Decoding Obesity

Our guest on this episode has experienced obesity at close quarters. He suffered from it for all of his childhood and teenage years. But, when he got his calling to lose weight, he tweaked his lifestyle which gave him amazing results. He lost a whopping 140 lbs! How has he achieved this, you may ask? Listen to this episode to find out!   Chef Gino West, the owner of a meal preparation company called Prepped Wellness. Prepped Wellness is a meal-prep company operating in Youngstown, Ohio with a mission to deliver healthy and fresh meals to its customers.

In our previous episode, we have tackled fiber, but we were also able to take a glimpse into its relationship with our gut bacteria. Well, what is the gut microbiome and how does it impact our health? Our gut (gastrointestinal tract) definitely plays a big part in our overall health and that’s what we’re about to dive deeper into on today’s episode!   What we eat certainly nourishes us, but it also nourishes the vast amount of microbes present in our gut. Because of the diversity and the huge ‘community’ these microbes build, it is almost as if there is an ecosystem within each one of us. Our guest for this episode is Dr. Supriya Rao, a gastroenterologist in the Greater Boston Area. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, and Obesity Medicine. She has a very keen interest in the gut microbiome.

According to the 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the daily fiber intake of Americans is inadequate. We all have heard about the importance of fiber at some point in time. In this episode, we take a deep dive into how fiber works, its different types, and how it actually benefits our overall health.

Our diets can have a big role to play in obesity and but what about the effect of food on cardiovascular health? Health begins with the food we eat. Our arteries are the highways on which the blood transports oxygen and nutrients to various parts of the body. Atherosclerosis is the process of fat and cholesterol deposition in our arteries which can impede this essential process. Our very special guest shares her thoughts on how diet can impact atherosclerosis.

When you hear the word ‘obese’, what do we usually think of? When you encounter people suffering from obesity, what thoughts come to you? Do you see them as suffering from a disease that needs medical treatment or do you see them as people who are lazy, who lack willpower, and can’t do anything in life? Today’s guest is going to bust these myths today. Sean Mulroney has seen some exceedingly difficult times in his life translating to his weight gain, but he has come out stronger on the other side. He hosts a podcast called The Obesity Revolution and runs a program with his personal trainer to help people in a similar situation. Through his podcast, he tries to spread awareness about obesity to others.

Sleep is such an essential part of living. We spend nearly a third of our lives sleeping, and for good reason! Can you even imagine going a full day without sleep? We already know what sleep deprivation does to us mentally and physically. Unfortunately, sleep has taken a backseat in our fast-paced lives. It has become something people take for granted. Sleep is important for us, not just for our cognition but also for our overall health. It is especially important in obesity and weight loss. To tell us more about how sleep affects our overall health and how sleep deprivation relates to obesity, we have with us, Dr. Smitha Patel.    Dr. Smitha Patel is Board certified in Neurology, Sleep Medicine, and Integrated Medicine. She has launched iNeuro Institute which provides services in Integrative Neurology and sleep education.

Do you normally pay attention to what sequence you eat your meal in? What would happen if you reversed the sequence? In the last episode, we did touch a bit on how meal sequencing affects the blood sugar spikes in our bodies. Today, we discuss this particular topic in depth. Tune in to this episode as we dive a little deeper into the science behind meal sequencing.

Sugar is an ingredient every single person on Earth probably knows about—from the babies up to the elderly. We have always known its familiar taste, the comfort it brings, and are even aware of its negative effects on our body. Today, more and more people from different walks of life are having issues with their blood sugar shooting up and their diabetes becoming a hindrance to a comfortable and healthy everyday life. In this episode, we will discuss two terms associated with carbohydrates and obesity— glycemic index and glycemic load.