Why is it So Hard to Lose Weight?
Have you ever wondered why the older you get, the harder it is to maintain your weight, let alone lose any?
There are people that work out every day, eat low-fat foods, yet they still can’t get those extra pounds off. As they get older they notice that their cravings for fats and sweets increase; they get more illnesses; they have more physical problems; and they are tired all the time!
What Causes This?
In your small intestines there are finger-like protrusions called villi or villus. It is through these villi that absorption takes place. Through the years, your villi become damaged and break-off. Things that damage your villi include:
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As your villi continue to become damaged, it becomes increasingly difficult for your body to absorb nutrients.
What happens when you don’t absorb nutrients?
First of all, you start feeling like you need more food – your appetite increases as do your cravings. This is a simple biological reaction: your body does not absorb nutrients so your brain says “I’m not getting enough nutrients, I must be hungry”, so you crave food and you eat more – but you are never satisfied. You then become fatigued from lack of nutrition. When your villi are not healthy, your body thinks it’s starving and stores instead of burns fat.
No Matter how good your nutrition, if you aren’t absorbing the nutrients – It’s just a waste!
Weight Control from the Inside Out
Repair Your Villi – Lose the Weight!
The small intestine is called “small” because it is smaller in diameter than the large intestine. However, it is in fact longer and in many ways more crucial to our health than the large intestine. The lining of the small intestine consists of villi, finger-like projections that stick out from the wall of the intestine into the lumen or center. These villi are between 1/2 and 1 1/2 mm long, just barely visible to the human eye. It’s estimated that the entire absorptive area of the small intestine is roughly the size of a basketball court.
To get your weight off and to keep it off, you need to feed your body on a cellular level. Your body can then repair and rebuild the villi to the healthy state it was in when you were young.
| HEALTHY VILLI | DAMAGED VILLI |
|---|---|
 Healthy vs Damaged Villi | |
By Susan Bowerman, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D
