Weight Loss: Reach Your Ideal Weight With 5 Essential Vitamins

by Michelle Leath on May 2nd, 2012 | 1 Comment »

You've probably heard a lot about nutrition and the science behind carbs and protein, fats, B vitamins, fish oils, etc. But what you may not know is that there is another category of “vitamins” that are absolutely essential to helping your body find and maintain it’s ideal weight, without the struggle.

How to Lose Weight With These 5 Essential Vitamins

Vitamin P

To activate your optimal metabolism you must have pleasure. Studies have shown that the “head phase” of digestion (your brain’s experience of taste, texture, aroma and satisfaction from food) accounts for up to 30-40% of your digestive and metabolic capacity! Yet the whole concept of dieting tends to deprive us of foods we enjoy. Without pleasure, not only are you operating in a lower gear, your brain continues to signal “hungry,” leading to cravings and overeating.

Vitamin A

You can’t have pleasure without awareness. Too often we eat with distraction (TV, driving, multitasking, etc.), or are so consumed with guilt and self-judgement when eating something pleasurable, that we miss the experience entirely. Again, pleasure accounts for 30-40% of your metabolic capacity—best to pay attention!

Vitamin Q

Your body is smart. It has the ability to quickly assess the quality of the foods you eat, and when it senses that foods are low in nutrients, it continues to signal “hunger.” Strive to improve the quality of your food wherever possible by choosing higher quality meats and produce, and higher quality restaurants. Love Mexican food? Try upgrading from Taco Bell to a place that offers Fresh-Mex. Even small improvements in quality can increase your satisfaction and decrease cravings.

Vitamin O

The virtual wonder drug of weight loss is oxygen. Not only does breathing fuel your body for the digestive process, it activates the relaxation response, which is the state in which your body is most metabolically efficient. In addition, centering yourself with a few deep, slow breaths before every meal. And take time throughout the meal to check in and breathe to increase your awareness, lower your cortisol levels, and reduce digestive upset, all of which help you get closer to your goals with greater ease and enjoyment!

Vitamin H

There’s a reason that 96-99% of diets fail. It is because of our misguided belief that losing weight will give us happiness. The truth is that happiness is the cause and not the effect of long-term weight loss. When you choose to be happy now, your body is able to respond by releasing unwanted weight and eating habits.

You see, we are more than just scientific beings. We are body, mind and spirit. Cookie cutter diets and forced behavior modification do nothing to address the underlying issues that may be driving you to overeat. And when the soul is not fed, it’s all too easy to mistake its cries for nourishment as cries for physical hunger. These 5 vitamins are the foundational ingredients for a nourished soul. Give yourself the gift of starting your daily dose today, and watch what unfolds!

Studies have shown that the “head phase” of digestion (your brain’s experience of taste, texture, aroma and satisfaction from food) accounts for up to 30-40% of your digestive and metabolic capacity*!

This is from The Slow Down Diet by Marc David, 2005 Healing Arts Press, Rochester, Vermont.

What are you doing to make sure you achieve your weight loss goals?

Michelle Leath is a coach, mentor, speaker, and the founder of www.unlockyourpossibility.com. She teaches women how to harness the power of possibility, permission and pleasure to create the lives they truly want and deserve. She specializes in helping women create a relationship with food and their bodies that works for them, so that they can release unwanted weight or food habits without dieting or depriving themselves, and so they can show up like the rock stars they are in their businesses, lives, and relationships! Having found recovery from an eating disorder herself, Michelle is passionate about helping others heal their food issues, and she also authors a blog on eating disorder recovery at www.michelleleath.com.

Michelle is a graduate of the Coaches Training Institute, a Certified Food Psychology Coach, and has a degree in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She has helped women connect with their potential in various ways for over 20 years.