If you’re looking to lose weight healthily, in a sustainable long-term way, it all comes back to getting into alignment with the natural laws of nature.
We have a synergistic relationship with nature as we have evolved within it for millions of years. Or we were placed here alongside nature by God – whichever you believe.
Nature provides us with all the natural conditions we need to thrive. To stay at a healthy natural weight automatically while looking and feeling amazing.
Being overweight, tired, and struggling to get through the day may be normal in our modern society, but it’s anything but natural.
It’s only in the last few hundred years since we started to live out of alignment of these natural laws and manipulate our food that being overweight has really become an issue.
Just look at animals in the wild. In the vast majority of cases, they’re not overweight at all. They’re lean and athletic as they’re living in alignment with these natural laws.
They move their bodies every day.
They’re eating natural unprocessed foods that their bodies recognize. Foods that they can use every part of to provide them what they need to thrive.
They’re also not constantly stressing and in fight or flight mode. Which then allows their bodies to stay in growth and repair mode for the majority of the time.
This is how we’re meant to be living every day!
The Most Effective Way to Lose Weight Healthily is Through a Holistic Approach
Getting back into alignment with nature is a long-term, healthy, holistic approach to weight loss.
This is not a short-term quick-fix diet that will have you bouncing back to a higher weight than when you started off.
It’s also not about sacrificing your health to look a certain way. That’s an eating disorder in itself that’s often glorified this day and age by the fitness industry.
This is a consistent lifestyle change, but a very enjoyable one when you’re doing it right. And it’s definitely not a slow process either.
Personally, although I’ve never been massively overweight, I used to hold onto a bit of extra weight around my cheeks and stomach.
I was always active and playing at a high level of basketball, but I could never manage to lose those last few pounds of weight around my stomach until I started to apply these principles to move my body into alignment with nature’s laws.
Having those extra pounds also contributed to other issues like low energy, constantly being sick, having a lot of brain fog and lack of motivation.
It was an absolute game-changer once I started providing my body what it needed to thrive. This is one of the biggest reasons I’m here sharing what I’ve learned with you.
1. Eat the Food Your Body Was Designed For
When we eat a wide variety of the real natural foods that nature has provided us (wholefoods), instead of processed man-made junk, they provide us with everything the body needs to thrive and maintain a healthy weight.
Plant-based wholefoods, in particular, provide the body with a lot of fiber and water content. This helps to naturally fill up the stomach and make us feel satiated with lower calories.
They also provide the nutrients our bodies are calling for. This again makes us feel satisfied. Not looking for more nourishment like processed junk food does as they provide little to no nutritional value.
So before eating, ask yourself ‘did this food naturally grow in nature? or is it man-made and processed?’.
Obviously there are degrees of how much food has been processed. But getting it as close to the source as possible is always best. You don’t need to stress if you’re having a smoothie or cooking vegetables though haha.
You also don’t need to be perfect all the time. But ideally, your body needs the vast majority of its calories to be from natural foods it was designed for. Though this all depends on your personal goals, situation, and philosophy.
The best thing is you don’t need to sacrifice on flavor or enjoyment.
There are so many incredible recipes and restaurants out there these days that will allow you to still love the food you eat while losing weight healthily.
2. Get Back in Balance
Another benefit of eating wholefoods, particularly green vegetables, is that they provide the body with a lot of alkaline nutrients (antioxidants).
Alkaline nutrients, like magnesium, potassium and calcium, allow the body to function at its best and mitigate the issues of an overly acidic diet.
An overly acidic diet causes the body to hold onto weight as a protection mechanism to store excess acids away from your organs for survival and optimal health.
You still require some acidic foods to function at our best, like grains and meats (if they work well with your body). However, the modern western diet is completely out of balance.
By supplying your body with a large amount of alkaline nutrients you balance this out and allow your body to use these nutrients to neutralize any excess acids and not have to hold onto the excess weight for protection.
If you’re anything like me though, you don’t necessarily want to have to be perfect all the time.
You still probably want to be able to eat out, not stress over every meal and you don’t necessarily want your entire life to be taken over. This is about being practical for the world we live in.
I believe a healthy lifestyle should only add to the enjoyment of your life. Not take away from it and make it a chore.
So what I do is have an alkaline green drink each morning to give my body a huge hit of alkaline nutrients so that my body has the support it needs to balance out anything life throws at me that is less than optimal for my health.
It’s also simply a great addition to any healthy lifestyle with all of the challenges this modern society forces on our bodies like pollution, electromagnetic fields, and stress.
3. Skip Breakfast to Lose Weight Healthily
When we were living in nature, we didn’t have 24/7 access to food as we do in this modern world.
We would regularly go for long amounts of time between meals. This is how our bodies evolved to function optimally, by feasting and fasting. This is also known as intermittent fasting.
It gives all of our bodily systems a rest to focus on repair and healing rather than putting so much energy into constantly digesting food all day long.
In this repair and healing phase, the body has the chance to balance hormones as well as use fat as its primary energy source.
The body begins to produce more growth hormone which assists in building more muscle and burning more fat. It also increases insulin sensitivity to further assist in losing weight healthily.
After around 16 hours of fasting, the body enters autophagy where it begins to cleanse the blood of any unused tissues, transforming them into ketones for energy and further increasing the body’s ability to burn fat.
By skipping breakfast and beginning to eat your food at 12pm, then finishing by 8pm, it gives your body a 16 hour fast where you can reap all the benefits.
Your Body Will Become More Efficient
The more you apply this, the more efficient your body becomes at burning fat as it’s primary energy source.
Another benefit for weight loss is that since you have a shorter eating window, you’ll naturally begin to reduce your calories. Especially if you’re eating wholefoods that keep you more satiated as discussed above.
However, you’ll need to monitor this and make sure you’re eating enough. This is about healthy long-term sustainable weight loss, never starving yourself.
Always honor your body’s signals, if you’re truly hungry – eat. Though it does take a bit of inner reflection to tell when the body is actually hungry and when you’re just eating out of stress, routine or boredom.
You can read more about the benefits of intermittent fasting and how to apply it here.
4. Your Body Was Made to Move
Obviously, moving your body plays a large factor in losing weight.
But you definitely want to make sure you have your nutrition covered first. This is because it’s very hard to out-work a poor diet.
For example, you can workout for an hour every day and perhaps burn up to 300-400 calories each session.
But if you follow that up with a junk food meal of 1500 calories each time, you’ll never be able to work those calories off.
That being said, moving your body is still an absolutely essential part of the puzzle, once you have your nutrition covered.
You don’t need to be working out for hours every single day though. Just as little as 30 minutes 3-4 times per week is all that’s needed.
Personally, since I began applying the above principles I’ve found it effortless to have abs all year round with very minimal exercise (I only did about 10-20 minutes of yoga every other day in 2019 as my life was so busy, though I have massively increased my exercise levels in 2020 to take my health to another level).
Whereas before I could never manage to lose those last few pounds. Even with huge amounts of time and effort dedicated to exercise. I’m simply sharing this to illustrate the power of fueling your body with proper nutrition.
Daily Movement
Ideally, though, I do recommend moving your body each day. Even if its just light stretching just to keep the blood pumping and endorphins flowing. It really does become a positive addiction once you get in the flow of things.
Simply pick something that you enjoy and start from whatever level is comfortable for you.
Even if it’s just a 10-minute walk around the block at first, start there and build on it. Do that for a week then increase the walk to 15 minutes.
Again, all of this comes down to consistent habits that you find enjoyable and can do sustainably without it taking over your life.
Another great activity to start with is yoga as it doesn’t take any equipment and you can do it in the privacy of your own home. Simply search on YouTube for ’10-minute full body yoga routines’ and follow along to get started.
If you choose to incorporate intermittent fasting into your daily routine, you can also do your workouts in the morning when you’re in a fasted state as that will help accelerate the fat-burning process.
But always listen to your body. Make sure you don’t push yourself too hard if you’re not used to working out while fasting.
5. Relax, Rest, Have Fun and be Kind to Yourself
Even if you’re applying all of the above, it will be very difficult to lose weight if you’re constantly stressed and in ‘fight or flight mode’. This is because your body will be releasing hormones in unhealthy amounts that are detrimental to your health and weight loss goals.
The modern world we live in is such a fast-paced, unnatural world that is so far different from the natural world we evolved in for millions of years.
We’ve changed our environment so much over the past 200 or so years. But we haven’t really changed that much biologically. It’s no wonder we have so many health issues arising these days.
This is why it’s so important to take the time to nurture yourself.
Have fun and do the things that bring you joy. Spend time with people you love. Practice self-love. Take time out to meditate and calm your mind. Give your body the sleep and rest it needs.
We’re holistic beings and we need to look after all aspects of our life; physical, mental and spiritual.
You Don’t Need to Be Perfect to Lose Weight Healthily
When making these and any positive changes, always remember to celebrate the small wins. Just take it one day at a time and focus on the small improvements and growth along the way.
Be kind to yourself and enjoy the process.
After applying these changes for a few weeks you’ll begin to get positively addicted to a new way of being. Living in alignment with nature’s natural laws – the way the body was designed to thrive.
The benefits will go far beyond just losing weight.
You’ll have so much more energy, start experiencing an incredible feeling of wellness and self-confidence and begin to truly love and appreciate your body and who you are.
You and every human being on the planet deserve to be happy in their own skin because you truly are amazing in your own unique and beautiful way.
Did you enjoy the article? What changes are you going to commit to so that you can begin your healthy weight loss journey? If you have any questions please leave them in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you 🙂
