Winter time and weight loss are not always happy companions. Stews, hot cocoa, and sweets all add inches to the waistline and hips.
Luckily, there are some weird and wacky weight loss ideas that you can try for weight loss. Some of them I’ve tried (they work) and others I have not.
If nothing else, they’ll provide you some interesting entertainment.
Wacky Weight Loss Idea #1: Hold Your Breath
The idea is that if you hold you breath for 30 seconds at a time, several times a day, you can shed a few pounds. The reasoning behind this is that most of us don’t get enough oxygen in our systems through our ordinary breathing. This can be caused by shallow breathing, poor posture, spinal misalignments, or spending too much time indoors, where the air quality is poor.
If you hold your breath, your body can’t get oxygen through your respiratory system. Instead, it starts pulling oxygen in through the pores of your skin. Since the total surface of your skin is up to 27 square feet, that’s a lot of oxygen exchange. So you get more oxygen into your body, which in turn helps your cells work more effectively. More effective cells means that waste and toxins are moved out of your body at a higher rate.
This all makes sense, wacky though it is. Breathing exercises have long been used in various esoteric and yogic practices, so I believe in the validity in this exercise, with a few caveats. During the winter, you have to expose your skin so that it can “breathe,” which might mean running around in your undies for a bit each day. Also, your pores have to be relatively clean or your skin won’t breathe effectively. Bathing with Epsom salts can help with that. It’s definitely a wacky weight loss idea, but kind of fun.
Wacky Weight Loss Idea #2: Castor Oil Packs on the Abdomen
Now this idea I have tried and it does work. Did you know that we can store up to 15 pounds, or more, of waste in our intestines? It’s all indigested food that our bodies have not been able to process.
One simple way to start moving that toxic waste out of your system is by applying a castor oil pack to your abdominal area once a week for a month. This is an Edgar Cayce remedy and it works wonders. You’ll be surprised at what comes out your back end, so to speak. You can buy complete castor oil pack kits at most health food stores or at the Heritage store online. Instructions are freely available online.
Wacky Weight Loss Idea #3: Enzyme Therapy
Actually, this wacky idea has recently gone mainstream, with more and more people starting to understand the many uses of enzymes. You can use enzymes to do everything from brush your teeth to stopping the itch of poison ivy. It’s also great for weight loss.
Since we mostly eat cooked and pre-packaged foods, especially during cold weather, we eat foods that don’t have enough enzymes to digest themselves. Unfortunately, our bodies usually don’t have enough enzymes either. The end result is the 15 pounds of toxic sludge that accumulates in our gut. Luckily, you can start cleansing that sludge out of your system by taking 2-4 high-potency enzymes with meals AND between meals.
The enzymes you take with meals ensure that the food you eat is fully digested, so you don’t add more weight to the sludge already in your gut. The enzymes you take between meals go to work digesting the excess material in your gut and throughout your body. This promotes weight loss without a lot of effort. The convenience of this method is very attractive to busy people who don’t have a lot of time to spend on other methods.
Weight Loss Ideas: Wacky or Right On?
I’ve been trying the “hold your breath” method for only a few days so I can’t report on it except to say that it makes sense from a theoretical point of view. However, the second two approaches, enzyme therapy and castor oil packs, I can testify are effective for a great many people. They are a bit wacky, but also right on the money. They are also quite simple to do, so what have you got to lose except all that extra stuff around your belly?
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