Overweight and Obesity

🌿 Overview

Overweight is defined as weighing at least 10% more than average for one's height; obesity is 20% or more. It involves excess body fat from consuming more calories than the body uses. The Framingham 14-year study established that repeated crash diets specifically increase heart disease risk. Unlike dieting, a consistent shift to whole, unprocessed food combined with regular aerobic exercise produces safe, sustained weight loss. Research on 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists found that vegetarians who ate the most nuts were the slimmest -- nuts are rich in serotonin and signal fullness. Swimming in cold water paradoxically triggers fat storage as insulation, making it less effective for weight loss than walking or jogging.

Common signs

• Weight 10-20%+ above healthy range for height
• Fatigue and reduced stamina
• Joint pain and reduced mobility
• Elevated blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol
• Shortness of breath with minor exertion

🔎 Why it happens

Common causes and triggers — spotting yours is often the first step to relief.

• Caloric intake chronically exceeding caloric expenditure
• Diet high in refined carbohydrates, sugar, fried food, processed food, and alcohol
• Sedentary lifestyle with insufficient exercise
• Thyroid, adrenal, or other endocrine imbalances
• Food allergies triggering metabolic dysfunction
• Skipping meals and then overeating later in the day

✅ What to do

Gentle, practical steps you can take at home — start at the top.

1. Eliminate all junk food, fried food, processed food, sugar, white-flour products, soft drinks, and alcohol.
2. Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.
3. Make breakfast the largest meal, lunch moderate, and supper the lightest -- or skip supper entirely.
4. Do not eat after 3 pm if possible.
5. Eat meals in regular 5-hour intervals; do not eat between meals.
6. Take 1 tablespoon psyllium seed in juice or water 30 minutes before each meal (Italian research showed significantly greater weight loss with this practice).
7. Include fresh chickweed in salads daily.
8. Eat one whole fresh pineapple daily if possible.
9. Use ginger and butcher's broom to improve fat metabolism.
10. Add green teaA warm drink made by steeping herbs in hot water. How to make a tea → daily.
11. Take flaxseed oil (2 teaspoons daily) -- helps burn excess calories.
12. Include Nova Scotia dulse or Norwegian kelp for trace minerals.
13. Take a good vitaminA natural substance your body needs in small amounts to stay healthy, like vitamin C or D. More →-mineralA natural building block your body needs in small amounts, like calcium or magnesium. More → supplement.
14. Aerobic outdoor exercise is essential: walking (120 calories/hour) or jogging (440 calories/hour) are the best choices.
15. Test for food allergies and eliminate them.

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🍽️ Eating to help

Food is one of the gentlest medicines — small, steady changes help most.

Whole-food vegetarian diet: raw vegetables freely, cooked fresh vegetables (not frozen or canned), plant proteins (beans, sprouts, seeds, nuts in moderation), whole grains only (brown rice, barley, rye, millet, buckwheat, wheat berries). No refined carbohydrates, sugar, alcohol, white flour, quick oats, packaged cereals. Cold-pressed oils only (flaxseed oil, 2 tsp. daily). Eat spirulina 30 minutes before meals -- nourishing, energizing, appetite-reducing. Daily nourishing whole-food drink (rice milk + soy milk + fruit juice + banana + molasses + flaxseed oil + green powder + yeast).

💬 Ask Remy about Overweight and Obesity