Drs. Richard and Karilee Shames

 The word “obesity” comes from the Latin obesus from the verb obedere, “to eat away”.  

Despite the best efforts of western medicine, people are not improving at the rates they could be. When exercise is added to the health regimen, people quickly begin to recover. Those who do not recover or feel well after exercising may need some hormone balancing

We wish to share with you the major causes of obesity:

1.    Unwise food choice
2.    Increased portion size
3.    Lack of sufficient exercise
4.    Gland imbalance, often remains undiagnosed.

Unwise Food choices:  Here in Mexico, as in other parts of the world, there are many foods commonly ingested that are contributing to a massive epidemic of overweight, the with many life-threatening conditions that accompany this situation, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and others.

What is interesting is that in Mexico, the staples have been rice, beans, and vegetables, a most healthy way of eating. Sadly, the large companies have enticed the people here, as most everywhere, to eat many fried and fast foods filled with sugars and other unhealthy products. We say eat as natural as you can; and if you can’t pronounce the ingredients, don’t eat it!

Portion Size: Now, instead of drinking many glasses of restorative water each day, even the children here are being raised on Coca Cola and soda pop, sold in liters and larger. The larger sizes of soda pop compared to the size of Coca Cola bottles when we were young (7 ounces) is illustrative of a larger and more menacing change: food portions in general have increased dramatically, both at supermarkets and restaurants.

Also popular today are “all you can eat” cafeteria-style eateries, which we hope are not catching on here in Mexico. Sadly, many of our worst north-American habits are finding their ways into Mexico.

A prime example of unhealthy habits spreading southward is seen in the proliferation here of big box stores.  By selling extra-jumbo sizes of almost everything cheaply, these stores are encouraging people to eat more highly-processed, lower quality food in a shorter time frame; once you open a large package, you must eat or drink it all within a short time.

Another effect of the large stores is seen in the growing forced closure of more and more little family “tiendas”, neighborhood stores that sell more appropriate portion sizes. In addition, people are now able to shop almost 24/7, meaning that many more are reporting to work on Sundays now, which in the past was primarily a day of needed rest for families here. We hope they can return to a more balanced lifestyle, one that we came here to embrace!

We love Mexico partly because of its beautiful and special family orientation, the way the families gather and enjoy each other’s company, something we in America rarely do any more. We would hate to see our community and adopted country become more like the country we left behind in our efforts to live in a saner society.

Lack of sufficient exercise is another major factor in the obesity epidemic. Amid good weather most of the year in our area, many people are traveling by motorized transportation, whereas here they used to walk all across and beyond the town’s borders.

In Holland, almost everyone rides a bicycle to work and back and for shopping, as well as to take the children across town, it is common to see 2 and 3 story parking garages solely for bicycles. We have photos of those bicycles, thousands of bicycles. Their levels of obesity are much better than ours, partly due to this constant exercise level as a part of their daily lives.

Tired Glands: Another major factor in the obesity epidemic is the dramatic increase in the incidence of metabolic conditions, frequently undiagnosed, contributing to and sometimes totally causing their overweight. These glandular problems are a result of family tendencies (diabetes and thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine, Parkinson’s and Alzheimers’ Disease, and other autoimmune conditions), combined with increasing pollution of our air, food, and water, with hormone-disrupting synthetic chemicals.

Body parts most affected by excess synthetic chemicals are:

·    Adrenal glands, which help us in stressful situations

·    Insulin-producing tissue in the pancreas, which helps to control our blood sugar

·    Thyroid gland, which controls our body temperature, energy, and eventual body weight.  

Getting a proper diagnosis of these gland situations can save you years of time merely chasing symptoms, by simply addressing the root cause instead.

Dr.Rich helped a family this week that had spent years being told there was nothing metabolically wrong with their daughter being over 250 pounds; she just needed to eat less and exercise more. Yet a simple family history revealed an extensive and compelling family story, filled with many relatives suffering from diabetes and thyroid problems for generations.

The endocrinologist who provided an incomplete diagnosis of  “no metabolic challenge” did not take into account the strong family history, nor did it include any of the necessary glandular blood tests. Instead his diagnosis was made strictly from the appearance of the patient and a few simple questions.


We make the following suggestions to help you maintain your ideal weight:

1.    Eat as naturally as possible, using as few processed foods as possible.

2.    Keep portion sizes to a minimum. Stop eating well before you are full.

3.    Participate daily in some form of physical activity (physical labor, dance, walking, yoga, bike riding, swimming, whatever you enjoy).

4.    If you suspect tired glands, provide your practitioner with a complete family history, and insist upon a full panel of thyroid, adrenal, and blood sugar tests.

Happy Healing!

Drs. Karilee & Rich Shames

Drs. Rich and Karilee Shames, MD and RN, are practitioners in Northern California, working with their daughter Georjana Grace Shames, Licensed Acupuncturist. They are authors of several health books and many articles.

They reside half time in Bucerias, where they provide educational coaching about hormone health and are hard at work on their next health project. Dr. Rich is still available during this time for phone coaching.  For more info go to: www.feelingfff.com

www.shameshealth.com