Understanding Obesity Takes Education

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Don Colbert’s book The Bible Cure for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain.

The Bible instructs us to be wise in our eating habits: “Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). The way you eat, drink and care for the body that God gave you can bring glory to Him for this wonderful gift.

Chances are that you if are struggling with obesity, you may have been waging a war with it all of your life. By now, you realize that you need more than a good dieting program. You need power to enforce it. You need the strength it takes to change a lifetime of poor eating habits and the discipline to stay with it. This Bible Cure pathway to wholeness does not only provide the information necessary for a healthier, trimmer body, it also provides insight into an endless source of power to insure success. Stop limiting yourself to you own strength. The Bible reveals a better way:

“I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.” (Phil. 4:13).

Gaining new power in your battle against obesity must begin with gaining fresh understanding of the causes for obesity.

Why We Eat Too Much

Being overweight has many causes. Some are biological. You might be predisposed to obesity through genetics and body metabolism. Some of the causes are psychological.

Emotional Eating

You also may be emotionally dependent on food for comfort during times of stress, crisis, happiness, loneliness and a host of other emotions.

If overeating has an emotional component in your life, you probably grew up hearing statements like the following:

• “Eat something; it will make you feel better.”
• “Clean your plate, or you can’t leave the table.’
• “If you’re good, you will get dessert.”
• “If you don’t eat everything, you will be impolite to the host or hostess.”
• If you stop crying, I’ll give you ice cream.”

The list of unhealthy child motivations can be endless. But whether the causes of your weight problem are genetic or psychological, you are not bound to your past. Today is a new day, filed with fresh hope for an entirely new way of thinking and living. Begin considering what lifestyle factors might be contributing to your situation.

A Sedentary Lifestyle

Another cause of obesity is the increasingly sedentary lifestyle in our society. In an agricultural or industrial culture, hard work gives people plenty of exercise during the day. In our corporate, technological culture, we sit more at desks and in meetings. What about you?

Sugar and Your Body

Contrary to popular opinion, eating fat does not necessarily make you fat. It’s actually the way that your body stores fat that makes you gain weight. Overconsumption of carbohydrates and sugars stimulates your body’s production of insulin—which is the body’s fat storage hormone. Insulin lowers blood sugar levels when they are too high. However, it also causes the body to store fat.

For example, when you eat foods that are high in carbohydrates, such as breads, pasta, potatoes, corn and rice, the carbohydrate is changed into blood sugar, and in the presence of insulin it is then converted into blood fat by the liver. The fast in the blood is then stored away in fat cells.

Easier On Than Off

If you consume a lot of starch and sugar on a frequent basis, your insulin levels will remain high. If insulin levels remain high, your fat is then locked into your fat cells. This makes it very easy to gain weight. Elevated insulin levels prevent the body from burning stored body fat for energy. Most obese patients cannot break out of this vicious cycle because they are constantly craving starchy, sugary foods throughout the day, which keeps the insulin levels elevated and presents the body from burning these stored fats.

The average person can store about 300-400 grams of carbohydrates in the muscles and about 90 grams in the liver. The stored carbohydrates are actually a stored form of glucose called glycogen. However, once the body storehouses are filled in the liver and muscles, any excess carbohydrates are then converted into fat and stored in fatty tissues.

Exercise may not help if you don’t eat right. If you eat carbohydrates throughout the day, since the glycogen levels in your body are filled, all the excess carbohydrates will be converted to fat. The high insulin levels also tell the body not to release any of its stored fat. Therefore, you can work out for hours at a gym and still not lose fat because you are eating high amounts of carbohydrates and sugar throughout the day. You body will store any excess carbohydrates as fat and not release any fat that is already stored.

Don Colbert, M.D., is board-certified in family practice and in anti-aging medicine. He also has received extensive training in nutritional and preventive medicine, and he has helped millions of people discover the joy of living in divine health.