Causes of Disease (and Weight Gain)

In 2016, a physician from the UK, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee gave a TEDx talk about disease, and the title of his talk was How To Make Disease Disappear,  chronic diseases. He started overthinking his medical knowledge when his 5-year old son nearly died. So he went back to study human health further and learned in the process that he was much more efficient as a doctor when he eliminated the root causes instead of treating the symptoms.

While I was watching the video I always thought, “This is exactly the same like with weight loss.” Being overweight is most of the time a chronic disease as well.

Then he said something that pieked my interest even more – something I have already known for years, but now I got proof for that by a physician. He said that the medical society is quite good at treating acute diseases, but that the problem is that they try to treat chronic diseases the exact same way like they treat acute diseases. He continued saying that chronic and acute diseases are two completely different things and require completely different strategies.

While I was watching I was jumping up and down on my seat and constantly exlaiming, “Yes! Yes! Exactly! Finally a doctor is talking about that important topic! Yeah!”

He then went on talking about the causes, and named things like:

  • eating too much junk food
  • chronic stress
  • sleep deprivation (just one night of sleep deprivation can lead to the same insuline resistance like six months of eating junk food)
  • chronic inflammation
  • physical inactivity
  • a lack of exposure to the sun (lack of Vitamin D)
  • discruptions in the gut microbiom

Does that sound familiar to you? If you’re on my list for longer, it certainly should.

“The problem is that there are many different causes of insuline resistence (for example). And if we don’t address the causes for that particular patient, we will never get rid of the disease.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

Now when he said, “Diseases are the symptom…” he really began to speak my ‘language’. Instead of asking, “What is the cure to this disease?” he began to ask, “What is the root cause? What triggered the disease?” Like I say it regarding weight issues, Dr. Chatterjee also says that when many people have the same disease, they can all still have different root causes which lead to the very same disease. This is exactly the same like with excess weight. Each overweight person has her own individual set of root causes.

The root causes he lists for ANY diseases are:

  • Stress
  • Sleep
  • Physical Activity
  • Gut Health
  • Infections
  • Environmental Toxins
  • Sunlight
  • Diet

Every single chronic disease he was talking about could be associated with one or several of these root causes. And he clearly said that once ALL of the INDIVIDUAL root causes where eliminated, the body could begin to heal and the disease will be reversed.

All these causes plus many more I have been sharing with you for years. But did you take this seriously? Did you believe me? Did you take care of your root causes? If not, it is my hope that you begin to listen now and believe what comes from a doctor’s mouth. 

“We need to update our thinking. Our genetics are NOT our destiny! Our genes load the gun but it’s our environment that pulls the trigger.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

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Although this talk only covers physical causes like sleep, exercise, gut health, etc., it still applies to maintainable weight loss as well. Because extra weight – especially obesity – is nothing else but a chronic disease.

Everything – literally everything – Dr. Chatterjee said in his talk completely and totally applies to our topic weight loss as well. EVERYTHING, with no exception.

Just think about, if you only could start changing these eight physical root causes Dr. Rangan mentioned, how far would you get? Changing the physical root causes is what leads to fast weight loss. Then, once you will be ready to take it a step further, you and I can begin to talk about the impact your emotions, your mindset, your subconscious mind – your psychology – has on your weight and how you can reverse that part of the issue.

Those of you who know me longer and better will not be surprised when I say that I take this further….much further. I firmly believe that we humans are body, mind, and spirit and that we can’t get cut in pieces or slices. We are whole beings and need to be treated as such, on the body, mind and spirit levels. Then you will begin to make your weight loss MAINTAINABLE!

“We need personalized medizine. We need precision medicine. If you actually take a step back, this is preventative medicine in its purest form.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

Likewise we also need a personalized weight loss strategy. Each of us has her individual bunch of possible root causes that need to be addressed to lose weight. That’s why the diet approach is so ridiculous.  Although exercise is very important for good health as well as for a nicely toned body, it still should never be the only tactic, especially for women. 

“We have to stop applying 20th Century thinking to 21st Century problems. We need to take back control, empower ourselves and re-educate ourselves away from our fear of disease and right back down the curve to optimal health.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

For thousands of years people got only fat through crapulousness. Therefore cutting down on the amount was the only way of losing weight back then. But today we live in a complex world with complex problems. We have hormonal problems, we have a toxic overload, we have food intolerances, we live in an overradiated world where our sleep is constantly disturbed. No longer is diet the only cause of weight gain, actually, with so much healthy food we have today it hardly ever is. And therefore it seldom is the solution either. It can sometimes be part of an overall weight loss strategy, but even then you would look behind the eating habit and ask “Why?” Very often overeating has deeper causes, some are of physical nature (i.e. a parasite overgrowth) and other causes are psychological. 

Complex problems call for complex solutions. So let’s start right away by eliminating one cause after the other, like pealing an onion. 

Now allow me to change one of Dr. Chatterjee’s statements and adjust it to the topic weight loss:

If we do that (take back control, empower ourselves and re-educate ourselves away from fear to optimal health) – you and I together – we can not only change our weight and health,  the weight and health of our families, next the weight and health of our communities, and eventually the weight and health of the entire world.

Happy weight loss!