Here are a list of theories I have come across relating to why the body puts on excessive weight. If any of these theories carry water then it begs the question whether one ought err on the side of caution before undertaking fasting as an option to shed the pounds. Why? because the body is after all a very intelligent self regulating mechanism and if obesity is triggered by a cause which is something other than simply over eating then it is probable that after a fast the body will return to its former weight. And there are numerous examples on this site which pay testament to that.

1. Too much salt in diet causes body's water retention to increase, serving as a buffer for what is in fact quite a toxic mineral when taken in quantities in excess of the RDA

2. Same as no.1 but replace salt with toxins. Toxins are surrounded by fat cells to isolate them from causing harm. If you have taken in lots of toxins your fat tissue could be a protective layer protecting your vital organs from these toxins. The body's way of handling them is to isolate them in a layer of fat.

3. Fat acts as a buffer against environmental electromagnetism also known as electrosmog which is currently in higher doses than we as humans have ever experienced.

Magnetosensory cells have been identified in fish, and similar cells are known to exist in pigeons, rabbits and rats.
They may even exist in humans:
www.naturalnews.com/036440_magnetosensor...lectro-smog_EMF.html

4. From a psychological perspective: The body unconsciously increases the water retention mechanism as an buffer for people who suffer from high emotional sensitivity and stess. The excess water or body fat acts as a protective pillow. I have found this explanation given by various health care professionals involved in psychosomatic healing.

5. Eating more food/calories than the body is able to burn off causes the body to store the excess as body fat. The problem with this theory is that people on a 100% raw food diet don't usually put on extra body fat even if they over indulge.

6. Not drinking enough water or eating foods with a high water content resulting in the body forcing water retention to maintain homeostasis.

7. Not enough physical activity. Modern day man/woman have become excessively passive especially with the advent of computers. This translates as doing a lot less physical activities than we used to do even half a century ago.

8. From a metaphysical perspective some healers claim that due to much increased cosmic energy or radiation entering our solar system at this point in time is causing the body to react by weight gain either by water retention or excess body fat. It is implied that the body simply can't handle the stepping up of this energy unless one's consciousness is ready resulting in the body reacting to it by adding an extra protective layer.

9. Viral connection to obesity: Leah D. Whigham, lead researcher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has discovered that human adenoviruses play a role in obesity.
scienceblog.com/9901/contagious-obesity-...hat-may-make-us-fat/

10. Hormonal imbalance usually related to issues with the thyroid.

11. Starch addiction another possible cause

12. Depleted soil results in less essential minerals in the food that we consume resulting in feeling an urge to eat more and more to try to top up the body's stock of trace elements such as magnesium, manganese etc and some of the rarer elements too: gold, silver, platinum etc. The effects of mono farming and not allowing the land to rest inevitably leads to impoverished soils. Also some land may simply not be very rich in trace minerals. Soil in the vicinity of volcanoes are said to be among the most fertile, containing high amounts of copper, iron, cobalt, manganese and selenium and silica.

13. Four Weeks of Fizzy Drinks can give you Heart Disease
_________________________________________________

Sweet fizzy colas and sports drinks could be lethal – even if you
drink just two cans a week. The drinks could be a direct cause of
weight gain, heart disease, liver failure, high blood pressure and
diabetes, a new study has discovered.

The effects happen in people who drink a can every day, or even just
two cans a week. After a very short time – and often within a month
–
their metabolism changes, making any of the life-threatening diseases
more likely.

Although it's not news that sugary drinks are bad for us, the extent
of the damage they can cause, and over a very short time, has shocked
researchers who tested the drinks on 11 healthy and lean volunteers

After just four weeks' regular consumption, their whole metabolism
had
altered. They had put on weight and their insulin resistance had
increased, often a precursor of diabetes and heart disease.

(Source: European Journal of Nutrition, 2012; doi:
10.1007/s00394-012-0401-x)

14. We live in an unnatural world, we have far, far too much nutrients in our diet and therefore we struggle to get rid of excess body weight or old tissues. That might be a reason to change our natural instinct so as to prevent complete digestion and absorption. (The Fast Doctor)

15. MSG (monosodiumglutomate or E621) causes mice to get fat very quickly and MSG is believed to have a similar effect in humans and is in many many processed foods.

16. From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective weight issues are linked to the spleen. When the spleen fails to transform food to Chi it gets processed into fat. For an in depth article on the theory please read this article:

www.yinyanghouse.com/practitioner_member...ent-chinese-medicine

Some good and some interesting theories.

The basic laws of nature dictates that we cannot create nor destroy energy or matter (but matter can be changed into energy and to a small extent vice versa.. in a nuclear reaction!)

Thus there can not be something in your body that did not move into your body at some stage.

Things move into our bodies via breathing, eating, drinking and a bit is absorbed directly through the skin.

Things leave our body via breathing, urinating and passing stool, tears, hair and skin cells shedding, through spitting and injuries tearing pieces off and causing blood loss.

With some imagination we can add a few more ways.

Your weight is determined by the balance of what went in and what went out.

To get energy, you break down carbohydrates or fat (or protein, after its conversion to carbohydrates) and breath the bulk of it out as carbon dioxide. When you exercise, you do so a bit faster.

I do appreciate my brain is very much focused on the tangible and measurable, which is why I don't venture into "Metaphysical" stuff but weight is very much tangible and measurable, and any weight changes can be explained by the above.

André

Thank you Doctor this is a helpful explanation of The law of Conservation of Energy and how it relates to food and the body's use of food. However this law does not necessarily rule out each one of the above theories as there could be hormonal or psychological factors involved in the equation which cause the body to store more potential energy than it expends. Could this be reflected in the slowing down of one's basal metabolic rate? (hormonal) there may also be a similar mechanism which causes the body to store above average amounts of water in and around tissue cells. And the aim of this post is to query whether fasting is a useful tool when the underlying causal issues have not been adequately addressed often resulting in the faster going back to the same weight they were at before the fast.

I totally agree David.. each of those theories explains at least some of the whole.. but basal metabolism rate varies VERY little, even if you do a lot of exercise. Most of your basal metabolism is used to maintain your body temperature, which is practically constant. As you add weight, however, it is mainly fat. Fat sits mainly under the skin. This keeps the body heat inside. Thus you need less energy to keep you warm. Thus there's more energy left if you leave the diet unchanged. This extra energy is stored as fat under the skin, which insulates the body and conserves more energy which becomes fat... and yes indeed on a small scale this can happen if there's more (insulating) water around every cell.

André

David wrote:
Don't know if this makes sense but raw food is harder to absorb and digest and contains less concentration of calories in general than for instance processed food. I noticed that in some modern diet theories people reduce everything to carbs, fats and proteins and neglect the nature of the food, like if for instance a banana and a chocolate bar were the same thing. Even very sweet dry fruit like figs still contain many elements like high mineral and fiber content that processed sweets lack and will affect the body in a completely different way.

Is raw food harder to digest and absorb? Many studies found the contrary.

Fact remains: Whatever is in your body came into your body by some means: Mainly through the mouth. Thus if you did not eat or drink or inhale it, or it did not creep into you through the skin, it cannot be in you.

If food is not absorbed, it passes out through the gut. Then it is almost as if you did not eat it. But this is rare. Very few people have absorption deficiency diseases. Yet we can limit the absorption of toxins and some other substances by having enough fiber in the diet.. fiber adsorbs certain substances so that these are nog absorbed.

Raw food, as David pointed out, tends to be less associated with obesity, but that is mainly because the food are less energy dense, takes more effort to chew and therefore typically induce satiety after less energy intake than what processed foods do. In other words: If you eat raw, you tend to eat less "empty" energy and more quality nutrients.

André

That's what I meant by harder to digest, but not appearing undigested in the stools of course. More energy demanded in digesting, like keeping body temperature since raw food is usually eaten cold. Also different components different interactions different levels of absorption.

And to be honest as I look at the complexity of these interactions and how difficult it is to manipulate them I become more convinced that it is true that health is found in moderation.

Cold food, dear Eurico, is usually less than 20 degrees Centigrade cooler than hot food.. which is less than 20 calories per gram. Now you need about 2000 KILO calories per day, that is 20 MILLION calories.. thus the temperature makes very little difference. The undigested food cause your colonic bacteria to thrive and they produce many of your micro-nutrients.

But you're right about the complexity of things.

André

and about moderation

I just watched an interesting documentary on Netflix called Hungry for Change. Though the first half focuses a lot on the reason fad diets don't work, it goes into why food and our lifestyles are making us sick and why obesity is so much more complicated than energy in/energy out. I would recommend this for anyone as there is lots of information, and though I don't agree with all of it, it made me think about my lifestyle and food choices even more. They also talk about toxins in the body and ways to help release them. If anyone watches it, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

LadyEm thank you sounds just what I want to watch tonight can you add a link to this please? I also found some very interesting theories of why people fail to change bad habits and engage in life changing diets in a book called Games People Play. It was very enlightening and I want to see if this documentary has similar ideas to the book.

www.filmsforaction.org/watch/hungry_for_change_2012/

Here you go!

Fascinating I posted on the site above 14 theories why we get overweight and in this documentary the experts say that the body will not allow one to burn off fat so long as toxins continue to enter the body as toxic chemicals are fat soluble so 'hide' in the fat to protect the body. However if you burn off the fat too quickly it would overload the body with toxic waste which would cause a lot of damage. So hanging on to body fat is the body's way to maintain homeostasis until one has a purer diet.
its the best theory I have heard so far. And they also mention water retention fat caused by stress hormones and the best way to deal with it is to get sufficient sleep.

The other point is that it is very difficult approaching a lifestyle change with "must not eat this or that" There needs to be a shift to " I no longer desire to eat junk" to succeed. Great documentary thanks.

After watching the video posted the other day in this topic, I watched the following one as well:

www.filmsforaction.org/watch/fat_sick_and_nearly_dead_2010/

If you haven't watched this one, I would highly recommend it as it is very relevant to this site.

Best,

GN

thank you golfnut also riveting and great to see Dr Joel Fuhrman in action.