Carolyn Hansen: Running low on energy?

There is an opinion.

We think we are well-fed because we live in a time when food is easy to find. Many of the easily available and readily available foods are fast foods and convenience foods. These convenience foods can sit on a shelf for weeks or months, making them the go to snack for breaks for people who have not prepared.

We feed our bodies dead, toxic foods and then stress them even more by putting them on a reduced calories diet. The only thing this does is starve our cells more.

It’s true that forcing our body into a low-energy environment gives the body bad signals. Our bodies slow down because it yells “survival mode” loudly and clear. Extra physical activity is hard to do.

The body doesn’t want to do it. Our metabolism is no longer a fat burner. We start to run down the street.

We don’t challenge ourselves but perform easy, low intensity exercises that don’t help with fat burning if we don’t muster enough motivation to exercise. The body can’t tell the difference between starving and eating.

The low-energy state is not a good one to be in. You become a reluctant member of the weight loss/weight gain club when you open the door to yo-yo dieting.

You have entered that extremely frustrating weight gain merry-go-round where you will stay until you change your eating and exercise habits.

Regardless of how many calories you consume, your body’s fat-storing hormones give signals to turn on the fat-burning switch.

Experiments show that when body cells are not being fed, certain genes are activated. The human body can be turned into a fat-storing machine.

It’s the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish with your diet.

Your body becomes a monster when you don’t eat.

You can’t starve away excess fat because the body’s barriers come up and it’s hard to lose weight.

You will need to take your body from a low-energy state to a high-energy state, one of vitality, in which you are eating healthy foods, getting proper exercise and building strength.

To give the body everything it needs to create a high level of health, you need to be careful with your eating and diet. The weight will stay off until it comes off.

Carolyn is a co-owner of the gym.