ADVERTISING: Advertorial — Healthy weight year-round: Part I

Here we go again! It’s the first of the new year and we are anxious to get on with our New Year’s resolutions. No. 1 on the list is generally to lose weight. It seems everyone thinks the only answer to losing weight is to eat less, eat healthier and exercise. However, there is more to it than that. Resolving it means being healthy all year long. But how?

First of all, we pretty much know if we weigh too much, or are a little puffier in the belly than we know we should be. Sometimes it’s the opposite and we have a distorted view of what a healthy body should be. For instance, a woman who has had kids shouldn’t expect to look the same afterwards. Her bony structure is different and her skin has stretched out. However, many women look amazing after childbirth. We shouldn’t expect to reach our high school weight when in our 50s or 60s or older — we would look malnourished. So how do we know what is healthy?

The “world” considers a weight of greater than 20% of “ideal” to be overweight. But here is where it varies. From one organization to another, “ideal” can be different weights altogether. Assessing BMI (body mass index) is certainly a more accurate way to determine that because they are measuring fat vs. muscle mass. But even that can differ. Another method of measurement can be waist circumference. Then we look at art from centuries ago, and a little fat on the hips and waist was considered “healthy.”

Where you hold your weight can be diagnostic. If you tend to gain weight in your thighs, in the hips, in the “tire” around your belly, the little pouch of your lower abdomen, or in your breasts — all may mean something different. If you have edema causing weight gain, that is yet another issue.

One of the most important parts of creating a lifestyle to bring your weight to a healthy place is to do the investigative work necessary to find out WHY you are gaining weight, or why you can’t lose it. Many people do “everything right” that should cause the weight to fall right off them and it doesn’t budge, or they continue to gain weight. That’s why it’s so important to do some digging to figure it out from a deeper, causative layer.

For instance, you could have a problem with your endocrine system — the system that produces your hormones, not just sex hormones, but hormones related to sleep, inflammation, emotional health, digestion, energy, etc.

In Part II of "Healthy year-round," we will go into the details of more causes of weight control issues.

Meanwhile, sign up for our upcoming webinar, 5 Key Obstacles to Eliminating Excess Weight, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13. Webinar registration: https://bit.ly/Weight2021

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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with over four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective.” She looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.