Hormonal Causes – Balancing the hormones that control blood sugar is absolutely essential to lose weight and keep weight off in a healthy manner. Most weight loss programs that ignore blood sugar control have only temporary benefits. If blood sugar levels are not balanced, the adrenal and sex hormones may become imbalanced, leading to fat storage. Basically, it is the hormone system that regulates whether sugar and fat are used up for energy and building blocks for the body or whether they are stored as fat.

Digestive Causes – The inability to digest and absorb nutrients leads to food cravings and overeating. Pancreatic enzyme deficiencies, hydrochloric acid deficiencies and gall bladder dysfunction are all common causes of poor digestion and absorption of nutrients. With poor absorption you will overeat until your basic nutrient requirements for protein, fats, vitamins and minerals are met.

Untreated yeast overgrowth, often referred to as candidiasis, is a common root cause of weight gain. Any significant disruption in gut immune function will trigger yeast overgrowth. This leads to the excessive consumption of carbohydrates and sweets and undesired weight gain as the excess sugar is turned to fat.

Detoxification Causes – People who have store chemicals and toxins in their bodies will hold excessive fluid in the body in an attempt to buffer the harmful effects of the harmful substances. This results in weight gain due to bloating and fluid retention that is often mistaken for fat. Many of the chemicals to which we are exposed on a daily basis, including pesticides and plastics, are fat soluble, which means the body stores fat in order to keep the chemicals out of harm’s way.

Testing – Because being overweight is such a multi-dimensional problem, each person’s history and symptoms will need to be considered. Usually, balancing of the hormone system and optimizing digestion will help people to lose weight naturally and permanently. The introduction of an appropriate exercise programme will also help greatly.