23 Jul

Losing Four Kg Extra Weight Improves Health Immeasurably!

Losing Ten Percent Of Your Extra Weight Could Be Life Saving!

Millions of people all over the world are obese today and many of them are suffering from chronic diseases like arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases and strokes, PCOD, miscarriages and infertility.

And most of them are confused and frustrated with their failure to lose weight on all kinds of wrong treatments. Most of them are also overwhelmed with the daunting task of losing 30 – 40 kg or more weight. So they continue to suffer from the ill effects of their obesity, not knowing how they can lose all that much overweight.

What they do not know is that losing even 10 per cent of their extra weight can improve most of their health problems dramatically!

Every 4 kg extra weight puts nearly 20 kg of extra load on your lower body joints and wears them down that much faster, causing arthritis.

Losing those 4 kg can ease that much load on those joints and slows down the progression of arthritis. Keeping them off may even prevent it long term.

It will also help lower your blood pressure levels significantly.

The combined effects of exercise and weight loss has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 12.5 mm and diastolic blood pressure by 8 mm in overweight or obese people.

It will also lower the blood sugar and help prevent or control diabetes better and also help lower the doses of the diabetic medications in those who already have it. It also helps prevent other health problems related to diabetes, like heart disease, strokes, kidney and eye damage.

Excess total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol are harmful to our health. Excess LDL cholesterol gets deposited in your arteries causing atherosclerosis and choking of the coronary arteries leading to heart attacks or myocardial infarctions.

HDL cholesterol clears and cleanses up the LDL cholesterol deposits from the arteries and prevents atherosclerosis and the choking of the coronary arteries and keeps the heart healthy.

It is this vital HDL cholesterol that is low in people who develop coronary artery disease.

Cholesterol lowering medications not only lower the levels of the total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol but often they may also lower the levels of HDL cholesterol.

The more assured way to increase the HDL cholesterol levels is to brisk walk regularly and lose weight. Even losing those extra 4 kg by eating healthy and brisk walking regularly will raise the HDL levels.

High levels of triglycerides also are associated with heart disease. Eating well, brisk walking and losing those few kg will also help lower your triglycerides levels.

Losing those 4 kg will also lower the levels of certain hormones like insulin, oestrogen and androgens, high levels of which are associated with some cancers, especially breast cancer. Losing those few kg can reduce the incidence of breast cancer by as much as 12 per cent.

It can improve the insulin tolerance of the cells of the body tissues and this helps lower your blood sugar and insulin and it can help reverse pre diabetes or control diabetes better.

The same benefits are also seen in those who walk at least 30 minutes 5 times a week.

Exercising and losing those few kg will improve sleep, reduce depression and improve mood and self esteem.

Sleep apnoea is a common health problem of the obese and a heart disease precursor. Losing those few kg will help improve the condition significantly.

Fat cells, especially those around the belly, can release chemicals those cause inflammation in tissues all over the body. This is linked to health problems like arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, heart attack and strokes. Only a few kg weight loss will help lower the amount of these substances and lower your chances of developing these serious illness.

Including ample vegetables, fruits, low fat milk and whole grains and pulses in your daily food, eating fish a couple of times a week, keeping your meat consumption low and brisk walking regularly are the keys to keeping your weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and total cholesterol levels normal, your LDL cholesterol low and HDL cholesterol levels high and keeping you heart healthy and preventing hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, strokes and many cancers!

It will help many ladies overcome obesity related PCOD and infertility and prevent miscarriages.

In short, they are the key to overall health!

So stop worrying about losing all of 20, 30 or 40 or more kg, start eating healthy and begin brisk walking regularly and lose the first 4 kg and see how much better you feel and how much fitter and healthier you become!

Also read the articles ‘Diseases Associated With Obesity‘, ‘Simple Steps To Slimming’ and ‘Distance Program’ on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized 1 Comment Read more...

22 Jun

The Good And The Bad Fats!

Knowledge About The Good And The Bad Fats Is Life Saving!

Fats are an essential component of our nutrition.

Fats can be broadly classified as monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, saturated fats and trans fats.

Monounsaturated fats: Monounsaturated fats help lower cholesterol and help protect your heart.

The main sources of monounsaturated fats are groundnut oil, rice bran oil, sesame oil, olive oil, all nuts, including groundnuts and sesame.

Polyunsaturated fats: Polyunsaturated fats help improve your cholesterol, insulin, and blood sugar levels, helping you get more heart-healthy.

They include the two omega fatty acids, viz. omega 3 and omega 6.

Omega 3 fatty acids: The principal sources of the invaluable omega 3 fatty acids are walnuts, flaxseed, fatty fish (ravas, mackerel or bangda, surmai, pomfret, cold-water salmon, tuna, trout, sardines, and herring) and algae.

Of these, walnuts and flaxseeds provide us with plant source omega 3 (ALA), and the fish and algae provide us with the more effective sea source omega 3 (EPA and DHA).

The plant source omega 3 or ALA is less potent cardiac protector than the sea source omega 3 viz. DHA and EPA. Some of the ALA in our food gets converted to DHA and EPA, but at a slow speed.

The omega 3 fatty acids prevent the inflammatory process in the arteries that leads to atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and strokes and some cancers, memory loss, depression, and fatigue, reduce arthritis and joint pain, and inflammatory skin diseases.

Omega 6 fatty acids: Omega 6 fatty acids are abundantly available in safflower, sunflower seed, and soya oils and many other oils and foods. It is the more valuable omega 3 that is difficult to get as its sources are limited.

While omega 6 also helps lower cholesterol, it is less valuable than omega 3 in protecting you from heart disease and strokes and other inflammatory diseases.

Excess consumption of Omega 6 is easy in people subsisting on safflower seed oil (kardai), sunflower oil, or corn oil. Refined sunflower oil is widely used as the staple cooking oil in India. Excess consumption of omega 6 is dangerous and is best avoided. It can lead to raised blood pressure, blood clotting, heart attacks, and strokes and also leads to water retention.

Saturated fats: These fats are animal source fats viz. fats in dairy, flesh, and eggs and fats from certain vegetable oils which are solid at room temperature viz. coconut oil, palm and palm kernel oil.

Saturated fats for decades were considered bad fats. They were thought to raise cholesterol in our body and cause heart disease and strokes. Researchers advised us to shun these fats.

But the thinking is changing now.

Many researchers consider the saturated fats from animal products like flesh, milk and eggs from animals grazing on natural pastures to be healthier than those fed on artificial feeds rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids dominant agricultural products and injected with steroids to improve yield of flesh and milk.

The jury is divided on these fats.

While the American Heart Association and the American Diabetic Association still strongly recommend against the use of saturated fats, many researchers don’t rate them as bad fats anymore.

Many studies have found no direct relationship of saturated fats with increased risk of heart disease.

Many studies have also found that people eating whole-fat dairy products are leaner and have lower levels of body fats.

This is probably due to the better satiety conferred by whole-fat dairy products, preventing people from overeating.

But if you run the risk of catching heart disease, it would be prudent to keep their consumption low, at least till more conclusive research tells us otherwise.

Trans fats: These fats are formed when vegetable oils are heated and combined with hydrogen. They are also called ‘vanaspati ghee’.

Hydrogenation makes the vegetable oils more stable and gives the foods made with them longer shelf life. They are also much cheaper than pure ghee.

Trans fats are also formed when foods are deep-fried. All fast food (Wada, samosa, burgers, pizzas), packaged foods (microwave popcorn, chips, crackers, candy), all commercially baked foods (bread, biscuits, Khari, rusks, cakes, pastries), all premix products like cake mix, all solid fats, all foods containing hydrogenated vegetable oils are trans fats.

The is the jury on these fats is unanimous: Guilty!

They are universally accepted as bad fats, lowering the good ‘HDL’ cholesterol and increasing the bad ‘LDL’ cholesterol leading to heart disease and strokes and many other illnesses.

Even amongst saturated fats, the dairy and animal fats coming from natural pasture bred cattle are rated superior to the fats coming from farming industry animals raised on a doctored feed like corn, hormones, and medication. So there better and worse saturated fats too.

Overall, fats coming from natural foods are much better than packaged, processed foods like meats, fast foods and take away foods which are loaded with bad saturated fats and trans fats.

Fats in chips and french fries and all the fast-food snacks are bad fats.

In general, all deep-fried foods, even if fried in polyunsaturated oils, and foods prepared in hydrogenated vegetable oils are bad fats and researchers are telling us to shun them absolutely.

The omega 3 rich sea fish gives you the best fats as long as it is cooked in curries or baked or grilled or shallow fried.

But the same fats turn bad when the fish is deep-fried, as trans fats are formed in them.

The consensus amongst researchers is that trans fats are bad fats and they should be completely stopped.

***

Choosing Healthy Cooking Oil:

Industry manufactured oils like soya oil, rice bran oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower seed oil (kardai), Canola oil, cottonseed oil are considered bad fats by many nutritionists.

The use of heat and chemicals in extracting and refining these oils alters their fatty acid structures and trans fats and other toxic substances are developed in them, turning them unhealthy.

Today many researchers are asking us to shun all industrially produced oils.

For some time now researchers have known that cold pressed oils high in monounsaturated fatty acids and low in saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids are healthy.

Recent studies have shown that cold pressed oils high in monounsaturated fatty acid to polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio help in keeping the lipid profile healthy and are also beneficial in regulating blood sugar levels.

Such oils help keep the HDL cholesterol levels high and LDL cholesterol low. HDL cholesterol cleanses the coronary arteries and prevents coronary artery disease while excess LDL cholesterol causes plaque formation in the coronary arteries and leads to heart disease.

Groundnut and olive oils fit the bill. Both are cold pressed monounsaturated fatty acid dominant oils.

A recent year long study by researchers at The Department Of Biochemistry, Shree Venkateswara College, University Of Delhi, found that both oils had matched each other in maintaining healthy lipid profile, blood glucose, liver function, antioxidant status (as studied by assessing the lipid peroxides and antioxidant enzymes) and inflammatory properties (as studied by assessing the nitric oxide levels) in people consuming the two oils for a full year.

Olive oil has a comparatively lower smoking point than groundnut oil and hence is more suitable as a dressing oil and low temperature cooking oil.

It is heart healthy when used as a dressing oil or at best for low temperature cooking.

But it loses its sheen as the heart healthy oil in the high temperature Indian style cooking.

Gomez et. al., 2003 have shown that the phenolic compounds in extra virgin olive oil gets damaged very quickly by heat along with a loss of Vitamin E.

Groundnut oil reportedly has greater oxidative stability and higher smoking point as compared to olive oil and is better suited to Indian style cooking which involves cooking at high temperatures and deep frying.

Studies have also shown that resveratrol, a phenolic antioxidant present in groundnuts reduces the risk of vascular disease caused by angiotensin a hormone that causes the arteries to contract and leads to raised blood pressure which damages the endothelial lining of the arteries leading to heart disease and strokes, amongst damage to other organs. Resveratrol also protects the arteries by increasing the vasodilator hormone, nitric oxide, which also has anti inflammatory properties.

Groundnuts also are high in the powerful antioxidant, Vitamin E, which protects the cells of the mucosa and skin from the damage caused by oxygen free radicals.

In short, groundnut oil appears the more suitable choice as the cooking medium for Indian style cooking and olive oil could be the healthy option for Western style cooking, using it as only a dressing oil or for cooking food at low temperatures.

***

How much fish is enough to get adequate omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA?

Adults should eat about 170 gm sea fish twice a week and children between the ages of 2 to 8 years between 40 to 85 gm and children over 9 years between 115 to 140 gm twice a week to get enough of the two omega 3 fatty acids.

Read the article ‘Basics Of Nutrition‘ on our website for more information about fats.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized 0 Comments Read more...

25 Apr

Preventing Depression And Boosting Immunity During Corona!

Exercising To Alleviate Depression And Boost Immunity!

Today the world is going through it’s worse crisis since the World Wars. The COVID 19 crisis has brought the world on the brink of disaster. Millions have lost their jobs and millions more will lose them in days to come! Tens of thousands are going to die of Corona and many more due to starvation as economies are collapsing worldwide!

Naturally, a huge number of people are going to suffer from depression in months and years to come.

Depression causes the body to unleash stress hormones, notably cortisol.

High levels of stress hormones lead to hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and strokes. So more people will succumb to these illnesses in the coming days.

Depression lowers our immunity to fight infections and those with low immunity stand little chance of surviving a Corona infection.

Research has proved that exercise is the best and the most potent stress buster. Exercises like brisk walking, jogging, running, swimming, cycling, boost the levels of endorphins, the feel-good neurotransmitters.

Endorphins:

Lower the levels of stress hormones,
Boost energy levels,
Eliminate fatigue,
Act like analgesics and alleviate pain,
Act as sedatives and improve sleep,
Elevate mood,
Alleviate depression.

Exercises:

Boost the levels of endorphins, the feel-good neurotransmitters
Reduce stress
Lift gloom and depression,
Improve self-esteem,
Improve cardiovascular fitness,
Improve lung function,
Lower blood pressure, blood sugar, total cholesterol, and LDL Cholesterol and triglycerides,
Improve HDL Cholesterol,
Protect us from hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and strokes,
And boost immunity.

Thus the best way to get fit and boost our immunity is to exercise adequately.

Most people can take up walking, spot marching, spot jogging at home during this lockdown, to get slimmer, fitter, stronger, more cheerful, more positive and get rid of depression and boost their immunity to fight off the threat of Corona, Also exercise help in weight loss in good health.

You can also use a cardiovascular exercise machine like a treadmill, elliptical trainer, or exercise bike if you have one at home.

And you don’t have to begin big, even one 10 minute session of comfortable paced walk in the morning, one in the afternoon, one in the evening is fine. Increase the pace and time of the walking sessions as you get fitter.

You can even brisk walk for 10 minutes six or more times, or 20 or more minutes thrice if you need to lose weight too.

It is necessary to exercise at least thrice a week, four to five times a week is even better, for alleviating mild depression.

Try walking six times a week to lose weight too.

Working out at a brisk pace and keeping the pulse rate in the aerobic zone will improve cardiovascular fitness, meaning the heart and lungs will become fitter, both vital in fighting off a Corona infection, should anybody contact the infection.

Jal neti and Vitamin D

The eminent head of the top hospital in Western Pune, suggests regular jal neti and Vitamin D supplements to keep our immunity against the virus high. His hospital hasn’t hasn’t suffered a single infection amongst it’s staff.

Jal neti has been well proved to boost the immunity against upper respiratory infections and allergies and Vitamin D bolsters immunity.

Vitamin C supplements too may help bolster immunity during this pandemic.

So it may be life saving to start jal neti and take Vitamin D supplements once a week for the first month, once a fortnight in the second and once every three weeks from the third month onwards.

So, gear up to fight this pandemic and don’t get depressed due to this mandatory homestay, instead use this opportunity to become physically active and get slimmer, fitter, and healthier!

Also, read the articles the ‘Science Of Exercise’, the ‘Slimming Successfully In Spite Of Corona’, and the ‘Mortal Threat Of Corona For The Obese’ on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Diet, Uncategorized 2 Comments Read more...

13 Apr

Sagging Skin After Weight Loss!

Tightening Sagging Skin After Weight Loss!

When people lose weight on low calorie, nutritionally imbalanced diets, they always look haggard as the skin wrinkles like old people.

When people lose a lot of weight suddenly, over a short period of time, they develop varying degrees of sagging of skin. When they do so after bariatric surgery or a ‘very low-calorie diet’ (VLCD), nutritionally defined as less than 800 calorie diets, they tend to lose fat and girth quickly and the skin sags a lot, some times so much that the skin around the waist may have to be folded and tucked in, like the folds of a saree!

Such people lose water, glycogen and body proteins from the connective tissue under the skin and from the muscles and finally organs all too quickly. This sudden loss actually causes sagging.

After bariatric surgery, people can hardly eat a few morsels of food before they feel full, and can’t eat anymore. This is the surgical route to a forced starvation based diet.

On starvation based diets under various names, cereals (chapatis, bhakri, rice, bread) and pulses (dals, curries, usual, pithla) are almost completely stopped or severely curtailed. The result is, people, lose inches from their girth quickly and our skin can’t keep pace with this quicker loss of girth and begins to sag.

Our skin is not just an envelope around our bodies. It is not a rubber sheath around the body. It is a live tissue made up of living cells and is wonderfully elastic and has the capacity to tighten up and adjust to the new volume of the body. But this process takes some time, even two or three years if you lose a lot of weight suddenly, so the sagging lasts for some time.

Most people on very-low-calorie diets, suffer from all kinds of nutritional deficiencies and can’t sustain the diet. They promptly regain all the weight they had lost, often ending up fatter than before, as soon as they begin to eat more. So the skin sagging vanishes.

People lose a lot of weight after bariatric surgery. They too suffer from nutritional deficiencies but they are put on ample nutritional supplements. They, of course, can’t go back to eating as they did previously, as there isn’t enough space left in the stomach, so the weight loss continues for a longer period. These are the people who suffer from the worst skin sagging.

People who are obese and ill enough to require bariatric surgery and also wealthy enough to afford it, can also consider plastic surgery to correct the loose skin.

After half a dozen years or so, these people too start regaining weight as the stomach starts stretching and allows them to eat more.

People who lose weight on healthy, normal, everyday food and moderate exercise, even as simple as walking, the weight loss is steady and that allows the skin to keep pace with the loss of the girth and they don’t experience much sagging of skin. In fact the skin becomes healthy and begins to glow beautifully as they lose weight on balanced, healthy food and cardiovascular exercises.

Thus to prevent sagging of skin, you must lose weight on healthy nutrition and moderate exercises and drink a lot of water and remain adequately hydrated. Dehydration worsens sagging while proper hydration prevents it.

Also get ample sleep during and after slimming.

You can use moisturising, rehydrating skin care products of reputed brands to keep the skin in good health, but your inner health is of paramount importance.

Also ageing people must accept the natural wrinkling of their skin gracefully and focus on getting healthy nutrition, adequate walks, water, and sleep, to keep their skin at its best, for their age.

Also read the articles ‘Simple Steps To Slimming’ and ‘Health Benefits Of Weight Loss’ on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized 0 Comments Read more...

28 Mar

The Mortal Threat Of Corona For The Obese!

Corona Can Cause Severe Complications And Higher Mortality In The Obese!

In a recent study of the people admitted in ICU in UK hospitals, with severe complications of Corona infection, published in the Daily Mail, two-third are overweight or obese or morbidly obese. and although the average age of those with severe complications is about sixty-four, thirty-seven percent are under the age of sixty.

It means that the overweight and obese are, like they are to all other illnesses and infections, more vulnerable to the threat of the Corona infection and also that even the younger people too are not safe from the severe complications of Corona infection. More so if they are obese.

The immune systems of the obese people are constantly so busy fighting against the inflammatory processes that go on in the bodies of the obese, trying to contain them and repair the damage caused by them that there are no resources available for the bodies of the obese, to fight against the new infection of the Coronavirus.

Plus the excess fat in the chest and the abdomen prevents the diaphragm and lungs to expand and inhale oxygen. Starved of oxygen, organs will begin to fail.

The COVID-19 virus kills by spreading deep into the lungs and causing complications such as pneumonia.

The virus finds it easier to invade deep into the oxygen-starved lungs of the obese than the lungs of the slimmer, fitter, healthier people, whose immune systems are stronger.

Many obese people also suffer from critical illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, liver, PCOS/PCOD, and kidney diseases. These diseases make people all the more prone to succumb to Corona than to recover from the infection.

The diets of the obese are also more likely to be deficient in fiber, vitamin, and mineral-rich foods like fruits and vegetables, which bolster the immune systems of the body.

Exercise also bolsters immunity by increasing certain immune cells of the body. The obese also lack exercise. Hence they are always immunocompromised and succumb to infections faster.

The arteries of the obese are also more atherosclerotic and clogged and the immune cells are prevented from reaching various parts of the body to defeat infections, fast enough.

This probably explains why the obese are more prone to severe complications of generally all infections including Corona.

So, whether you are obese or not, stay home, stay safe, eat healthily and begin to at least walk regularly at home. Use the compulsory homestay to lose as much weight as you can and get fitter! And don’t stop even after the Corona threat is over, the newer weight and fitness will continue to protect you against all the new infections that will invade the world in the future! If you have any queries regarding how to lose weight at home then you contact our obesity clinic in Pune.

We have no choice but to stay home, stay safe and get a slim, fit and healthy as we can, while we have the time at our disposal now! Our very survival depends upon it!

Also, read the articles ‘Slimming Successfully, In Spite Of Corona’, the ‘Health Benefits Of Weight Loss!’ and the ‘Distance Program’ on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized, Weight Loss 0 Comments Read more...

23 Mar

Health Benefits Of Weight Loss!

Benefits Of Being Slim And Healthy!

Obese people are never fully healthy either physically or mentally. Most obese people have low self-esteem, lack self-confidence and find themselves socially isolated. They tend to be irritable and gradually avoid people. Young people find it difficult to get a good life partner.

Obesity and the faulty lifestyle associated with it, lead to a very wide range of diseases, some of which may not even appear to be directly connected to obesity.

The obese tend to be irritable, stressed out, depressed and may have poor self-esteem. Their energy levels are low and they tire quickly. There are pains and aches everywhere.

Backache and joint pains are common. Spondylosis, prolapsed discs, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, varicose veins, cholecystitis (inflammation of the gall bladder), and some hernias are prevalent in the obese.

Fatty liver (hepatic steatosis) is often associated with obesity. Some fat is there in a healthy liver, but the accumulation of excessive fat in the liver is called fatty liver. It can lead to inflammation and damage to the liver tissue and scarring (fibrosis) of the liver parenchyma. Extensive liver fibrosis leads to cirrhosis, which can cause liver failure, which is a life-threatening illness.

High blood pressure, diabetes, coronary heart disease and cerebral strokes (paralysis) are frequently associated with obesity.

Amongst obese ladies ‘ infertility, difficult pregnancies, and labor, abortions and complications during a cesarean section are common.

Polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD) or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is common among young women. PCOD is a condition in which the ovaries develop small fluid-filled sacs or cysts, causing hormonal imbalances and the menstrual periods are generally delayed or completely absent. This condition is usually associated with weight gain and frequently with infertility.

The obese always have a greater risk during surgery.

Apart from these diseases, a wide range of other diseases, including some cancers, are linked to obesity and the faulty lifestyle associated with it.

High-Risk Abdominal Obesity:

Excessive accumulation of fat in the abdomen can have dangerous implications for your health. Abdominal obesity can lead to the dangerous triad of hypertension (high blood pressure), dyslipidemia (high levels of cholesterol and blood fats) and type-2 diabetes. These three together can lead to coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction and also death.

So if you have a big belly, it is imperative that you wake up and do something about it urgently.

Effect of weight loss:

When people begin to eat healthily and at least walk regularly, they begin to lose weight and start feeling fresh and energetic. The skin and hair health begins to improve. People begin to like their reflection in the mirror.

Hyperacidity, digestive complaints, constipation get corrected.

The blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides levels begin to drop. The bad cholesterol, LDL cholesterol drops down while the good cholesterol, the HDL cholesterol begins to climb.

Various pains and aches reduce. Backache, arthritic pains in knees, hips, pains in heels improve.

Young women overcome PCOD, conceive naturally, stop aborting and become happy mothers, without expensive fertility treatments.

Losing weight protects us from illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and strokes, cholecystitis and fatty liver and many types of cancers.

Losing weight can reverse most of the above illnesses and conditions completely and make you slim and healthy!

Lifestyle benefits:

Obesity and most of the illnesses associated with it are lifestyle diseases. The only way to get slim and healthy for a lifetime is to adopt healthy food habits and a healthy lifestyle, for a lifetime. So you learn to eat well and become physically more active and fit for a lifetime.

This is exactly the reverse of trying to lose weight on unhealthy, starvation based or fad diets and injurious exercises off and on. Diets are temporary, so are their results, eating healthy is permanent and so are its results!

Personal, Psychological and social benefits:

Excellent weight loss on your own, normal, everyday, healthy food, moderate and enjoyable exercises, ample water and sleep results in glowing, healthy skin making people of all ages look and feel younger and better. Young men and ladies look naturally more handsome or pretty.

People become happy and confident about losing weight, they regain their self-esteem, they become socially more acceptable, in young people, matrimonial or matchmaking prospects improve. They become more acceptable in the work environment.

Many even middle-aged men and women feel very good to be able to wear better clothes.

Economic benefits:

The cost of medical care and infrastructure comes down if more and people become fit and healthy.

The productivity of the whole society improves if people are more fit and healthy, directly benefiting society.

***

For four decades now, we have successfully helped innumerable people get slim and healthy not only in our Slimming Centre in Pune, but all over the world, on our ‘Distance Program’. Absolutely balanced nutrition and exercise even as simple as walking have always been at the core of our Weight Loss Treatment in Pune and all over the world.

***

Also read the articles the ‘Basics Of Nutrition‘, the ‘Science Of Exercise‘ and the ‘Simple Steps to Slimming‘. Get in touch with us through the ‘Contact Us’ page on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized, Weight Loss 0 Comments Read more...

Slimming Without Stepping Out Of Your Home

20 Mar

Slimming Successfully, In Spite Of Corona!

Slimming Without Stepping Out Of Your Home!

Today the dreaded Corona pandemic means, our safety lies in staying confined to our homes, at least for the next few months, till the pandemic is controlled.

But the health of millions of overweight people across the globe also depends upon their losing or not losing weight in not too distant future! Some may be threatened more than others! Some may be looking to lose weight for personal reasons like an upcoming event like their own wedding or a one in their close family.

But what choices do they have under the life-threatening pandemic of Coronavirus?

Even the heavily advertised commercial slimming programs, including gyms, selling highly questionable treatments also require you to go over to their premises, which you can hardly risk now!

My ‘Distance Program’ is finely tuned to help people all over the world, get slim and healthy, for over three and a half decades now, with or without meeting me personally or stepping out of home, with equal felicity!

Pune people naturally meet me more often than those abroad or from other towns in India, but a few never do, like a middle-aged Marathi lady from Hyderabad, who lost an amazing twenty-five kg, without ever meeting me! A young man in Frankfurt, originally from Satara, now a German citizen, lost sixteen kg to protect himself from a strong family history of diabetes from catching up with him, met me for the first time only after losing twelve kg when he visited home to India for his annual vacation in July!

This means that if you want to lose weight with a degree of urgency in these difficult times, then it is best that you take a treatment that is completely consultation based and which can be executed completely without leaving the safety of your home.

That is exactly how my ‘Distance Program’ is designed. The entire treatment is manageable online and on video or audio calls, without having either to meet me in person or to step out of your home even for walks!

People invariably contact me by calling or mail or by using the ‘Make A Quick Inquiry’ or the ‘Feedback’ form on my website, some with a word of mouth reference, some finding me on Google.

People from Pune meet me for a free initial inquiry visit after I mail them the basic information and the process of the treatment and a few links of some important pages on the website. People outside Pune and India, join without the benefit of this visit, with only a voice call for more inquiry.

But now we are replacing this personal visit with a video call for everyone who wishes to learn everything about the treatment, till the Corona pandemic threat continues.

The ‘Distance Program’ treatment essentially revolves around planning and helping you to adopt a healthy lifestyle including a healthy nutritional plan based on your own, normal, everyday food and exercise as simple as walking or spot marching or jogging depending upon your age and fitness. We can also use a cardiovascular exercise machine like a treadmill or an elliptical trainer or an exercise bike if you have one at home. This means you don’t have to step out of the safety of your home even for exercise!

There is no starving under bogus slimming machines, medicines, meal replacement shakes or magic diets, no painful workout and protein supplements, no psychological torture involved!

Once the treatment is planned, people under my care all over the world, tell me every day exactly what they have eaten, how much water they have consumed and how much and which exercise they have taken and also its intensity, thanks to modern-day tools of communication and measurement of exercise. People report daily and receive daily advice from me, based on their daily reports.

This excellent system of daily reports and advice, ensures proper execution of the program of every person under my care, dramatically improving results!

Those who are completely satisfied with the full information about the treatment can join the treatment online. Further treatment can proceed completely online!

So, if you wish to start the treatment urgently without waiting for the threat of Corona to get over, without leaving the safety of your home, you can safely join my ‘Distance Program’!

I can guarantee absolutely safe and healthy slimming very much at your home, anywhere in the world!

Call or write to me for more information and to set up a video call for directly talking to me.

Visit the ‘Testimonial’, the ‘Doctors Recommend Us’, the ‘Distance Program’ and the ‘Contact Us’ pages on this website for more information.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized 0 Comments Read more...

17 Mar

High Protein Diets For Weight Loss!

Dangers Of High Protein Diets and Protein Supplements!

For over three-fourths of a century a few ‘obesity experts’ have expounded the theory of how proteins are good and carbohydrates are bad for human health. They have persistently advocated high protein diets as a sure shot weight loss diet. You see them in many variants of high protein – low carbohydrate diets.

Gyms too continue to sell the idea of high protein diets and protein supplements as it suits them to sell expensive protein supplements and strength training exercises under even more expensive personal trainers of questionable expertise.

Such so-called obesity experts and the gym industry thrives on making people believe that they should shun carbohydrates and eat high protein diets comprising of chicken and eggs.

Today millions of people imagine that carbohydrates are bad and proteins and fats are good for their health.

If you are one of them, you will do well to understand:

Carbohydrates don’t make you fat, excess calories do. Both carbohydrates and proteins provide 4 calories each gm while fats provide 9!

If you eat any of the above three nutrients in excess of your requirement, you will gain weight, not just carbohydrates. if you are trying to lose weight then you want to check our distance program. Fats are most likely to provide excess calories as they provide more than twice as many calories as carbohydrates and proteins. If

Most high protein foods like flesh, eggs, full-fat dairy, cheese, full cream paneer, and soya provide more fats than proteins.

So all high protein diets are more high-fat diets than high protein diets.

So they are much more likely to make you fat than carbohydrates’ dominant diets.

Whole grain cereals and pulses, vegetables and fruits are the heart-healthy foods, not high protein – high-fat diets.

Average people need no more than 0.8 gm protein per kg body weight and athletes need 1.5 to 2 gm, both levels can be supplied adequately by balanced, everyday food.

High protein – high-fat diets can increase your total and bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and decrease your healthy HDL cholesterol and lead to excess weight and cause hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, strokes and heart disease.

Being very low in fiber, they also cause constipation, piles, fissures and in some, diverticulosis and colorectal cancers.

The metabolism of protein produces large amounts of acids. This causes acidosis which our body must correct. The kidneys must excrete this acid to maintain the acid-base balance within the body. But the kidneys cannot handle fluids with so high acidity and they must dilute these acids with great amounts of water. Hence the body loses a lot of water and this leads to dehydration.

The body also uses calcium to neutralize this excess acid. Most of the body’s calcium is stored in bones. Thus the calcium is withdrawn from bones and used for this purpose, this leads to osteoporosis and can also cause kidney stones over a period of time.

This puts excessive strain on the kidneys which are already struggling hard to eliminate excessive amounts of waste products and this leads to chronic kidney disease in the long run.

The other vital organ eliminating the toxic waste products of protein metabolism in the liver. So both of these vital organs are overloaded when you take excessive proteins. This leads to kidney and liver diseases if excessive proteins and protein supplements are consumed for a long period. For this reason, people with a history of kidney or liver disease must not take excessive proteins from food and supplements.

Most gym-goers take protein supplements, in addition to eating high protein – high-fat diets in the form of multiple eggs and boneless chicken daily to help build bigger muscles and their recovery after weight training exercises.

For a vast majority of people, excessive consumption of high protein foods and protein supplements have no special benefit in either muscle building or repair. In fact, they do more damage than good.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Our health depends upon getting a particular balance of amino acids, which is provided naturally in a balanced diet. Protein supplements provide a limited range of amino acids, thus severely disrupting this balance which can only lead to grave health risks.

Protein supplements, usually in the form of shakes, are high in calories. Thus they lead to more weight gain.

Most protein supplements are made from casein, whey or soya protein. Many people are sensitive to these proteins and develop gases, abdominal pain, hyperacidity, nausea and diarrhoea or constipation. People who consume protein supplements for sustained periods, and eat little heart-healthy food and fiber, suffer from chronic constipation, piles, fissures, diverticulosis, and colorectal cancers. Straining at stools can cause hernias.

Contamination with toxic elements is an ever-present threat when producing synthetic protein supplements.

A 2010 study found that some of the artificial protein supplements were contaminated with toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, and lead, which can seriously damage your health.

Thus, obesity, dehydration, constipation, piles, fissures, diverticulosis and colorectal cancers, calcium loss from bones, kidney and liver damage, heart disease and strokes can be long term effects of excessive protein consumption.

So think twice before having high protein – high fat – low carbohydrates diets and buying protein supplements!

There is absolutely no need to waste money and health on high protein – high fat – high-calorie protein foods and protein supplements.

Also, read the article ‘Dangers Of Unscientific Treatments, ‘Dangers Of Protein Supplements’ and ‘Carbohydrates Don’t Make Us Fat’ on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized, Weight Loss 0 Comments Read more...

10 Jun

Overcoming Obesity Related Infertility

Weight Loss Should Be The First Treatment For Obesity Related Infertility!

On 5th May 2017, Ms Sarika Shukla, 30, 5 feet 2 inches tall, 93 kg young lady came to me, looking for my help in losing weight that apparently was preventing her from conceiving even after 3 or 4 years of expensive and frustrating fertility treatments that had failed completely, under a well known Pune gynecologist. After spending a few lacs and undergoing two expensive laparoscopies, a doctor relative severely admonished her and sent her to me.

She had also spent huge amounts on trying to lose weight on a few heavily advertised, self-styled slimming centers in Pune, without any success, before coming to me.

I had hoped against hope that she would lose at least 25 to 30 kg weight before she conceived.

No such luck!

Put on a healthy nutritional plan and regular walks, she lost some 4 kg and conceived naturally in a month’s time.

She delivered a healthy baby, absolutely safely, without any complications during pregnancy or delivery.

A few years earlier, a 28 year old, 5 feet tall, 70 kg young lady was referred to me by a top infertility expert in Pune. The lady, whose name I am not at liberty to disclose, is the daughter in law of a famous construction family in Kothrud, Pune and both husband and wife are ayurvedic doctors. She was unable to conceive even on extensive fertility treatments as well as ayurvedic treatments, after suffering from nine miscarriages! Needless to say that she was more sad and depressed than Sarika.

I assured her that we would overcome her problems in a few months and that she should relax, get happy and positive and stop worrying about pregnancy and that everything will fall in place when she loses weight healthily.

She lost 18 kg with me, lost all her gloom, became happy and positive and conceived naturally, without any fertility treatment. This time the slim and fit young lady had no complications of pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby safely.

She too had spent a fortune on many obesity clinics in Pune, without losing weight.

Today millions of women all over the world are suffering from PCOD, menstrual dysfunctions and anovulation, lower conception rates, infertility, higher miscarriage rates and a higher rate of complications during pregnancy.

Most ladies suffering from PCOD are overweight or obese, many of them also suffer from hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance, some of them also suffer from hypothyroidism and many have difficulty in conceiving or are infertile.

The easily perceivable common condition running in most of these ladies is obesity. What is less easily perceivable is that many of these ladies may eat bad and may have sedentary lifestyles.

I have been helping young ladies all over the world, overcome obesity, often with PCOD, history of one or more miscarriages and also infertility, for three and a half decades.

In actual practice, I have found that the root cause of obesity and PCOD, and obesity-related miscarriages and infertility, are bad eating and sedentary lifestyles with an almost complete absence of any physical activity.

World over, most such ladies are directly put under hormonal fertility treatments, without being told to eat better, take up some exercise and lose weight before taking up infertility treatments.

I am sure, most of these ladies will conceive naturally, without any fertility treatments, if only they ate well, at least walked regularly, stopped thinking about pregnancy constantly, became happy and positive and lost weight healthily.

I have demonstrated this fact in my practice repeatedly over the decades!

Unfortunately, most times, such ladies either come to me directly, or a few are referred to me by their gynecologist or infertility specialists, only after all possible fertility treatments have failed.

Once they are put on healthy, balanced nutrition and they start walking regularly, most of them conceive naturally, most often much before they have lost all the weight they need to lose, often by the time they lose 8 or 10 kg, sometimes much less!

Ideally, they should slim down optimally, but since they are not taking any preventive measures, many conceive naturally in a month or two. Losing maximum excess weight protects them from miscarriages and complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

Since obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, strokes and all the above diseases that accompany obesity, have assumed epidemic proportions in our country too, obesity clinics, slimming centers, weight loss treatments of every hue have sprung up in Pune and all over India.

Few selling these so-called weight loss treatments really know what works long term and either force starvation or painful exercises on their hapless victims! Neither works long term!

It is vital that the lady aspiring to be a mother loses weight on completely healthy, balanced nutrition and gets fit, happy and positive.

A bad weight loss treatment with bad nutrition is also most likely to harm the health of the fetus and also cause miscarriages on its own.

It is wonderful for the pregnancy and the mental and physical health of the baby if both parents are happy, healthy, positive, slim and fit and are free of addictions like smoking, drinking or drugs, at the time of the conception.

I always strive to help couples struggling with obesity-related infertility to achieve these goals, the rest falls in place automatically!

Also read the ‘Testimonials’, ‘Health Problems Of The Young: PCOD’ and the ‘Slim Women Are Healthy Women’ articles on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized 0 Comments Read more...

13 Dec

Preventing Hypertension

How To Prevent High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. It accounts for two-thirds of all strokes and half of all heart disease.

One out of every five people in India has high blood pressure or hypertension. The situation is worse in Maharashtra, the ratio increasing to one in three.

Hypertension is often asymptotic. Many people never know that they have hypertension, simply because they have never had any reason to go to a doctor and check their blood pressure. It is often detected accidentally or after some tragedy strikes. That’s why it is called a silent killer!

The incidence of hypertension is so high today that it is vital that young people keep a regular watch on their blood pressure, at least once in every six months, even if they are not overweight, have no personal or family history of hypertension, and more often if they have all three plus stress.

Three decades ago, a survey amongst school children in Pune found a high incidence of obesity and hypertension, the incidence is much higher today! If your child is overweight or obese do get his blood pressure checked regularly and make sure that he loses weight.

Childhood obesity predisposes children to early hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and heart disease.

Prolonged hypertension damages the blood vessels and various organs of the body.

It causes hardening and thickening of the arterial walls and the narrowing of their lumen. It can lead to weakening and bulging of the arteries. This is called aneurism and such aneurisms can rupture causing grave complications.

Hypertension can cause heart attacks and strokes. Raised blood pressure causes greater resistance to the flow of the blood through the arteries and forces the heart to pump harder to circulate blood through our body, causing hypertrophy (thickening) of the heart muscle. The thickened heart muscle struggles to pump blood efficiently and eventually fails to do so, causing heart failure.

Thickening and narrowing and aneurysms of the arteries in kidneys or eyes can damage these organs can lead to renal failure and loss of vision.

Hypertension also contributes to development of the metabolic syndrome that leads to development of diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

It can also cause circulatory problems and strokes in the brain and lead to impairment of memory and understanding and development of vascular dementia.

Thus you can see that untreated hypertension can cause blindness, renal (kidney) failure, heart attacks, strokes, and death. Even those people who are on proper medication may not necessarily escape these complications.

This said, it is vitally important that people consult their doctor, take the prescribed medication regularly and never stop medication on their own, without the knowledge of the doctor. Many people commit this mistake and pay the ultimate price for it.

Even amongst the people who are on regular medication, few have well-controlled blood pressures, 140/100 m.m. of Hg or more are not uncommon, when the levels should be 120/80 m.m. of Hg or less! Such people run the same health risks as mentioned above.

So our best option is to prevent hypertension and most people can definitely do it.

High blood pressure most often occurs without having any specific underlying disease leading to it. This hypertension is called primary or essential hypertension. About ninety to ninety-five percent of all hypertension cases fall into this category. Only five to ten percent people have an underlying disease leading to hypertension. This kind of hypertension is called secondary hypertension.

Various theories have been put forth about the causes of essential hypertension. Broadly speaking high blood volume, increased cardiac output, increased resistance of the arterial walls due to their thickening and reduced elasticity, narrowing of the lumen of arteries, increased vascular tone and a few other causes are thought to lead to primary hypertension.

But the fact remains that, with proper precautions, most people can prevent the onset of primary hypertension, many may overcome the problem completely.

Here are some interesting facts about the effects of food, exercise and weight loss on blood pressure.

Exercise alone has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 3.5 and 2.0 mm respectively.

Improvement in diet by shifting to low fat dairy (milk, curds, buttermilk) and fibre rich foods viz. vegetables and fruits, we already have ample pulses and legumes in our food, has been shown reduce blood pressures by 5.5 and 3.0 mm Hg in people whose diets are rich in high fat dairy, flesh foods and low in low fat dairy and fibre rich foods.

Weight loss of every four kg has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 6.25 mm and diastolic blood pressure by 4 mm.

The combined effects of exercise and weight loss has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 12.5 mm and diastolic blood pressure by 8 mm in overweight or obese people.

Exercise has also been shown to improve ventricular mass and wall thickness, reduce arterial stiffness and improve endothelial function, improving our chances of fighting off coronary artery disease, strokes and peripheral vascular health by lowering blood pressure.

Exercise also improves the health of the arteries by reducing inflammation of the endothelial lining of the arterial wall, improves their flexibility, prevents clot formation and also prevents coronary and cerebral vascular accidents.

So you can see why it is essential to eat healthy, exercise regularly and lose weight to overcome hypertension.

Following are the essential steps you must take to prevent this hypertension.

Adapt a healthy lifestyle.

Keep your nutrition healthy, complete and moderate in calories.

Eat minimum fatty and sweet food and red meat.

Eat salt minimally. Avoid high salt foods like ‘papad’, ‘chatani’, ‘pickles’, dried and salted fish. Salt causes the blood volume to increase and this, in turn, causes blood pressure to climb. The sodium content of mineral salt may be higher than table salts. So, contrary to popular belief, mineral salts like ‘saindhav’ may be worse for hypertension than the table salts. Avoid mineral salts and ‘chat masalas’.

In general, foods rich in potassium, beans, dark leafy vegetables, all fruits, notably bananas, potatoes, fish, mushrooms, will help lower blood pressure. So include them in your food regularly.

Foods high in sodium, table salt, mineral salts, chaat masala, pickles, dried fish, fast foods, chips, French fries, salted nuts, canned foods (meats, fish and beans), sauces, salad dressings, will increase blood pressure. Keep them out of your food.

In general, animal source foods are high while vegetable source foods are low in sodium. So eating less of flesh and more of vegetables and fruits will help lower blood pressure.

Workout sufficiently; a brisk walk of at least thirty to sixty minutes will be good enough for most people, thirty if you are slim, sixty if you are overweight.

Make sure that you move around, get a little stroll whenever possible and generally remaining more active during work hours if you have a sedentary job.

Lose weight. A slim tummy will dramatically help bring down blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fats and cholesterol. Abdominal obesity leads to hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

Quit smoking and consuming tobacco in any form.

Sleep and rest adequately. Seven hours of sound sleep will prove invaluable.

Be happy, positive, contented and peaceful.

A mind full of negative thoughts, sorrow, irritability, anger, endless desires, and a king size ego causes immense damage to our health. This kind of mindset leads people to hypertension, diabetes and heart disease sooner or later.

Any honest and intelligent person can identify if he or she has such a mindset. A bloated ego or plain stupidity can prevent us from identifying that we have such a mindset.

You must calm down your mind, free it from the clutches of negative and violent thoughts if you really want to become happy and healthy and free from the impending threat of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

And it can be done for sure, only you should want to be happy and healthy.

Take up a technique as simple as ‘yoganidra’ if not meditation if you wish to be calm, happy and healthy. Consistent yoganidra will immensely help in making you peaceful, happy and positive.

So ensure that you take these steps urgently and see how dramatically your blood pressure and blood chemistry improve. These steps will give you much improved mental and physical health and prevent hypertension, diabetes and heart disease and also slim you down!

Also read ‘Health Problems Of The Young: Hypertension’, ‘Hypertension Prevention And Control Program’ and ‘Preventing Diabetes‘ on this website.

By Dr. Nitin Gupte Uncategorized 0 Comments Read more...