It is no secret that obesity has skyrocketed in the past 20 years. This metabolic epidemic accounts for 21 percent of all health care costs in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 1/3 of Americans are obese and another third are overweight. From diabetes, heart disease to cancer, obesity is linked with an increase in almost every chronic disease plaguing western society. For the first time ever, in 2011, chronic disease killed more people than infectious disease.

The weight loss industry is a multibillion dollar juggernaut, offering countless ways to "get skinny quick!" with the next popular magic pill or product. It may be just me, but in my opinion, there are no magic pills! Conventional wisdom tells us that the key to weight loss is based on the rough concept of "calories in vs. calories out." That if, if you just restrict the amount of food you consume and eat like a rabbit , you'll be a supermodel. This antiquated view brings the yo-yo dieter short-term success at best.

So what's the missing link here? In Functional Medicine, my goal is to look at the underlying causes of chronic issues like weight loss resistance. As with any chronic condition, weight loss resistance is multi-factorial, having many pieces to the puzzle. One of the biggest pieces of the weight loss puzzle is where the majority of your immune system resides, and where almost all of your body's serotonin — your mood regulator — is produced: your gut.

The gut is home to trillions of bacteria, collectively known as the microbiome. Your body is comprised of 15 trillion human cells, and about 90 trillion bacterial cells. The bacteria in our bodies contain at least 150 times more genes, collectively, than our human genome — you could say you are more bacteria than you are human!

Our Western diet, filled with refined grains, sugar, bad fats (such as canola, vegetable, corn and soybean oil) and environmental toxins, causes inflammation in the gut, which can lead to leaky gut syndrome. This increased gut permeability allows endotoxins from bacteria to escape the protective gut lining and circulate through the body, causing systemic inflammation. This systemic inflammation can affect the hypothalamic cells of your brain — known as Leaky Brain Syndrome — which can lead to leptin resistance. Leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells, is supposed to tell your brain to burn fat for energy and to tell your body when it is full. With leptin resistance, the brain doesn't get the message.

Welcome to weight loss resistance. A struggle with weight loss can be an issue from childhood for some people. C-section births or antibiotic use, while sometimes necessary, come with a cost of a disadvantaged microbiome. From the moment we are born through the birth canal, we acquire beneficial bacteria. Throughout time our gut has depended on our environment — our food, animals, being outside — to provide the diverse healthy bacteria that keep us healthy and at our optimal weight. Our sanitized life came with a price tag of chronic disease and obesity.

So what's the solution?

Read the entire article at MindBodyGreen!


Helping People Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health, In Pittsburgh & Across The World Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health. www.drwillcole.com

Vaccination Nation

Vaccines are always a hot health topic. I frequently get asked what my position on the issue is. Most vaccines, if not all contain preservatives, like thimerisol, aluminum, formaldehyde or yeast. Although there is some testing on individual vaccines, there is no testing done on the combinations given. The amount of vaccines now given to infants before 2 years of life is astounding. I don't think their young immune systems were made to handle this insult. That combined with the actual doses of preservatives like those listed above when they get multiple vaccines at the same time can be a detox issue in some children. Vaccines as they are recommended today are a "stress test" of sorts, but instead of being a cardiac exercise stress test, this is a test to see which children are born with genetic polymorphisms that lead to poor detoxification pathways in the body. The ones who have more problems with detoxification end up having a much harder time with vaccinations or it could even be a trigger in the development of autistic spectrum disorders. It may not be the vaccines themselves that are harmful but the amount and in combination with preservatives that overwhelms certain children's defense. MMR has a particular bad reputation. 

Suspicions have been confirmed for those wary of vaccinating their children. A recent large study corroborates other independent study surveys comparing unvaccinated children to vaccinated children. They all show that vaccinated children have two to five times more childhood diseases, illnesses, and allergies than unvaccinated children.

The multinational drug companies have a multi-billion dollar investment in the vaccine industry. 2/3 medical research is funded by the companies whose financial interest is in the industry. This also applies to most pharmaceuticals. The reality is, toxins are called toxins for a reason. Vaccines are a piece of the puzzle to the epidemic rise of chronic and autoimmune diseases. We have to take in consideration environmental toxins, food supply, GMOs, vaccines increasing since the 1980's, artificial sweetener use increase, genetic polymorphisms, stress levels, immune function, etc. We are not genetically adapted to be able to tolerate all of these toxins and stressors in a short period of time. It was independent thought not too long ago to say that blood letting and even more recently involuntary lobotomies and electroshock therapy was not sound practice even when the medical establishment said it was. Homosexuality was called a mental disorder by the medical establishment not too long ago as well. I believe in time the toxins we put in our body and in our environment will look just as ridiculous to the masses as lobotomies, blood letting, EST etc. I believe in informed consent and personal liberty. I just don't believe either are going on all that much.

Helping People Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health, In Pittsburgh & Across The World Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health.

3 Easy Ways To Lose Weight, Look Younger & Boost Health

The world we live in today — with its chemicals, toxins and processed foods — is taking a toll on our health and how we look. In the last 50 years we've seen the rise of genetically modified foods and toxins, our soil depleted of its nutrients, and the degradation of the standard American diet. These factors have created a perfect storm, increasing free radical production and systemic inflammation, which leads to accelerated aging and chronic disease.

There's no reason why we can not live 80 to 100 disease-free, healthy years! The Okinawa Study, for example, showed that older Okinawans are living 100 or more years practically disease free. Interestingly, the younger generations are developing the same chronic Western diseases that we see in our culture because they're adopting a lifestyle similar to our own.

Another study, called the Danish Twin Study, found that longevity is only moderately heritable — that is, determined by our genes. The major factor in how long we live is dictated by the lifestyle choices we choose to make.

Here are three things you will want to do to live the long, healthy, abundant life you were meant to live!

1. Start burst training.

Burst training, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT), naturally increases human growth hormone (HGH), which has strong anti-aging and fat-burning effects on the body!

There are different ways to do burst training, but here's the technique that I use:

Step 1: Warm up for 3-5 minutes.

Step 2: Run, bike, or swim 90 percent of your capacity for 30-60 seconds.

Step 3: Rest by slow jogging for 1-2 minutes.

Step 4: Repeat the sprint and rest between 3-7 times.

Do burst training every other day, because your anti-aging and fat-burning hormones are doing their work through the next day!

To boost your fat burning and anti-aging hormones to the highest level possible, consume foods that are high in complex carbohydrates and protein after your workout. Studies show waiting to eat 1 to 2 hours after workout enhances HGH naturally! Burst Training is quick, easy and it beats spending hours in the gym! 

To see the other 2 health tips, read the entire article at MindBodyGreen!

Helping People Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health, In Pittsburgh & Across The World Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health.

6 Ancient Superfoods For Modern Health

Our modern lifestyle has given us spectacular technological advancements and conveniences that would have bewildered those living even just 100 years ago. But modernity has made us forget Hippocrates' timeless advice: "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine thy food." 

As someone who helps people lead healthy lives, I see the foods eaten daily by the standard American, foods that would be unrecognizable to our ancestors. Our ancestors understood nutrient-dense food and incidentally didn't suffer from the chronic diseases — the diseases of wealth — that society suffers from today. Here are six foods that today have been marginalized to some extent, but were an integral part of abundant ancestral health:...See The 6 Ancient SuperFoods For Modern Health Over At MindBody Green.com

Helping Patients Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health In Pittsburgh & Across The Country Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health.

Favorite Health Stuff Of The Month (May 2013): Beyond Organic

Hey everyone! Check out my favorite healthy stuff of the month here:

Get 20% off all products shown in the video by going to http://www.willcole.mybeyondorganic.com and Enroll as a preferred customer!

Helping Patients Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health In Pittsburgh & Across The Country Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health.

Does Cholesterol Really Cause Heart Disease?

by Dr. Will Cole
When I say the word "cholesterol" what do you think? Most people think in terms of heart disease. We're taught to believe that cholesterol is the cause of heart disease, and as a nation we've spent trillions of dollars on spreading the belief that cholesterol is very bad. We have The War on Terror, The War on Drugs and The War on Cholesterol, and whenever we have a war on something it normally has a lot of propaganda fueling it, with unintended (or intended) consequences...Read the rest of the article over at MindBodyGreen.Com HERE! Be sure to share it with your friends!