Healthy weight
Inflammatory imbalance and your weight — a Core Balance approach
by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP
I’ve written in the past about low-grade systemic inflammation and its far-reaching
effects throughout the body. Intermittent inflammation is necessary for our survival,
but too often our eating patterns and high-stress culture lead to a low-grade chronic
inflammatory state. And this slow-burning fire can specifically lead to weight gain
and many other issues in the body. There are several ways in which inflammation
and weight gain are linked, but the main connection is through insulin resistance.
We’ve had clues about this link for over a hundred years, but only recently
have scientists come to understand the molecular pathways for this.
In short, the highly pro-inflammatory diet most of us eat every day is leading to
an epidemic of insulin resistance. And when our cells become insulin resistant,
we are more likely to deposit fat in the abdomen. At this point, sadly, we are also
well on our way to type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
The way our cells reach this state is through long-term exposure to sharp spikes
in insulin. Insulin levels increase as a natural response to carbohydrates in our
food — insulin helps our cells become more receptive to carbohydrates so they
can use them for energy. But a diet that is high in refined carbs like sugar, white
flour, high-fructose corn syrup — which the food industry puts in nearly everything
these days! — means higher insulin spikes. And that means more chance for
cells to become insulin resistant.
So the bottom line is that chronic inflammation can lead to a heightened immune
response, increased oxidative stress, increased likelihood of insulin resistance,
and increased deposition of fat tissue. But it just doesn’t have to be this
way — the great news is that we can calm the inflammation, prevent this cascade
of events, and improve health long-term simply by changing our diets.
The Core Balance Diet helps to stem systemic inflammation and heal this core imbalance
in three main ways:
- It provides a pH-balanced diet
to correct the body’s net acid load.
- It offers ideas for meals and snacks with a
low glycemic load, to prevent your cells from becoming insulin resistant.
- It restores an optimal ratio of
omega-6’s to omega-3’s, to down-regulate the body’s inflammatory
cascade.
All of these aspects of my plan can help to cool the inflammatory fire, make it
much more likely for you to drop weight around the belly area, and bring you much
better health overall.
For more on calming inflammation through your diet and losing weight, read my book,
The Core Balance Diet.
Our Personal Program for Core Balance is a great place to start
The Personal Program for Core Balance helps rebalance your body to promote natural and lasting weight loss. At the heart of our Program is The Core Balance Diet, an eating plan designed to provide the body with the foundation it needs to lose pounds along with the digestive and nutritional support needed to maintain a healthy weight.
- To learn more about the Program, go to How the Program works.
- To learn if the weight loss approach in the Personal Program for Core Balance will work for you, take our on-line Weight Loss Profile.
- To start taking control of your weight today, sign-up for a risk-free trial.
- If you have questions, don’t hesitate to call us toll-free at 1-800-798-7902. We’re here to listen and to help.
Related to this article:
References
& further core reading on inflammatory imbalance
Original Publication Date: 04/16/2009
Last Modified:
08/17/2009
Principal Author: Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP