Weight Management

Whether you’re struggling to lose some extra unwanted weight or are fighting to add a few pounds, safe and sustainable weight management is a sensible way forward.

Trying to lose weight can be a very difficult and often painful task to tackle if, for instance, past efforts to follow the latest ‘fad’ diet have resulted in failure.

The conventional medical establishment still sees the only cause of being overweight as overeating and continue to advocate the calorie approach to weight loss, which is almost never effective in the long term. Repeated dieting can reduce the rate at which your body is able to burn food for energy (the metabolic rate). So, over a number of years it becomes more difficult to lose weight, even though you may be practically starving yourself from time to time. Dieting can also reduce the level of sugar in the blood and the level of certain chemicals in the brain, which can lead to binge eating and mood changes. Additionally, the quest to eliminate calories by avoiding fat generally results in a deficiency of essential fatty acids, which are vital to the body’s metabolism.

Generally speaking repeated dieting only reduces the nutritional value of the diet still further, leading to deficiencies that may have an important impact on health in the long term.

Equally as frustrating are calls of “you lucky thing” for those who find it hard to put weight on and keep it there. You may well find you are turning to unhealthy choices just to try and pile on some calories which will not be doing your long term health any favours.

Perhaps you have struggled with an eating disorder either now or in the past. Problems such as binge eating, bulimia and anorexia all have a psychological background that needs to be addressed and along with the right emotional and psychological help, nutrition can make a difference in beating these often complicated conditions.

Please use the menu on the right to find out more about the conditions listed.

Please do not return samples to the laboratories that may arrive after Wednesday 27th March and up to and including Monday 2nd April.

The laboratories are closed from the 28th March – 2nd April for the Easter Holiday.