By the doctor Isabelle Meurgey and the doctor Alain Butnaru
Maintaining a healthy weight is a priority if we are to stay full of energy, youthful and in good health for as long as possible.
A great many studies have shown the adverse effects that excess weight and obesity have on our life expectancy and health.
But how can we maintain a healthy weight in a society that pushes us to overconsume, full of unscrupulous manufacturers who target our weaknesses in a bid to make us eat larger quantities of poor-quality food.
We often compensate for feelings of chronic stress by eating comfort food, primarily sugar or fast carbohydrates.
The consequences are metabolic: it deregulates our insulin and our ability to burn fat, instead promoting its storage.
How can we avoid temptation?
The patients who come to see us tend to have already tried losing and stabilising their weight many times. They know about nutrition, have tried all kinds of diet, and are now looking for a different way to treat their excess weight.
In-depth work is required in order to treat these problems, otherwise the patient is likely to relapse, leading to a yoyo effect.
This is why it is so important for us to have an in-depth discussion with the patients who want us to help them lose weight, because their answers often reveal chronic stress, the resurgence of ill-managed emotions, a history of aggression, bullying, trauma, etc. It is important for us to draw up a timeline of when the weight was gained, of any diets they have followed, and any relapses. The habit of comfort eating often starts in childhood or adolescence.
Adopting a balanced diet starts in the head, more specifically with the person’s emotions.
It is therefore vital to use techniques that release their emotions, such as hypnosis and EMDR, a therapeutic tool that really gets to the root of the pain, to its cause not its consequences. It often reveals that we do not gain weight by accident; an external event is usually the trigger, and sometimes it is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, leading older traumas to overflow. Any feelings of abandonment, rejection, humiliation, betrayal or injustice can be brought to the surface and be transformed.
Once the patient has been freed from these feelings of emotional hunger and can now recognise real hunger when they feel it, we check that their body is able to slim down easily, namely through comprehensive biological assessments, both micro-nutritional and metabolic. Next, we need to take the time to explain the results of these tests to the patient, to make it easier for them to adopt our dietary and micro-nutritional advice.
This way, they will be psychologically and metabolically prepared to rebalance their diet in a gradual way.
First, we might recommend following a low GI diet, reducing their carbohydrate intake to regulate their insulin and promote lipolysis. Then, over the long term, we would recommend an anti-inflammatory diet, possibly including periods of intermittent fasting (16:8), ideally at least 3 days of intermittent fasting per week.
The weight loss will be gradual, constant, without any feelings of frustration or any relapses.
Our aim is to teach our patients how to manage their diet themselves, to understand how their body works so that they are more attentive to their own needs.
We can also help them to maintain a healthy weight by applying the advice given in epigenetics, such as exercise, mindfulness, fasting, etc.
By the doctor Isabelle Meurgey and the doctor Alain Butnaru
Doctor Isabelle Meurgey
Doctor of anti-aging and cosmetic medicine. Graduate of the Rouen medical faculty. Has specialised in preventative and performance medicine since 1997. Permanent member of the French Society of Aesthetic Medicine. Diplomas in Micronutrition, Auriculotherapy, Hypnosis.
More information on docteurisabellemeurgey.com
Doctor Alain Butnaru
Graduate of the Paris Medical Faculty.
Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Medicine since 1985.
Permanent member of the French Society of Aesthetic Medicine. Degrees in Morphological and Anti-Aging Medicine, Micronutrition, Auriculotherapy and Hypnosis.
More information on docteuralainbutnaru.com
