There are various factors that cause obesity:
1. Overeating – intake of food is above the body’s requirement;
2. Low basal metabolism – caused by genetic factors or health disorders;
3. Highly efficient digestive system – caused by genetic factors or health disorders, for example, thyroid or pituitary gland disorders, or hormonal imbalance.
If your obesity problem is caused by the health disorders, then the best treatment for you is to treat your health disorders.
If your overweight problem is the result of excessive consumption of food, then you should control of intake of food.
But if you were born with a strong, highly efficient digestive system – eat little food, but still increase a lot of weight, then you should find a way to lower the efficiency of your digestive system, or increase your metabolism, or eat some alternative foods.
There are many herbal and natural remedies that can be helpful in the treatment of obesity and weight loss.
1. Sour foods and remedies – vinegar, lemon, lime, apple, tomato, and vitamin C. According to the traditional medicine and food theories, typically, sour and astringent herbs and foods tend to be cooling and drying, therefore tend to lower efficiency of the digestive system.
2. Spicy foods and remedies – garlic, onion, ginger, pepper, cinnamon and curry. These foods and remedies tend to be “hot”, warming and stimulant. They have fat-burning, blood-moving properties that boost metabolism and reduce fat accumulation.
3. Cooling foods and remedies – banana, watermelon, carrot, pear, water chestnut, lemon, tomato, bean curd (tofu), seaweed, mushroom, and oyster. These foods and remedies have the properties that cool down your body, thereby decrease the function of organs, and lower efficiency of the digestive system.
4. Diuretic foods and remedies – watermelon, green tea, coffee, and fresh corn. These foods or herbs increase flow of urine and thereby aid removal of fluids from the body, and reduce fat accumulation.
5. Alternative foods – low-calorie, lower-fat foods. So-called “Alternative foods” are something that fill your stomach and make you not feel hungry, but contain less nutritional elements than regular foods. These are something to “fool” your stomach if you are a helpless overeater.
