1. Your body is not producing enough Adiponectin.
Adiponectin is literally the hormone that tells your body to burn fat
for fuel. And it’s like your body’s “fat burning torch.”
The research is clear that low levels of Adiponectin are associated with
a higher incidence of obesity.
The frustrating thing about Adiponectin is
that the fatter you are, the lower your levels – which are why LOSING fat is so
darn difficult at the beginning. You need a kick start…
So here are 2 “at home” methods for naturally boosting your Adiponectin
levels and stoking your fat burning fire:
- Increase your magnesium intake, either by taking a
high quality supplement, which is quite inexpensive, or by consuming seeds
– pumpkin seeds are great – and green, leafy vegetables like spinach and
kale.
- A much more aggressive approach is to do
something called “intermittent fasting,”
which has been shown to significantly increase Adiponectin levels. This
works by fasting one day, and then eating big the next... and so on. While
it can work for weight loss, the jury is still out as to whether this is
healthy or not. Plus, who wants to live this way?
There’s another solution I will get to later
that I think you’ll really enjoy.
Now let’s move on to the hormone that’s keeps you famished and running
to the fridge, especially at night, which is the worst possible time to be
overeating.
2. Too Much Ghrelin
Ghrelin is called the “Hunger Hormone” and, basically, the more ghrelin
you have in your system, the hungrier you are.
So if you find yourself fighting cravings and can’t seem to stay away
from the fridge after dinner, it’s probably due to elevated ghrelin levels…
And the hard fact is that ghrelin works directly on the hunger center of
your brain by activating the brain’s reward response to highly addictive
sweet, fatty foods. This increases your food intake at the worst possible
time, usually at night, and ultimately makes you gain more weight.
Even worse, it appears ghrelin makes us fatter whether we eat more or
not.
You can see now why losing fat is almost impossible with elevated
ghrelin levels.
But here’s something you can start doing TONIGHT
to lower your ghrelin levels and feel more satisfied tomorrow...
Get More ZZZ’s
New research makes it clear that even low levels of sleep deprivation
increase
your ghrelin levels and lead to more fat
being stored in your body.
Most people need between 6-8 hours of sleep and jacking yourself up in
the morning with caffeine or energy drinks is exactly the WRONG thing to do if
you want to lose weight, which you’ll see why in just a moment.
But if you thought Ghrelin was bad news for your waistline, YOU need to
see what’s been dubbed the “Fat Storage Hormone.”
3.
Insulin Resistance
If you’re overweight, there’s a good chance
that you’re experiencing some level of insulin imbalance, resulting in excess
glucose, or sugar, in your system.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re diabetic, it does mean
that your body’s insulin, or glucose regulator, becomes less effective at
lowering your blood sugars.
The end result is that instead of using the excess sugar to feed your
muscles or burning it for energy - most of the carbohydrates you consume get
stored as fat.
It’s simple, if you have insulin
resistance it makes it virtually impossible to lose fat…
But there’s a surprisingly simple trick to
addressing the excess glucose problem, and it just might already be in your
kitchen cupboard...
A recent study found that consuming
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before a high carb meal
significantly reduces blood glucose levels for those people with insulin
resistance, which is that imbalance I spoke about.
While this might not be appetizing for everyone, the study did say that
apple cider vinegar might work as well as prescription drugs at regulating
blood sugar.
But even if you do drink your vinegar, you’ll
still continue to store additional fat, especially abdominal fat, if you don’t
keep this final fat burning barrier at bay.
4.
Cortisol Overload
Your body produces cortisol in response to stress and ramps you up so
you can be ready to fight or flee.
This CAN be a good thing in dangerous situations, like if you were to
run across a bear while hiking.
But the constant stress we’re all under
in today’s hectic, 24/7, crisis-driven world elevates our cortisol levels
far beyond what we were originally designed to handle.
The result is a quadruple whammy on your waistline:
Number
one: excess cortisol increases your cravings for sweets and carbs,
which can lead to overeating and constant hunger.
Number
two: Cortisol causes your body to actually BREAK DOWN your muscle tissue
for energy. Which is absolutely the worst thing for weight loss since the
less muscle you have, the lower your metabolism will be and the more fat you’ll
gain.
Number
three: Elevated cortisol levels cause a larger percentage of fat to be
stored in the abdominal area. What’s worse is that the more abdominal fat
you have, the more cortisol you produce in response to stress, which then
causes more abdominal fat to be stored.
Finally, recent studies link high cortisol
levels to depression in adults and children. And we all know that when
you’re depressed, you eat MORE.
It’s like a vicious cycle with no end in
sight!
So here is how to lower cortisol in three
steps…
First of all, you need to know that caffeine increases cortisol
secretion in people undergoing mental stress. For many of us, that’s just about
all the time. So, the first thing you need to do is to greatly reduce or even
eliminate your caffeine intake.
Next, and don’t roll your eyes at this one, but layer in some exercise
into your routine. Even just walking for 30 minutes each day will work
wonders.
Lastly, here’s a really good exercise I use
with my patients (and my family) that reduces stress fast: As you’re
sitting there, simply breathe in through your nose and count to four, hold it
for 2 seconds. (Make sure to breathe into your belly -- it should expand).
Then let the air out through your mouth until it’s comfortable – then
pause for one second. Repeat this 8 times and you’ll reset your stress
response… easy!
The Fat Burning Barrier No One Talks About:
Unscrupulous Supplement Manufacturers
As I promised earlier, I’m going to tell you why all the diet supplements you’ve tried have failed to work. And it’s disturbing…
First: I look for double blind, placebo
controlled clinical studies... ON HUMANS… You’d be surprised how
many supplement companies base their claims on animal studies. And the truth
is… what works on mice, rarely works on humans.
Second: Even if there are double blind human studies
on an ingredient, almost every company I’ve come across neglects to put the
same exact ingredient used in the research into their formulation!
For example, there’s a green coffee bean (which we’ll talk about later)
that has solid human clinical studies backing it up. However, the research was
only on a green coffee bean sourced from a specific region and extracted in
a special way.
What too many supplement companies do is find a cheap source for the ingredient
(China, for example) and don’t use the proper extraction method. The real
active ingredient is then either nonexistent or in such small quantities as to
be worthless.
They do this to save money…. Lots of money! As cheaper sources can often
be found for less than 1/10 the price of the real thing…
Finally, (also to cut costs) even if they do
happen to include the right ingredient – they rarely, if ever, include the same
amount of the ingredient used in the study to get the claimed result. They usually
hide this in a “proprietary” formula… or just assume that most consumers won’t
have access to the research.
The reason they do this is because ingredients that work are not cheap
when delivered at the right dose.
So when shopping for supplements, make sure
to ask yourself:
Has the ingredient actually been researched in human double blind
studies?
Is it the real ingredient used in the study? And...
Are you getting the ingredient at the real dose?
Reference
Dr. Steven Sisskind, M.D.
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