Natural Weight Loss - A Diabetic Perspective

For natural weight loss, you don't need special diets. You need the tortoise mindset and, very possibly, a new wardrobe.

Okay, raise your hand if you think a natural weight loss method is better for a diabetic than an "un-natural" one. Good, almost everyone raised their hand.

Now, I cannot find where anyone has properly defined the term natural weight loss, so I have to give you my definition. Simply put, it is the opposite of natural weight gain.

This consideration excludes the loss of weight gained during pregnancy or removal of heavy clothing or jewelry (if that's possible). Even though shedding the weight gained by those means could be considered "natural," we will confine this argument to the process of reversing obesity without surgery, pills, or potions.

By natural weight loss I also mean much more than the temporary results implied and delivered by many Internet weight loss programs. People with real life issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease, do not need temporary weight loss. We need long term results.

If you just want to lose some weight so you can appear on the Oprah Show, or American Idol, then health may be secondary. A natural weight loss approach may not get you there in two weeks, so the claims of the quick weight loss diets on the Internet might look more appealing.

If you need to change your lifestyle, you're talking about a change in life habits. For long term or permanent benefits, your diet should pattern the way we were created to eat. You should follow the natural laws of health.

Remember the tortoise

The weight loss ads often conjure speed. "Quick weight loss" is an attention getter on any form of advertising. It glosses over the risks associated with removal of tissue that has been deposited over many months and years.

But for effective and permanent results, there almost always has to be a change in behavior as well. This means running like the tortoise and not like the hare.

Don't take the circular route

Many popular weight loss products and programs work on a cycle. It's like going around in circles. The result they produce is cyclical.

Unlike natural weight loss methods, they make you lose weight by stimulating hyperactivity. You then expend more energy than you would normally. So you burn more calories and you do lose weight.

The problem with this is that it's not normal to be stimulated like this all the rest of your life. After you lose some weight you are still left with your eating habits and the process of weight gain repeats itself. It's like doing circles, and the older you get the more difficult it is to break the cycle.

Then again, if you need to lose weight just for improving body image, or to get on a TV show, then the intermittent weight loss may not matter. Realize though, that being overweight is a health risk at any age.

If you already have some lifestyle health issue, such as diabetes or hypertension you shouldn't even give those temporary weight loss fixes a thought. Use a natural weight loss approach.

What is needed

How is natural weight loss effective? What is really needed for most people to maintain their normal weight? Some people believe we need books, tapes, diets, regimens, pills, and even surgery. This question is addressed in the full article on my website.

Copyright © 2006 by Bentley Thompson

Bentley writes about lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular diseases. He advocates the anti-diabetes diet which he describes on his website. You may visit his website and blog using the following URLs: http://www.anti-diabetes-diet-supplements.com/ and http://choosehealthtoday.blogspot.com