It’s not really all that surprising so many people struggle with their weight. Besides falling into a more sedentary lifestyle as we age – there’s a lot of good (tasting) crap out there to eat. If my son could just eat sour cream & onion Pringles, he would.
So who’s to blame? If you’re not exercising enough, that’s probably on you. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, adults should have at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity.
What goes into your mouth is a totally different story. The advent of fast foods and processed foods is responsible for a major shift in eating habits: from eating for nutrition to eating for taste. Worse, studies show that two of the main ingredients of processed foods – sugar and common table salt – negatively impact cognitive function.
Interestingly, World IQ’s, especially in the U.S., have been declining since around 1950 – about the same time food manufacturers began replacing real food with fake food to lower operating costs for mass production.
Taste buds are both our friends and our enemies. Overeating is not just about quantity. Sugary, good-tasting processed food is addictive and produces excessive weight – which negatively impacts our health.
Obesity is an obvious health issue. But even being a few pounds overweight can increase your risks for developing everything from high blood pressure to coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Medicinal Plants Can Help
Adequate exercise and eating smarter go a long way to maintaining a healthy weight. Some medicinal plants can also help process food better creating a leaner you.
Medicinal plants can reduce weight through five basic mechanisms:
- Controlling appetite
- Stimulating thermogenesis and lipid metabolism
- Inhibiting pancreatic lipase activity
- Preventing adipogenesis
- Promoting lipolysis
Consider these medicinal plants for weight loss:
Turmeric – This is a flowering plant, which contains bioactive compounds. One of its most important compounds is curcumin, a chemical that has been studied extensively for its effects on everything from inflammation to weight loss.
Commonly used as a spice (main component of curry powder), turmeric has been shown to help with weight loss and fat loss in both human and animal research. One well-known study in particular of 44 overweight individuals, demonstrated that it’s possible to decrease belly fat and increase weight loss up to 5% by taking curcumin twice daily for one month.
Turmeric is commonly available as a powder or tea.
Ginseng – This is a slow-growing fleshy root perennial that has been used in Chinese medicine for a very long time. Research backs ginseng’s ability to treat stress, diabetes, lower cholesterol and regulate blood sugar levels. What does this have to do with weight loss? Stress, unregulated blood sugar, and high cholesterol are all contributors to bad health and weight gain.
There’s also significant studies showing that ginseng can jump-start your metabolism, which helps maintain high energy levels throughout your day.
It is believed that ginsenosides, the active compound in ginseng, works to stimulate fat-loss at the molecular level which in turn leads to more level insulin levels and reduced food intake leading to overall weight loss.
Raw ginseng can be added to various recipes like soups and stir fry. Ginseng extract can be found in powder, tablet, capsule and oil forms. Ginseng tea may aid weight loss, as it is known to be a natural appetite suppressant.
You can make your own ginseng weight loss tea with this recipe.
Garcinia Cambogia – The focus of a weight-loss craze a couple of years ago, garcinia cambogia (also known as garcinia gummi-gutta) was widely touted as a miracle weight loss remedy. Science has proven that’s not the case, but there is substantial research verifying that garcinia cambogia can help some people lose a little weight – perhaps as much as 2 pounds over a two to 12 week period.
Garcinia cambogia is a tropical fruit native to Indonesia. This tree produces small pumpkin-looking fruit that can be red, green or yellow. The active ingredient in the fruit’s rind, hydroxycitric acid ( HCA), appears to block an enzyme called citrate lyase, which your body uses to make fat. It also raises levels of the brain chemical serotonin, which may make you feel less hungry.
Garcinia cambogia is available in capsules, tablets, powders and liquids. It’s generally recommended that capsules should be taken on an empty stomach, 30 minutes to an hour before a meal. ConsumerLab.com recommends a daily HCA dose of 900 to 1,500 mg. Capsules should be purchased from a reputable brand that contains at least 50% HCA.
Now the bad news: Be very cautious with garcinia cambogia. It comes with a LOT of red flags. In fact, in 2009 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a consumer warning cautioning consumers to immediately stop using Hydroxycut (a popular dietary supplement weight loss aid that contained HCA) after reports of jaundice and extreme liver damage in people who used Hydroxycut surfaced. Hydroxycut was removed from the market, reformulated and reappeared in 2010.
However, in all fairness, it should be pointed out that Hydroxycut contains several ingredients, and the FDA never pinpointed HCA as being the cause of the liver damage.
That said, side effects of garcinia cambogia may include headache, nausea, dizziness and dry mouth. There are also warnings for diabetics, people with dementia, people taking pain medications or if you’re pregnant or nursing.
In short, this is one of those medicinal plant products you most definitely want to discuss with a health professional before taking.
Note: As with all medicinal plants, it’s best to first discuss their possible use with your health professional. Allergies and other conditions (especially if pregnant or breastfeeding) could result in side effects.
