As we celebrate the holidays and wind down 2011, it is common practice to start thinking of things large and small that we would like to change in the new year.
Many of these changes are health changes. Perhaps the most common wish or resolution for the new year is to lose weight or “get healthier”. In my opinion, this is very worthwhile. I have been a doctor long enough to know that it is unlikely to happen without a plan. I’m talking about a plan that breaks a good plan down into small, strategic, doable action items.
I am a master at helping people lose weight. One reason is that I recognize that being overweight is way more than eating too much and exercising too little. Those are often important factors, but usually there is more to it than that.
Did you know that food sensitivities can cause you to hold on to fat? One of my favorite patients lost 60 pounds within 4 months after stopping eating gluten once I diagnosed her with a sensitivity to gluten!
Thyroid issues are a frequent contributor to weight issues. Before I did my extra training in functional medicine and looking for and treating the root causes of my patients’ health problems, I was taught to just look at TSH. Now I spend much of my day reviewing with patients their complete thyroid lab results. Did you know that Free T3 accounts for about 85% of thyroid activity? How about that Reverse T3 has no activity and increases if a patient is stressed or is taking a synthetic T4 like synthroid or levothyroid?
Just not getting enough sleep can even make you fat. If you get less than 7 hours of good quality sleep, then you actually mess up your hormones than tell you when you are hungry and when you are full, and affect fat storage.
Being stressed causes you to pump out constant cortisol, which is a fat storage hormone. It is one of the common causes of belly fat.
Eating a high glycemic diet, and having unstable erratic blood sugars cause you to spike your blood sugar over and over during the day, which causes you to spike your insulin over and over again. Insulin is another fat storage hormone.
Having a toxin load of heavy metals or other toxins can cause you to hold onto many extra pounds of fat and water, too.
There are other causes, too!
So, what to do about it? I recommend a personalized approach, with labs and a detailed history to identify any easily fixable causes or contributors to the excess fat. I have many approaches to actually helping my patients to lose their excess quickly and painlessly. Most of all, it is always my plan to help a patient to get healthy and to have the weight loss be a side effect of that. There is no joy in helping patients to lose the same 30 pounds over and over.
I am thankful for the opportunity to practice my craft of optimal health functional medicine and to serve my patients. I am a lucky doctor!
I am accepting new patients, so if you or a loved one could use a new doctor, call or email to make your appointment now at 512-537-8859 or drliesa@drliesa.com. Come see me in my new office at 1524 South IH-35, Suite 140, Austin, TX 78704 between Riverside and Woodland.
To your health!
Liesa Harte, M.D.
