by Dr. David Pollack
Another year has passed, and what a year it has been. More people have adopted a lifestyle of wellness than any year before. I see and hear it daily. The difference in the starting points of improved lifestyle for the majority of my new patients is significantly better than even three years ago. Many people have 
adopted healthier eating, increased their greens, decreased grains and gluten, are using plant-based supplements, along with myriad other improvements. At the same time, we see what some of my peers and I have expressed for some time—that this simple solution of just improving our diet, while extremely powerful and helpful does not eliminate all our health problems. That does not mean we are hopeless, but I am suggesting this is where specific and systematic strategies to regain our health care of critical importance.
Many new clients will look for weight-loss strategies as the year turns. That is great. Most have tried so many different weight-loss techniques, exercises and supplements with little or no results. If there were reasonable losses, those tedious pounds return faster than they left and often with some friends. This frustration often is occurring year after year, many times following another great resolution. I’m hoping some of us no longer want to repeat this terrible cycle. What if we were to look at weight a little differently? Maybe then this cycle could end. Maybe there are reasons we have weight issues beyond calories in and out. There might be metabolic issues that have changed the way our body functions.
We find several major categories of problems that can interfere with how the body controls the metabolism. The first is digestion. Poor digestion has the most powerful effect on weight. If the body cannot breakdown the food into its constituent nutrients, it will constantly be in a state of starvation. When in a starvation state, the body is then busy storing what it can as fat. Poor digestion will also cause a huge amount of inflammation and irritation to the immune system due to the buildup of foreign matter from the incomplete breakdown of nutrients.
The next factor involved in difficulty in losing weight is hormone imbalance. If the body’s hormones are not in check, weight loss can be impossible despite how much we eat. There are dozens of hormones involved, but the most common imbalance are of the thyroid hormones, estrogens and cortisol. Any hormone imbalance can make it difficult-to-impossible to lose weight. And we might think, “I can just take a prescription thyroid hormone or take hormone replacement”; however, most people find doing either of these does not cause the weight loss and great feelings as advertised.
The last factor is overall inflammation. While this can be caused by the previous two issues—poor digestion and hormone imbalance—there are many sources of inflammation. These include everything from muscle pains to old injuries to headaches to toxicity to nutrient deficiency, such as essential fatty acid, protein or mineral deficiencies.
Addressing and repairing the body’s ability to control these major functions can return the ability to lose weight and keep it off, back to the body. There are excellent strategies to achieve this. The most important factor is a desire to have real improvement.
Source: Dr. David Pollack, of Pollack Wellness Institute, located at 66 Commack Rd., Ste. 204, Commack. For more information, call 631-462-0801 or visit PollackWellness.com.
