Weight Management Gain Vs. Loss

Being chronically ill can put stress on your entire body and often can cause weight loss. It's important to maintain your weight and put weight back on since being underweight can slow down your recovery. But gaining weight after an illness is not as simple as eating anything and everything, you have to be smart about your food choices and increase your caloric intake without filling up on empty calories and saturated fats.

Being underweight can be caused by a variety of factors, some of which are psychological, while others are physical. Many illnesses can cause temporary weight loss. If you have suffered from the flu, accompanied by a high temperature, you may lose a few pounds, but you will probably gain back those pounds once you are well again. Those who have medical conditions that prevent them from maintaining an average weight have options available to them.

People who are underweight typically are not getting enough calories to fuel their bodies. Often, they are also suffering from malnutrition. Malnutrition results from a poor diet or inability to absorb nutrients. Malnutrition is a condition that results from eating a diet in which nutrients are either not enough or are too much such that the diet causes health problems. It may involve calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins or minerals.

• Hyperthyroidism
• Cancer
• Tuberculosis
• Undiagnosed Diabetes
• HIV/AIDS
• Psychological

Weight Loss

Weight loss is a large and daunting subject for many people whether it needs to be done for pre-operative treatment, urgent post operative therapy or a healthy lifestyle modification. There are no quick fixes to most issues, and nothing magic can alter how your body reacts to nourishment. However there are medical protocols that are more successful for most people which can make weight loss easier and more manageable.

At Munroe Pharmacy we follow a holistic nutritional program called Ideal Protein. It's an evidence based holistic program that focuses on long term weight loss coupled with a healthier lifestyle. Because it is so reliable and predictable, it allows for appropriate pre-treatment planning, and can be properly coordinated with your health plan.

Why the Ideal Protein Protocol?

The Ideal Protein Protocol is based on two distinct components:

• Weight loss
• Weight stabilization

Typical diets suggest “to lose weight you need to eat a balanced diet”. The cofounder of the Ideal Protocol Dr. Tran Tien Chanh suggests that in order to lose weight we must temporarily create an imbalance. Balance is synonymous with static. If you are put on a balanced diet, the term suggests you’ll eat better and you won’t gain weight, but you won’t lose either.

The imbalance notion of the Ideal Protocol must meet two criteria :

1. It is not dangerous
2. It has a beginning and an end

Once the desired results have been achieved, balance then becomes the focus. This is the stabilization portion of the protocol.

How Does The Ideal Protein Protocol Work?

The body draws on four reserves from which it draws its metabolic needs:

1. Blood glucose
2. Glycogen (stored glucose)
3. Muscle
4. Fat

First, the body burns the glucose in the blood and then reaches the glycogen reserves. Once that is depleted then and only then will it start burning the muscle and fat compartments. If we were to replenish the glycogen, the fat burning will halt until it is once again depleted.

The Ideal Protein Protocol reduces carbohydrates to the bare minimum, keeps the minimum amount of required daily protein (not a high protein diet) to spare the muscle, and keeps ample amounts of essential fatty acids. This forces the body to stay in the fat-burning mode 24 hours a day, called a ketogenic diet. This gives your pancreas a much needed break. When you eat carbohydrates your body produces insulin. If you consume excess amounts of sugar, your pancreas will release large quantities of insulin into the blood to lower your blood sugar. Since what is produced is more than what is required, too much sugar will be released from the blood and a state of hypoglycemia can occur. The pancreas is the root cause of insulin dysfunction and by reducing carbohydrates, as the Ideal Protein does, can help to reset it.

The Four Phases

Phase 1

The first and most severe phase of the Ideal Protein protocol, the weight loss phase, this is just the beginning. This phase is to be followed until 100% of your weight loss goal is achieved. It's length is dependant upon how much weight is to be lost.

Phase 2

Is a transition phase by which we begin to phase out the Ideal Protein foods by replacing them one by one with whole foods. This phase lasts two weeks. You will still be in ketosis while in phase 2 since we have not yet introduced carbohydrates back into the diet, but it will be a slower weight loss phase.

Phase 3

Like phase 2 this will only last 2 weeks. Another Ideal Protein food is removed, for the gradual reintroduction of carbohydrates that occurs in the morning only. At this stage there are 3 major objectives:

1. Resetting your pancreas and and bringing the dieter out of ketosis
2. Weight loss to Stabilization – slowly increase caloric intake so that our metabolism can adjust thereby helping to prevent the yo-yo dieting effect
3. Preparation for Stabilization – explained that here dieters may gain a small portion of weight back 2-5 lbs once glycogen levels have been replenished.

Phase 4

This is considered the Maintenance Phase. This is where one can now enjoy their new healthy lifestyle and with weekly sessions with a coach where weight and measurements will be taken. Why? Success requires commitment and accountability. It helps to stay on track if you know your going to be questioned on your choices later. Important to note however, that there is no judgment, only what should be considered as a partnership helping each other to achieve a common goal.