@drgreghealth: After 25 years in functional medicine, here's what I've learned: For most people, their weight is not a willpower problem. It's a signaling problem. Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated, and elevated cortisol pushes your body to hold onto fat, especially around the midsection, no matter how well you're eating. On top of that, inflammation, gut issues, toxic burden, and hidden infections disrupt the hormone leptin, the one that tells your brain you're full and it's safe to burn fat. You can be doing everything right with food and still have a body stuck in a stress and inflammation loop it can't get out of on its own. That's why calorie counting alone often fails. Find the root. Heal the whole.