By Dr. Denis Marier, MA, ND
Founder and Clinical Director
Canadian Clinic for Naturopathic Medicine

The most common New Year’s resolution I hear in my office in December and January is a commitment to lose weight, with a request for a magic pellet or herbal pill to make that happen. My answer is always the same, and always will be: “Losing weight is easy, you just have to change some of your habits!” So, the lead up to the new year begins with my advice to patients to practice moderation over the holidays - eat and drink the things that you enjoy, but try to consume only half of what you normally would (caloric restriction). Then I ask them to watch out for the calorie-thumpers laden with empty calories (sugar) and bad fats (usually the things that taste the best - like homemade snicker-doodle cookies, or those cookies my sister-in-law makes with chocolate chips, gooey centres and shredded sweetened coconut!). And then there’s the egg nog, alcohol, and Bailey’s...

We all have a pretty good idea of the things that are going to last a moment on the lips and a lifetime on the hips, so why don’t we practice restraint? Because it doesn’t feel good to deny ourselves anything, it’s the Holidays, and we’re celebrating, etc. So, I ask my patients to change the way they think about moderation; I ask them to tell themselves that they are CHOOSING to moderate their intake of food and drink that they know isn’t healthy, in order to make room in their life for health and vitality. By simply changing the way we think about “limitation” as a healthy choice, and not a denial of pleasure, our metabolism quickly gets the idea and readjusts itself. I never ask anyone to refrain completely from indulging in delights, unless we know they have a definite sensitivity or allergy to the ingredients.

Food sensitivity testing is a very quick, efficient way to find out what foods an individual is sensitive to. It is best done after eating a wide variety of foods within a two-week time period prior to testing. That’s why I often recommend that my patients intent on losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle in the new year do a simple blood test (a couple drops of blood from their finger) after the holidays. January is also a great time to do some detoxification work, either through food choices, or even homeopathic or metabolic cleansing. It’s important to know what we’re dealing with, so I often ask patients to book a Live Blood Cell analysis that can show cholesterol in the blood, candida (pathogenic yeast overgrowth), acid/base balance, and digestive functioning. This is another simple test that reveals an incredible wealth of information from just one drop of blood, analyzed under a specialized microscope. Live Blood Cell analysis can also show digestion problems and malabsorption, bacterial load and “leaky gut,” colon toxicity, heavy metal toxicity, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and much, much more.

And yes, I do have a few things in my dispensary which can help stimulate metabolism and weight loss, but they only come into the protocol once I know that my patients have gotten into some healthy eating habits, are digesting their food well, are balancing their hormones, and are committed to safe, effective weight loss which maximizes their potential for success.