“Spurred on by
her post-baby bulge, naturopath Narelle Stegehuis created
a winning weight loss
strategy.”
Featured in Australian New Idea in Feb. 2005, this article highlights not only
why the Mass Attack program works, it's proven with just two of the program's
many success stories.
Mandy and Joanne (shown here with Narelle, centre) were
more than happy to show their post-program smiles for the
camera.
“It’s Salsa Dancing
for me!” Marina of Hawthorn lost
22 kgs in 23 weeks
Baby Bulge Won'tBudge...
It can be distressing to struggle with
weight. I know how much it impacted on my life after
I gave birth to my daughter Anna.
I had always been
a healthy body weight - someone who exercised regularly
and had an impeccable diet.
Now I was tired and frustrated,
experiencing cravings, and I just couldn’t
budge my excess weight. I had developed a sub-clinical
thyroid condition.
Childbirth naturally triggers
a hormonal shock. Sadly, many women are unaware
that they have a treatable condition or are
‘brushed off’ with the
advice that their blood tests are ‘normal’ and
that there’s nothing that can be done regarding
their annoying symptoms. Rubbish! - There are indeed
effective natural ways to address your health concerns.
Don’t accept feeling ordinary (it’s indeed
not normal); get back the fresh energy you need to
tackle life’s challenges - as they say ‘we
only live once’.
MassAttack indeed takes a natural
approach to holistically addressing your bodies’ needs.
Your program will prescribe specific foods, nutrients,
exercise and lifestyle changes that will benefit
your hormonal profile, and thus can deliver you accelerated
weight loss and overall better health. And yes it’s
safe if you are breast-feeding.
The Role of Nutrients
Vitamins have many functions and influence the health
of nearly every organ in your body. They are involved in
growth, reproduction, enhancing digestion, mental alertness,
resistance to infections and most importantly your metabolism.
Ideally you would get adequate amounts of nutrients from
a balanced diet, however, sometimes due to the foods you
do (or don’t)
eat, medications, stress, poor digestion, too much tea,
coffee, alcohol you may not get all the nutrients you need
and this is where supplements can help.
Using techniques such as food and exercise can have a
big impact upon your wellbeing and the shedding of those
unwanted kilos. It is important to stop viewing food as
a tool to simply stop those hunger pains, satisfy your
taste buds. Start viewing food as a tool to improve your
health!
Your hormones have a role to play in your sense of energy,
vitality and wellbeing. Your past dietary and lifestyle
habits have contributed to your hormonal imbalances; challenging
the rate your body burns fuel. It will be metabolising
fats slowly, which is why you have been getting heavier
and lack energy.
With the right dietary changes and specific supportive
nutrients, your body will be on its way to better health
and most importantly healthy weight maintenance!
Your New Baby
Life with a new baby is hectic, but it is easy to become
more sedentary in the postpartum months. You are burning
fewer calories through lack of physical activity and other
factors like sleep deprivation conspire to make you eat
more. Research suggests that fatigue is easily confused
with hunger. You’re
at home, where food is more readily available and your
usual eating patterns can be disrupted. On top of everything
else, you may experience the “baby
blues” which
can lead to a kind of comfort eating.
Long Hours/ Interrupted Nights
Trying to lose weight and working long hours/shift work
can be challenging. If you have to work at night, plan
to have your meal later in the evening and/or incorporate
your evening snacks into your daily eating plan. Working
long hours & shift
work can also alter cortisol levels, which will affect
your glucose metabolism.
Your Thyroid after pregnancy
During pregnancy your immune system is naturally suppressed
to prevent your body from rejecting the fetus. After pregnancy
your immune system ‘turns on’ again. But this
has a rebound effect in that it is so alert; it is almost
too powerful and can develop antibodies that attack normal
tissue. This is what is known as an auto immune response
and may be one reason why women are more prone to auto
immune disorders after pregnancy. Thyroid imbalance can
be caused by this.
Stress and glucose intolerance
The primary effects of stress in raising your risk of
insulin resistance relates to chronically elevated glucose
and insulin levels in your blood. Over time, elevated glucose
and insulin cause your bodies cells (primarily the ones
in fat and muscle tissues), to become less sensitive to
the effects of insulin, a condition known as insulin resistance.
In response to the development of insulin resistance in
these cells, your body begins to produce even more insulin – starting
the vicious cycle that contributes to your weight gain
and associated conditions.
Stress & Immune System
During periods of increased stress, there is often also
an increase in the incidence of certain chronic conditions
such as asthma, allergies and rheumatoid arthritis, as
well as of gastro-intestinal ailments such as irritable
bowel. Chronic or repeated bouts of stress will lead to
a shrinking of the thymus gland, and to a general suppression
of immune-system strength.
Stress & digestive Flora
Heightened stress levels contribute to adverse effects
on the balance of intestinal micro-flora, which respond
to changes in both diet and stress levels. These beneficial
bacteria live in your intestinal tract and while they are
intimately involved with optimal gastrointestinal function,
they play a vital role in helping support your healthy
immune function.
MassAttack indeed takes a holistic and compressive approach
to addressing your bodies hormonal and other needs.
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