More than 25 million Germans are interested in a slim diet. But the desired figure often remains a pipe dream. In fact, after decades of numerous miracle cures, nutritional research now has to admit that blanket diets don’t achieve much. This is because every metabolism reacts differently. How losing weight can still be successful.
by Petra Peschel – with the expert opinion of Dr. med. Ulrich Frohberger, orthopaedist Münster
Get slim – I can do it from tomorrow
This is probably a widespread resolution. But many people fail early on because of their constant hunger and gnawing appetite. It sounds incredible: 67% of men and 53% of women in this country are overweight or obese. Incidentally, you are considered overweight if your body mass index (BMI) is over 25, and obese if your BMI is over 30, according to the current obesity guidelines of the relevant professional associations. According to this, someone who is 1.70 meters tall and weighs 74 kilograms has a BMI of 26, i.e. slightly overweight. At 86 kilograms (BMI 30) they would be obese, at 70 kilograms they would be of normal weight. However, this measurement does not differentiate between age or gender.
Studies have shown that a slightly higher BMI can be beneficial to health, especially with increasing age. “In principle, increased weight is not automatically problematic, but it can become so,” says Professor Dr. Manfred Wonisch, Medical Director of the Internal Medicine Department at Hartmannspital in Vienna. “Possible consequences include joint wear and tear and spinal problems, increased cholesterol levels in the case of obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure.” Abdominal fat is particularly dangerous. It is particularly common in “apple-shaped” men over 35, when testosterone levels fall due to age. Belly fat is very metabolically active and promotes high blood pressure. It can also damage internal organs. In women, the less dangerous “pear shape” with fat pads on the legs and bottom often develops instead, and much later than in men.
New research: Fatty liver endangers the heart
What is particularly alarming is the fact that at a time when there are more diets and nutrition tips than ever before, the organs are more fatty than in any other generation: in up to 40 percent of the population, the obesity problem has already led to so-called non-alcoholic fatty liver. Experts also speak of human fattening or “foie gras”. And it can no longer perform its metabolic tasks properly, warns nutritionist Professor Dr. Nicolai Worm from Munich: “Typical consequences are sugar and fat metabolism disorders. Those affected are on the direct path to diabetes. In addition, fatty liver has been shown to be a major risk for cardiovascular disease.”
Your food is not mine
The question of why we are becoming increasingly unhealthier and fatter despite all the advice on healthy eating and many serious efforts remains justified. A study published in 2009 by Professor Dr. Hannelore Daniel from the Technical University of Munich already had an answer to this question. She found that every organism reacts completely differently to food – as well as to fasting, sport and stress. A healthy diet can therefore only be one that is tailored to the individual’s needs.
A study published by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel at the end of 2015 came to the same conclusion: certain foods have different effects on blood sugar in different people. According to the researchers, the highly variable composition of the human gut flora may be one of the reasons why universal diets cannot work. More and more experts in the nutrition scene are openly admitting that the question of “the philosopher’s stone” cannot be answered in a generalized way. “Apparently, the belief that there is a magic formula is deeply rooted. It is probably the irrepressible desire for a patent solution, packaged in a few rules that are naturally easy to implement and suitable for everyone,” says Nicolai Worm. “However, decades of research have taught us that one and the same nutrient intake can have very different, sometimes contradictory effects on different people.”
Scarcity in abundance
And that is by no means the only problem. Our traditional diet no longer fits in with our lifestyle. Unless you work physically – for example, all day in the fields. A lot of energy in the form of carbohydrates from bread, muesli, rice, pasta and sugar can be tolerated by someone with a lot of muscle mass. On the other hand, if you don’t have a lot of muscle mass, you fall into the fat trap described above, because your body is constantly getting more energy than it actually needs. Even those who eat a healthy diet sometimes put on weight. This is mainly because the nutrient density of industrially processed products is dwindling at an alarming rate. Even fruit and vegetables from the supermarket have often mutated into empty calories. “We are suffering from an abundance of deficiencies,” says holistic and sports physician Dr. Ulrich Frohberger from Münster. “Apart from being overweight, we should actually be perfectly healthy. But because food no longer contains what it used to, we are often undernourished in terms of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. This weakens our immune system.”
Insulin blocks the burning of fat
By far the biggest fatteners are short-chain carbohydrates, such as those found in refined white flour products. They cause blood sugar levels to shoot up and then drop again just as quickly. This means you only feel full for a short time. Another organ that is significantly affected by these fluctuations is the pancreas. If we keep reaching for the next snack, it has to keep producing the hormone insulin in order to channel the glucose masses into the muscle cells. At the same time, the high insulin production blocks the burning of fat. At some point, the body’s cells no longer respond to insulin. Insulin resistance, the precursor to type 2 diabetes, develops. There is basically only one solution: back to the roots with l firstly seasonal organic food from controlled cultivation, which l secondly enables a constant blood sugar level, which l thirdly stops cravings.
Get slim – how a professional athlete lost 45 kilos
Weightlifter Matthias Steiner, who won Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008, used this principle to lose 45 kilos in just one year – from 150 to 105 kilos body weight: … Continue reading the original article on p. 14…
by Petra Peschel, published in“BIO – das Magazin für Körper, Geist und Seele“, issue 1/2016, p. 10 ff.