I don’t read major newspapers because I don’t believe in supporting their mainly misinformed views, corporate and political pandering, and negative stories with my dollars. But yesterday I was visiting my family and flicked through one of the Sunday papers they had next to the lounge.

As I turned the pages, a health story grabbed my attention (as they always do). I wish I had cut out the article and bought it with me, because I can’t quite remember the headline, but it was about how women are increasing in weight around their mid-section because they are now drinking as much alcohol as men are.

Men have been known to suffer from the “beer belly syndrome” where chronic drinkers increase in weight around their waist, but can lose it from their legs, giving them a certain type of appearance. The article went on to explain how this body type (fat belly, skinny legs) is now occurring in more women as their alcohol consumption increases.

All sounds quite straightforward up to now doesn’t it?

And it would have been, except for the photo’s they chose to put with the story. Two young girls, Brittany Spears and Charlotte Church, both in bikini’s and being described by the newspaper as “overweight” and representative of the problem featured in the article.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. These girls both looked absolutely gorgeous. Feminine, womanly, totally in proportion, not anorexcially thin, but by no stretch of the imagination could you even call them plump. They looked fantastic and I was left wondering about what motivated the matching of these photo’s to that particular article.

To me there didn’t seem to be any connection whatsoever.

Ok, maybe the girls drink a bit, but the story wasn’t about drinking per se, it was about drinking related to a certain body shape and the health risks associated with that. But the girls didn’t have the body shape they were talking about in the article at all.

Quite obviously the photo’s were chosen because the girls are famous and it provided the content with a celebrity link that probably grabbed more readers attention than it would have otherwise.

But what message is this sending out?

That we all must be skinny to the point of emaciation to gain approval in the eyes of the mass media? That a woman’s naturally fit, healthy, curvy body is not to be appreciated, but denigrated in print?

No wonder I don’t read newspapers! They take the worst of human nature and glorify it for mass marketing consumption and that does not help the state of our minds or the world we live in.

What we fill our minds with is just as important as what we fill our bodies with, and this derogatory slant on what could of been an informative article, just highlights what a warped sense of “news” abounds in the world.

I think next time, I’ll just line the bin with newspaper BEFORE I flick through it!

Many people do overeat and eat the wrong types of food – but in clinic I have found that in most cases it is the body sending a message and crying out for help. 

Weight gain due to overeating might mean that the person could be nutrient deficient or fatty acid deficient, low in energy and searching for a boost, there may be emotional eating habits that need exploring…

In weight gain that doesn’t seem to be due to overeating, there may be heavy metal or toxicity of some kind inhibiting the metabolism, there could be an allergy addiction, a thyroid disorder, a hormonal imbalance, blood sugar issues – the list goes on.

A good naturopath will not just give a standard program of “eat less and exercise more” without looking into the underlying factors that have caused the weight gain.  For many people that have a true metabolic problem, they are already eating very little, and dropping their food intake even more could be very detrimental to their health.

Most of the time less food is not the answer, but changing the type of food is.  Cutting out processed “dead” food and changing to whole, living foods diet will mean that people can eat as much as they like and not feel deprived while correcting their health issues.

Frequently people who have been overweight due to a metabolic problem need to re-learn how to eat healthful quantities of food.  People are often surprised when they learn how much food I actually eat – it is all in the type of food, not the quantity. 

When you are eating good quantities of fruits and vegetables, especially if they are organic, you will also benefit from the increased amounts of nutrients that you are taking in.  So often I hear from someone trying to lose weight “I was so good yesterday, all I had was one slice of toast with low fat jam and a cup of tea”

Where are the life-enhancing nutrients in that?

Compare that to having a huge green smoothie for breakfast with three banana’s, half a bunch of silverbeet and frozen raspberries.  A bunch of grapes and an apple for morning tea, a large salad with a basil pesto dressing for lunch, flax crackers with sunflower seed cheese for afternoon tea, and a piece of living pizza with a salad or a huge fruit salad for dinner!!

That is large amount of food and no-one would feel deprived or hungry with it, yet this type of eating, (as long as you are not overloading of fats), can bring with it natural weight loss and increased energy and vitality.  And eating this way will also support whatever other health measures need to be taken to correct metabolic problems.

If you have a weight issue, don’t just beat yourself up for a lack of willpower.  Chances are, that’s not it.  There are other factors at play, and identifying and correcting those will allow the body to heal and function properly.  Moving to more of a living and whole foods diet will improve and support the process.

In the end, good health is more than just being an ideal weight - it is about feeling alive, having a positive outlook, and living a lifestyle that allows you to be the best that you can be.

Whenever we discuss health and fitness, the subject of weight loss or achieving our ideal weight is always going to be a part of the conversation.

Weight is such a huge issue (no pun intended) that we have industries making billions of dollars out of people’s desperation to attain a thin physique.  Often the health aspect is disregarded, as the latest “quick fix” pill, powder or potion is touted as a cure all for the “disease” of being overweight.

If we do explore the health aspect though, we can start to see things from a different perspective.  More often than not, there is a causative factor that is contributing to the weight gain, and it’s not purely a lack of willpower. 

I don’t believe we need to be fanatical about being stick thin either, but we do need to find that balance of energy and vitality that comes with having a fit, healthy body.  I’ve experienced both sides of the weight issue, and I can tell you that I prefer fit and healthy!

My weight problem started when I broke my leg (femur) at Tae Kwon Do training and was unable to exercise for six months.  Little did I know at the time, but the trauma and the following operation to pin the bone, shut down my adrenals and thyroid – I just thought I was having a hard time recovering, but it was much more than that.

Over that six months period I started to gain weight – and I went from my normally fit and toned 48kg (I am only 5ft tall if this seems light to you!) – up to about 62kg at my heaviest.  That might not sound like a lot, but it was a gain of 30% of my body weight and I felt terrible.  With that also came the fatigue, depression, thinning hair, brain fog, and feeling the cold that is part of a thyroid disorder.

With all my knowledge on health, once my leg was OK, I started exercising again (when I had the energy) and I made sure that my diet was perfect – but I could only lose about half of the weight.  The other half stubbornly stayed put.

It’s a long story but until my thyroid and adrenals were properly supported nothing made much of a difference to that extra bit of weight.  I know, it’s not like I was obese and had 50 more kilos to lose – but I’m just illustrating that even the best diet and exercise will not do the trick if there is a metabolic or hormonal disorder underneath.

Once I had the correct treatment, that last 7kg dropped off in a few weeks and I was able to feel human again -the thyroid symptoms all reversed and I could sustain my previous levels of exercise, which I had found exhausting up until then.

Stay tuned because tomorrow I will discuss some of the problems that can cause weight gain, and what simple things you can do about it.

It’s now been a few months since launching my Saliva Hormone Testing service and the feedback from my very satisfied customers has been amazing.

I’ve been able to identify some very important areas of concern showing up on the test results, and I have put together effective strategies from both the naturopathic and the medical world to guide these people towards the path to healing - a path that had eluded some people for over 20 years.

The 25 page report that I do which analyses and explains the results in detail, has been said to be “an excellent report”, “extremely well done, informative and professional”, “easy to understand”, and more than one person has voiced this comment ”I’m very glad the test was done as things seem to make more sense now”.

If you are suffering from any type of hormonal disorder such as menopausal symptoms like hot flushes, mood swings and weight gain - or stress related ailments like fatigue, anxiety or depression - or maybe you are just interested in anti-aging and preventative medicine; then Saliva Hormone Testing is an easy and non-invasive way to find some answers.

Just go to www.salivahormonereport.com and order your kit online.  Full instructions are provided and you collect the saliva samples in the convenience and privacy of your own home.  Once the results are back, then I get to work for you making sense of the patterns and explaining it in detail in my comprehensive report.

You won’t find this type of service anywhere else, so don’t delay if vibrant health is what you are looking for!

I just wanted to give everyone a head’s up about the not-to-be-missed March issue of my newsletter!

Yesterday I spent over an hour talking with Dr. John Lowe, one of the world’s foremost experts on Fibromyalgia.  He was incredibly generous to spend so much time speaking with me about this debilitating condition; it’s underlying causes and the successful treatment options that are available.  We had the whole telephone interview recorded, and the lucky subscribers to my newsletter will be receiving a free audio copy of this discussion in the next week.

This is one of the most informative and valuable interviews that you will ever hear on this subject – and if you, or someone you know suffers from any type of fatigue disorder, thyroid problem, or classic Fibromyalgia with it’s symptoms of incapacitating pain, sleep disturbances, weight gain and chronic fatigue to name but a few – then this is a gold mine of information that you won’t want to miss.

This interview will only be available to my E-Health News subscribers, so if you haven’t already, please make sure that you subscribe by entering your details in the top right hand corner of this page.  In the next week you will be sent the March issue of my free monthly newsletter, which will contain a downloadable audio file of this interview that you can listen to at any time.

I am very excited to be able to bring this caliber of information to you, and I just know that you are going to be amazed at the answers that Dr. Lowe has uncovered, and the apparent conspiracy that surrounds the suppression of this knowledge, which keeps thousands of people from receiving the treatment they need.

It’s a very powerful interview that I know you will enjoy, so watch out for it in your inbox soon!