individuals give up and surrender to it, hiding their angers and anxieties deep
within them. This of course can compound the problem.
Let’s examine the reasons behind obesity. First and foremost we have the
endocrine glandular system. Show me obesity and I’ll show you an
underactive condition of the thyroid and adrenal glands. Hypothyroidism is
one of the most common causes of obesity. Many medical doctors use a
blood test to determine the hypo- or hyperactivity of the thyroid gland. They
generally test the TSHs, T3s and T4s in your blood to determine how your
thyroid is functioning. (See Appendix D for a complete overview of blood
tests and how to interpret your own results.) After years of observation it has
become quite evident to me that these tests are highly inaccurate. This is why
the Basal Temperature Test (see Appendix A) was designed. I’ve seen
thousands of cases in which a person’s T3s and T4s are normal and the
patient is sitting in front of me with cold extremities, loss of hair, fatigue,
brittle or ridged fingernails, heart problems, depression or voice weakness,
just to name a few of the classic signs of hypothyroidism.
The adrenal glands are the second most common cause of obesity when
the adrenal cortex becomes hypoactive. This can affect various steroids that
deal with carbohydrate metabolism, which means that complex sugars
(starch) and even glucose can be easily converted to fat instead of properly
metabolized. Of course the master gland, the pituitary, can also be involved.
The third and most popular cause of obesity is dietary habits. We are a
society that loves disaccharides. These are complex sugars, including sucrose,
dextrose, maltose and lactose. Our body can only use simple sugars: glucose;
fructose; or in infants, galactose. All complex sugar molecules must be
broken down into simple sugars before cells can use them for energy. The
excess is then converted into and stored as glycogen or as fat. The average
American diet also includes a great many saturated fats which, in an acidic
environment, saturate even further. This makes them unavailable to cells for
nutrition and energy. This also creates a glue-like condition within the blood
and vascular system. Stones, plaque formation and the sticking together of
red blood cells are side effects.
Starches, such as grains, have become very popular among homo
sapiens. Unsprouted grains are very low in available nutrition, acid-forming,
fattening, hard to digest, and are a gluey starch. The reason we feed grain to
cattle and hogs is to fatten them up for market.
Genetics, of course, play a large role in our body’s consciousness. Every