Weight Management with MOP

If you want to lose weight, its quite likely you have already tried a few ways and haven’t succeeded. Yet!

Welcome to the STEPS Metabolic Optimizing Protocol (MOP). Here, we would share some holistic insights into this issue that would change the way you look at it.

Firstly,
You should aim at becoming healthier and not just lose weight and this is my advice to you:

‘Any ‘weight’ loss program that does not make you feel more energetic, improve your general mood, digestion, stamina, sleep, and hormonal balance cannot be healthy for you in the long run.’

• More Energetic
• Better Mood
• Better Stamina
• Better Hormonal Balance
• Better Digestion
• Better Sleep

Losing weight while experiencing a degradation in general health is simply not worth it. Its like trading your freedom for a million dollars. What do you do with the money if you are stuck in jail?!

Secondly, for any weight loss program to be successful, it must be sustainable. Fad diets and weight loss programs that come and go like a television series, offer short term results at best, only to crumble in a few months and the weight creeps back up. What is even worse is that it leaves the person discouraged and frustrated.

Thirdly, any treatment or program to help lose weight must be in alignment with nature and natural body functioning. If this is not the case, one ends up slimmer but sicker over time. This includes weight-loss pills and surgeries.

Now we come to another important question:
Who needs to lose weight?
In the age of Instagram, even reasonably fit individuals want to lose weight because they idolize some celebrity or have a desire to look a certain way. Most of those celebrities sacrifice their health and wellbeing to undergo surgeries and needing to look a certain way gives them their livelihood. Many cultures around the world actually find beauty in obesity! Except if there is a metabolic imbalance and other effects of being overweight, I do not encourage such pursuits and warn that it would most likely result in health imbalances.

So, what causes a person to gain weight?

Here are some currently accepted causes behind weight gain.

Currently accepted causes:

1. Genetic tendency
2. Lack of physical activity
3. Eating more and burning less calories
4. Eating highly processed, sugary and fatty foods
5. Side effects of medications

But weight gain is far more complex and many crucial factors that play an important contributory role are largely ignored or not given due importance.

Here are the most important ones from a holistic point of view, that I focus on when helping a person lose weight, improve their health and optimize their metabolism:

1. Unhealthy Mindset and Core Beliefs:
   • Your relationship with eating
   • Your relationship with exercise
   • Your relationship with sleep
   • Your relationship with stress and your coping mechanism

   Mindset is our attitude shaped by our core beliefs that we acquire about every aspect of our lives. It is what determines the choices we make in life. No treatment, diet or a health improvement program can be as effective or sustainable unless the person has the right mindset. This is by far the most important factor in all cases that experience the yoyo effect. The causes behind an unhealthy mindset are hidden deep in the subconscious, compelling a person to make the wrong choices with food, exercise, sleep and everything that should help them become healthier. There might be an element of self sabotage and they choose unhealthy foods, overeat, or use food as an emotional soother, be frustrated and binge on food. Later in the video, I would talk about ways to change the mindset to a positive one which would play a vital role not only in optimizing metabolism and lose unhealthy weight, but would also change your outlook towards life itself.
   




2. Going against the body clock:
   Also called the Circadian rhythm, our bodies have an internal clock. A rhythmic cycle of various organs functioning in a coordinated fashion. Its almost like a batch production line where each step is dependent on successful completion of the earlier step in a timely manner. Vital bodily functions tend to happen at certain times of the day or night and if we do things against this clock, it derails the entire chain of functions. Primarily linked to our sleep cycle, and taking cues from natural light, this circadian clock enables various functions to occur efficiently. When we deliberately change the time we do these activities, especially sleep, the body is unable to maintain rhythm and function.




3. Poor quality or lack of sleep:
   Closely linked to disruption to the body clock is sleep deprivation. This can happen when we do not sleep enough or if the quality of sleep is poor and does not achieve what it is supposed to despite us being in bed long enough. There is a release of stress hormones leading to metabolic disturbances and weight gain. I often see people making all the right effort consistently without being successful in losing weight simply because they sleep poorly. Strong cravings for unhealthy, sugary foods is one of the common indicators of poor sleep quality.
   




4. Poor food choices: More than overeating, it is the poor choice of what a person eats and when that determines how much harm of metabolic disturbance happens.
   




5. Lack of fiber in foods: Often a result of poor food choices are foods that are low in fiber either naturally or are stripped of natural fiber by food companies. This is done to make their shelf-life longer with disastrous consequences for our digestion, metabolism and gut microbiome.




6. Damaged gut microbiome
   




7. Overuse of antibiotics: One of the major contributors to gut microbiome damage is the use or rather abuse of antibiotics. It is found everywhere, from your dairy products, chicken, meat, in the soil where your food grows to your bedroom drawer. Antibiotics help kill infecting bacteria, but as a collateral damage, severely damage the healthy and useful bacteria in the intestines, impairing many important metabolic, hormonal and immune functions. This is one of the hidden factors no one takes into consideration when evaluating general health. Ever wonder where all the discarded and expired antibiotics end up? (I would urge you to do your own research)




8. Stress: The word we are all too familiar with. Now stress has a different meaning for different people. For one, a delay in the delivery of the latest Gucci bag is stressful while for another, its the worry of arranging the next meal. But humans being humans, it all translates to similar biochemical changes in the body. When it comes to stress, it is all about the coping ability and mechanism of the person that determines how damaging the effects of stress would be. Most people do not know that the ability to manage or cope with stress can be improved. There are many tools that can help change the perception, leading to a healthier mindset that makes all the difference. Later in the video, we would look at these in more detail.
   




9. Environmental toxins: Chemicals seeped into our lives along with the advancements in industrial manufacturing. Our environment and consequently our bodies have been poisoned with innumerable toxic chemicals. Industrial pollutants, drugs and medications, plastic waste, nuclear waste all end up in drinking water, our oceans and soil, recycled into our bodies. Some of these toxins not only disrupt the metabolism but also contribute to causing serious chronic diseases.
   




10. Genetically modified foods: In order to maximize profits, Newer genetically modified agricultural products were developed. Though they all look very appealing, their effect on our bodies are questionable. See this article.
    




11. Side effects of medication: All chemical medications have side effects no matter how harmless they are purported to be. They are aimed at managing and opposing symptoms given out by the body and they achieve this with a huge price tag of side-effects. Not only do many of these cause weight gain but also cause irreversible damage to the quality of life of an individual. One might live longer, but not live life to the fullest.

    Entire classes of drugs are proven to cause obesity. Have a look at the list here:

    • Antibiotics
    • Antidepressants
    • Anticonvulsants
    • Diabetes medications
    • Hormones such as oral contraceptives
    • Corticosteroids
    • High blood pressure medications
    • Antihistamines

    




12. Poisons sold as food:
    • Junk Food
    • Low or Zero Calorie Beverages
    • High Fructose Corn Syrup Drinks
    • Artificial Sweeteners
    
    
    

So now we talk about the solutions. Almost everyone I treat is exposed to one or more of the outlined factors causing them impairment. These range from a few extra pounds all the way to debilitating chronic illnesses.

So how do I help them? This is where the Metabolism Optimizing Protocol (MOP) comes in.

As mentioned at the beginning, the holistic approach is to achieve health improvement on all levels starting with the MindSet, Emotional Balance, Grit and Motivation, right down to gut microbiome, energy and sleep.

While most quick-fix weight loss programs, treatments and surgeries cause numerous side effects and lead to a degradation of health, MOP helps to achieve the best version of oneself helping achieve a sustainable positive change in health and wellbeing.

With this program, “weight loss is only a ‘side effect’ and is the ‘only’ side effect”