Category Archives: Weight Loss Information

Sonia Jones ND from The Haven Spa and Health Clinic

Many dieters use caffeine from coffee, tea or sodas (soft) drinks to help them use lose weight, they are in fact compounding the situation. Research is finding much evidence to suggest that the toxins contained in foods actually promote weight-gain!

Other research suggests that caffeine and alcohol destroy the vital nutrients needed for fat-burning.

Toxins within the body encourage free-radicals and they too use up vital nutrients that would otherwise be used for fat burning.

This is something naturopaths have been saying for years.

Sonia Jones ND from the Haven Spa and Health Clinic

The organs that will help you in your quest – the liver, kidneys, skin, colon, lymph, lungs, and fat cells.

Your over-worked liver is one of your main allies, in the fight against weight problems, fluid retention and cellulite. Help your liver, help you loss-weight and gain-wellness.

One of the liver’s many jobs is to break down substances into less harmful compounds. It breaks them down into more manageable component ready for removal from the body. This process alone uses up an enormous amount of nutrients and resources. In the case of artificial sweeteners, you are voluntarily putting chemicals into your body further polluting your system.

Your liver already has thousands of chemicals and compounds to deal with and is probably more than your liver can handle efficiently already. Thousands and thousands of chemicals are lurking in the environment, without voluntarily consuming large amounts, via artificial sweeteners. This complex cocktail is putting a huge strain on your liver.

If you are not getting enough hydrating fluids, getting vital nutrients, enzymes etc it will be much more difficult for your liver to flush these chemicals out of your system. When chemicals begin to build-up in your body, fluid retention is more likely, as are cellulite problems etc.

a) Consume as few chemicals as possible – from processed foods, those inhaled or absorbed each day (like household cleaning products).

b) Resolve constipation (because of auto-intoxification)

c) Consume plenty of cleansing fluids

d) Provide these organs with nutrients – a good supply of nutrients provide the organs with the building blocks for enzymes.

e) A diet rich in anti-oxidants work to limit the damaging effect of chemicals.

f) Help the liver by encouraging the accumulated of waste to be discharged by the gall bladder.

g) Change your skin care products to ‘toxic chemical-free’ The average skin care products contain toxic chemicals and your skin absorbs about 5lbs of these chemicals through your skin each year.

h) Reduce your negative thoughts as they can produce toxicity within the body.

i) Find ways to handle stress better, stress produces negative chemicals within your body.

Sonia Jones ND from The Haven Spa and Health Clinic

Certain foods act like a drug

Some foods literally act like ‘drug foods’ as they create a false high in the brain, they change the brain chemistry – a feel good factor for a short time (like a drug such as nicotine or alcohol). Some people overeat, consuming loads of refined processed foods giving them a temporary high, leaving them malnourished, as these foods will use up valuable resources, depleting the body’s reserves. These are what are called ‘empty calories’. They will leave you wanting more. They will eventually drain your energy and alter your brain chemistry.

Which foods do you love? Which foods do you think you would be unable to live without? Experience shows these foods could be the very foods you have a problem with. You may be using these foods unknowingly like a drug.

A lot of people tell me they are not addicted to any particular food, but soon find out when they try eliminate certain foods, how dependent they really are. It often comes as a surprise, but do not worry we have had extensive experience in this area, making it easier for you to overcome these obstacles.

Of course the food industry is well aware that people crave certain foods like wheat, sugar, salt, and food grade chemicals like preservatives, sweeteners, colorings etc. The industry has made full use of this fact and everywhere you look there are products full of the ‘drug like’ ingredients!

Sonia Jones ND from the Haven Spa and Health Clinic

Don’t get taken in by the hype

carbohydrates make you fat

fruit is the enemy

fruit is full of sugar

fat is bad

quick fix

fast

rapid

instant

effortless

lite

fat-replacers

meal replacements

revolutionary

low-fat

no-fat

no-sugar

carb-blockers

carb-quenchers

high-protein

fat-busters

the list is endless

In our recent history the multi-billion dollar diet business con-vinced people that fat is bad – so the dieter was con-vinced to look for ‘low-fat’ or ‘lite’ or ‘fat-reduced’ products what were high in ‘refined carbs’ like sugar. Then the diet industry was telling everyone that ‘carbs’ are all bad!! Now dieters have been conv-inced to turn to the so called ‘low carb’ or ‘carb lite’ foods, these foods are most often than not, high in processed fats!!! So dieters avoided fat, choosing ‘fat-free’ or ‘low fat’ foods (high in carbs), now the opposite is happening!!

People tell me now they don’t eat fruit because it is a carb, full of sugar!!!! This is all really very good news for the ‘diet food’ manufactures/industry, not good news for you. Fruit is one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

Unfortunately, the evidence is irrefutable even though hundreds of people try these ‘diets’ few people experience long-term success, as the statistics reveal time and time again. 95% of people put thei weight back on in 5 years.

Remember if there was a quick ‘magic’ easy solution, our nations would all be fit, slim and healthy. Of-course we all know that the opposite is true and the situation is getting worse.

Sickness and obesity are on the up, even in children, and instead of helping people understand how to truly adopt a life-long healthy approach, no, why? One reason it’s hard to make billions of dollars out of fresh fruit and vegetables, can’t trade mark them or patent them (but you can malign them). Even this is changing as they are now genetically modifying produce and patenting them, but that is a whole different money-making story that is too long to go into here.

Fruit is not making people fat – VERY single piece of evidence shows that  people  we are not eating even 5 (which is minium) a day – if you remove french fries – some people are not eating 5-a week , leave alone a day. Every case study I have taken (there have been many)  they did not get fat on fruit and vegetables.

In other thing the futher they get you a way from eating natural produce the better – they make money – you put on weight – the diet industry is happy.

Sonia Jones ND from the Haven Spa and Health Clinic

Chromosomes

Some people say they are overweight because they inherited the problem from their parents. They are right but only to a small extent, maybe they have inherited a tendency to be overweight but they don’t have to make it your lives work. They can play to this weakness with an inactive lifestyle and a poor diet or off-set it with an active lifestyle and good nutrition.

It’s up to you – you can take control.

Do not overlook a very important fact, that bad habits are learned inherited so to speak, and taste buds are developed from childhood depending on what your parents fed you. Born in Japan you will have a fondness for raw fish, born in the US you might have a fondness for doughnuts. This is not inherited genes.

In just about every case of a traditional society moving to towns and cities, and adopting a more ‘Western type diet’, start to suffer more chronic diseases. For instance, American Indians or the Australian Aboriginals were formerly lean and suffered rarely from diabetes. Now these nations have high rates of obesity and suffer chronic problems like diabetes at similar rates to us. This is not entirely due to inherited genes, but due to a change in their food and lifestyle. At the turn of the last century in the US about 5% of people were overweight now it is estimated that about 65% of people are overweight, this is not just due entirely to genes but due to rapid changes in diets, eating habits and lifestyles!!!!

Sonia Jones ND from the Haven Spa and Health Clinic

For a lot of women PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) seems to be a big stumbling block to permanent weight-loss and health gain. All good intentions and even some well established healthy routines go out the window when their period is due.

You may be one of these women who suffer one or multiple symptoms. A few days before a period is due, you become bloated, get even more fluid retention, irritable, tired and anxious turning to foods full of processed fats, and/or refined carbohydrates like sugar, cookies, chocolate, or lots of bread, only to feel even more miserable as blood sugar levels yo-yo. Then the guilt and frustration sets in!

Generally, during this time women choose to eat more drug like foods, the very foods that make things worse

Here are 4 of the most common symptoms suffered before and during a period.

1) Anxiety can be due to imbalances between estrogen and progesterone, which become more pronounced during this time.

2) Depression can be due to a low thyroid function or to excess metals like lead, chlorine, arsenic, aluminum, fluoride etc. This program will help to eliminate them from your diet and body.

3) Cravings are so common at this time for some women, due to low blood sugar levels plus low levels of magnesium, chromium and so many other nutrients. For so many people ‘low blood sugar levels’ is a really big problem. Before and during a period the problem is magnified and all good intentions are sabotaged. Due to years of poor food choices your blood sugar levels keep you a prisoner.

4) Fluid retention can be due to high sodium, low potassium and magnesium levels, low levels of amino acids, or a toxic over-load. If you eat a lot of foods that are processed/manufactured they will contain much higher levels of salt (sodium) and extremely low levels of potassium and magnesium.

What do I mean by manufactured foods – biscuits, cakes, bread, cheese, crisps (chips), the average chocolate, canned products, roasted peanuts, bacon, deli meats, sauces, sports bars, or breakfast cereals etc.

You will learn on this site how to balance your hormones naturally so you are no longer sabortaging your good intentions to lose weight.

Tip of the Day – if you are unhealthy or overweight or both – your lifestyle made you that way and the very idea that sometime in the near or distant future you can return to your old habits – is counter-productive. This is exactly what happen in 95% of cases – going ‘on’ a diet then come ‘off’ the diet.

Quote of the Day -Very little of what people eat goes to nourish them, most goes to waist – Sonia Jones

Sonia Jones ND from the Haven Spa and Health Clinic

How to fatten animals ready for market -

The farmer restricts the amount of food the animal is allowed for a few days, then for a few days the animals are allowed it to eat as before. Farmers have found these animals go to market heavier than those who have been fed constantly! This is what most people do, restrict their food for a while (‘on a diet’) then go back to their normal eating habits (‘off the diet’). 

The other interesting thing about fattening animals

* fed on raw food, animals where leaner and slimmer

* fed the same foods and the same amount of food but cooked the animals became fatter!!

Why?

Raw foods are bursting with enzymes and many nutrients are left intact, that encourage weight-loss and health-gain.

Another successful way you can store more body fat is by lowering your metabolic rate.

How and when does this happen and how can you avoid this?

During a restricted diet, metabolism can be reduced by as much as 40%.

The metabolism is the process of using energy for a whole host of functions within the body.

Research shows that women dieters consume on average 410 fewer calories per day than non-dieting women, but burn fewer calories per day, than those who are non-dieters.

That really doesn’t seem fair.

Each diet lowers the metabolic rate a little more than the previous diet and takes longer each time for the metabolic rate to recover.

I typically hear many dieters say, this time my diet isn’t working like it did the last few times.

This is the point most people can relate to this as they have been on several diets and still need to diet.

An article written by Dr. Allen King called Obesity and Health, demonstrated how he put 500 of his patients on a 1000 calorie a day diet (many diets have people on this few calories).

Six months later, the average patient lost 50lbs!

Success you would think or say.

3 years later (this is within the 2 to 5 year parameter) these same patients have now gained an average of 60lbs – that is very depressing!

For some it didn’t take as long as 3 years. Now the dieters are 10lbs heavier than before they started the diet!! This is a common story.

Other research shows that a restricted diet seems to reduce the activity of the thyroid gland by about 28% in only 6 weeks. Similar reductions have been noted in animals on a restricted diet.

It is not worth it.

It is important to remember what ever process made you overweight and unhealthy in the first place will have the same affect the next time and the next time. So going back to your old ways (as most people do), you will put the weight back on? We are such creatures of habit, we need to break our old habits and form some new ones, but it takes a little time. Most diets are designed on the quick-fix, quick-loss even though the results are most often short lived.

The same is true of The Haven Pain Program – changes in diet and lifestyle reduces or even eliminates pain (as a team we have had a lot of success helping many people to become pain-free), if they go back to their old ways, their old habits the pain will return, sooner or later, but it will.

TIP OF THE DAY

Being dehydrated or not drinking enough water slows down the metabolism – so make sure you drink enough water for a healthy metabolism.

However drinking too much will put too much strain on your kidneys, can cause an imbalance of the electrolytes – sodium, potassium etc and it will not after a certain point make your metabolism even faster?

You will also switch off the ‘brain confusion’ confusion between hunger and thirst – research has shown that often people eat because they think they are hungry but in fact they are thirsty. So if you are always hungry make sure you are hydrated with water.

GET HYDRATED WITH WATER!

Sonia Jones ND from The Haven Spa and Health Clinic

Addictions and cravings

Don’t skip this section, you may think because you don’t take recreational drugs or don’t smoke cigarettes or drink too much that addiction doesn’t apply to you. However, I am talking about the everyday substances you find on the supermarket shelves!

Do addictions and cravings keep sabotaging your good intentions? Sabotage your good intentions of losing weight, getting healthier, and changing your habits of a life time, habits that speed up your aging and degeneration process. Being addicted or having powerful cravings is a real problem for many people. You are probably one of a vast number of people who are hooked. It’s a viscous circle. You know the situation, you are not really hungry and yet you eat far too much and in fact sometimes eat until you feel nauseous or so full it’s uncomfortable. Why is that?

Here are some of the typical foods and drinks you might be addicted to?

Chocolate - some people think the chocolate they eat is good for them, that it is healthy! There is some chocolate on the market that could be classed as healthy, however the chocolate most people eat certainly isn’t good for them.  The average chocolate on the shelves is going to speed up aging and deterioration. 100% cocoa is bursting with anti-oxidants and if you are buying 70 to 80% cocoa rich chocolate than you are certainly eating a healthy version. Most people eat the other stuff that is only about 27% cocoa, the other 73% is sugar and fat. NOT healthy and very addictive.

White flour – covers a vast amount of different foods, from bread, cookies, crackers, pastry and so on. This substance is destructive and highly addictive for some people.

Sugar – is found in so many foods theses days. A couple of hundred years ago sugar was worth its weight in silver and was kept under lock and key, because it was then recognized for how addictive it was. For many decades sugar has been subsidized making it very cheap, hence why it is found in such abundance. This is another highly addictive and totally destructive substance that will encourage aging and degeneration.

HFCS – high fructose corn syrup (not to be confused with fructose from fresh fruit, there is a world of difference). This is even cheaper than sugar and found in even more products – highly addictive.

Caffeine – found in tea, coffee, and more soft drinks (sodas) than you may realize, even in soft drinks where you wouldn’t expect to find caffeine, like in orange flavoured soft drinks. Caffeine keeps us wanting more.

Artificial Sweeteners – much research has made it clear that products with artificial sweeteners will encourage a craving for sweet and fatty foods, the very foods that will act like a catalyst to for more. Besides, these sweeteners are  chemical – stop poisoning yourself. Do not be fooled with the advertising hype about these substances.

Processed, highly refined fats – these are also found on our supermarket shelves in abundance of products. Found in so many products, it takes studying the labels to uncover them.

Alcohol, we already know that alcohol can be addictive. The latest figures from the health department show we are drinking too much, its on the increase.

Dairy products – some people have a problem with cheese and find it compulsive .

After 20 year almost at the clinic we have seen many people with quite serious chronic conditions and/or weight problems who tell me they don’t have any addictions. Not realizing until they are asked – for instance give up cheese or sugar panic sets in – if I ask them to give up apples or pears they don’t bat and eye lid (this an example I don’t ask people to give up pears).

However, after the initial panic has subsided – most people understand the situation.

The first step is to write down in a daily journal everything you eat and drink.

Most people are surprised when they see it all written down in black and white. It’s the first time some people actually fully appreciate what they are doing, what they are really eating and drinking in the course of a week. For most people have really little idea what they eat and how much they eat, until they see it all written down.

Think about it, you know deep down that some foods are so more-ish – open up a packet of chocolate cookies, see how soon it is before you want another one and then just one more, before you have eaten than you intended and you weren’t even hungry! Most people wouldn’t consider gorging on foods like apples somehow they just don’t have the same appeal or fill the same need. Back to our chocolate cookies, for some people just knowing there is a open packet of cookies drives them crazy, needing to finish the packet, hungry or not. Then comes the feeling of being bloated, sleepy and guilt sets in.

All those good intentions sabotaged again. Or maybe you are one of many people who just need for something fatty and starchy with sugar or salty at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Around this time consciously or subconsciously your concentration begins to fail, maybe you start getting a headache, irritable or maybe just plain tired (without being totally aware). You may think this is just stress. You convince yourself you need something to give you energy to get you through the rest of the day. Some people are like this around 11 in the morning too.

By the things you choose to consume you are messing around with your blood sugar levels. Once you are on this trend-mill its takes a really concerted effort to get off. These fluctuating blood sugar levels are certainly sabotaging your plans for a healthy long slim life. The body has a built-in safety mechanism that protects us to a degree from ourselves, but there is only so much it can do before it becomes compromised.

Things you can do straight away -

change to the 70 to 80% cocoa rich chocolate

change to whole-wheat only, cutting down the amount of wheat products you eat

remove sugar from your diet – eat fresh, frozen or dried fruit instead

change your artificial sweeteners for a more natural one called stevia easy to find in most supermarkets

change from drinking coffee to green tea (contains naturally less caffeine) research shows green tea helps with weight-loss

never drink alcohol on an empty stomach – no pre-dinner drinks, drink wine with a meal, if you like having a drink

Keep that journal and record your reactions, over the years we have seen many people be quite surprised when they realize their reaction and their relationship to certain foods – you may think you don’t have a problem but your journal might reveal a different story.