Can’t lose weight? Here’s Why…

If you’ve tried but can’t lose weight it is probably not your fault. The quality of our foods and the way your metabolism reacts are probably the causes.

There are so many rubbish diets and food plans, detox programs and celebrity systems that are more designed to sell magazines and spa retreats than help you lose weight. Think about it. If ‘qualified dieticians’ can’t agree on a sensible diet what hope do celebrities have?

The best idea is to rely on the food scientists with the most up to date research at their fingertips and if they are not talking antioxidants, metaflammation, lifestyle medicine and glycobiology or are suggesting that conventional fruits and vegetables are enough for a healthy diet, then beware. They are living in the Dark Ages of nutrition.

It’s not you. It’s ... – well, it’s our food

If you have followed my past blogs on the sugar, sucrose which is being bred into our fruits and vegetables or the new protein called gliadin which has been introduced into wheat over the last 40 years, you’ll know the reasons we are gaining weight as a population. Check them out herehere and here.

You may have followed my articles or heard me interviewed on the falling nutritional density of our diets and how we are unconsciously ‘foraging’ for micro-nutrients such as minerals and antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and enzyme regulators. These components are largely missing from our modern diets and as we are ‘driven’ to satiate our metabolic needs for these ingredients we eat what we can find which are generally high energy, nutritionally dilute foods and we get fat in the process.

So what are the critical biochemical processes that are involved in making us fat?

Insulin is the biggie here

This hormone is produced by the pancreas in response to sugars we consume. Interestingly, even sugar replacements such as aspartame and stevia can cause increased production of insulin so our pancreas is in some ways reacting to the sweet taste our brains detect in our food and drink rather than the sugars we absorb. This makes sense as once the sugars are in the blood, it’s a little late for insulin production.

We also know that fat digestion starts in the mouth with added saliva production and neural signals that induce the production of enzymes needed later in the digestion process and which help the assimilation of both, fats and proteins.

Once the pancreas produces the insulin, the hormone circulates through our body to stimulate cells to absorb sugars for use as energy to fuel our actions, thoughts and unconscious processes.

But there are some problems caused by high sugar intakes and a lack of micro-nutrients. Over time, our cells become insulin resistant and leave sugars circulating in the blood. This induces insulin’s second role: It plays a part in stimulating the maturation of beta cells in our adipose tissues (fat stores). These grow to fully fledged storage cells which then accumulate fat and will never disappear even though losing weight might shrink them. Insulin also helps the metabolic switch from using sugars as energy to storing them as fat in the prepared cells of our fat tissues between our organs and as marbling in our muscles (human wagyu).

Control insulin and you reduce fat gain

The good news is that antioxidants play a role in reducing insulin resistance and maintain our cells’ ability to absorb sugars effectively, lowering blood sugars and lessening the fat storage potential. It appears that the receptors on our cells’ surfaces for insulin are a lock and key type of binding and the receptors actually flex to match the insulin molecule. This flexibility is maintained by antioxidants and lost in their absence.

Fortunately, LIFE (Lyophilized Indigenous Food Essentials)™ is a great source of a wide range of antioxidants (and anti-inflammatories, mineral absorption promoters, enzymes and enzyme regulators and more). Read more about it here.

I recommend taking 5g (1 teaspoonful) in water or a mix of water and say, apple juice, about 30 to 60 minutes before meals to allow time to get the antioxidants into your cells. Do this regularly and monitor your weight. Naturally, I also strongly suggest you drink lots of water, get some exercise (I’ll write up a review on some new work on how to get the equivalent of a 90 minute run in just 5 minutes) and try to have at least 7 to 8 hours sleep each night.


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