I Finally Discovered Why I Stopped Losing Weight
This week I discovered a huge piece to my health puzzle. Could it be affecting you, too?
There are few things more frustrating than being your own personal experiment with diet and health protocols and not seeing results. Well, I can think of one thing more frustrating, actually. It's when your level of
Well, I can actually think of one thing more frustrating. It's when your level of committment, integrity and consistency get questioned into how 'hard' you were doing said protocols. When you're being looked at like you aren't being honest because your body doesn't respond to their one-size-fits-all approach. You feel the shame with no real reason to feel it. That is equally frustrating.
I would joke with every person I'd talk to about my lack of body cooperation in my weightloss and say 'I live on the metabolic island of misfit toys.' They'd laugh with me about it because not only is it funny, it seemed to be true. I wasn't sure what was going on with me but I'd just get stuck or gain and lose the same pounds.
I finally decided to go to an Integrative Nurse Practicioner I spoke at a conference with a few months ago. He came highly recommended and specializes in hormonal balance and gut health. Shawn Snider at ACI Medicine discovered that I have MTHFR. (Yes, I know exactly what that looks like.)
What in the world is that? Well, you can read all about it and it's variations here, but to keep it simple, I will say that it's a gene mutation (more common than you may think) that doesn't allow my body to properly utilize all the healthy foods I take in and it keeps my body from excreting toxins as easily as people without it. It also increases my risk for heart disease, stroke, blood clots, and cancers of the colon, breast and pancreas, IF gone untreated.
Some of the treatments to help my body along, include putting some B vitamins and other nutrients back in that I'm low on, making sure I don't eat processed foods (thankfully, that was minimal in my life anyway) and utilizing saunas to help detoxify my body in other ways.
If you or other men and women you know are experiecing fatigue, difficulty losing weight, and have heart disease, stroke, hypothyroidism and cancer in your family, you may want to check for MTHFR.
For me, I plan on living a very long life inspite of this. I may have a track on my train missing genetically, but thanks to the right foods, supplements and care from a healthcare provider with a watchful eye, I can manually rebuild that track and help my body transport these nutrients where they need to go.
Oh yeah, and weightloss WILL come as a result. Stay tuned for more on this health journey. I can't wait to share pics with you along the way.