There comes a point in everyone’s life when they start to expand around the waist. For some, it’s an eternal battle that just becomes harder-fought with age. For others, it is the first unpleasant realisation that you can no longer eat what you like without spilling over your jeans.
Worryingly, experts now understand that the fat that collects around the abdomen has dangerous implications for our health – raising blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and increasing your risk of diabetes, Alzheimer’s and even some cancers. It’s far more sinister than fat elsewhere in the body.
But now, a husband-and-wife GP team have come up with a diet plan that targets this stubborn fat, stripping inches off the waistline and promising to shift up to 20 lb in just six weeks.
The authors, Dr Mary Dan Eades and Dr Michael Eades, have drawn on two decades of experience running obesity clinics in the U.S. Not only will you lose this dangerous fat, but you’ll do so drinking shakes made with cream; and after the first two weeks, you are actively encouraged to include oils and fats in your diet.
The plan has been devised to force your body to use this harmful abdominal fat as fuel, while at the same time re-training it to store fat in a more healthy and slim-waisted way.
The 6-Week Cure for th...
Best Price: $1.10
Buy New $8.50
(as of 12:15 UTC - Details)
TRICKING YOUR BODY TO SHED WEIGHT
Beating your middle-aged middle is all about tricking your body into reversing some of the harmful processes that lead to it.
Spread is caused by a combination of factors, including poor diet, changing hormones and certain medications.
The problem with poor diet is that it can lead to ‘fatty liver’ – a condition that affects one-third of people in Western populations.
While the exact cause is not clear, excessive consumption of sugar and omega-6 fats ( polyunsaturated fatty acids found in vegetable oils) in modern diets is thought to be to blame.
‘Fatty liver’ affects the organ’s ability to perform one of its primary jobs, detoxification – the breaking down of harmful toxic substances such as drugs, environmental pollutants and hormones.
Nutiva Organic, Cold P...
Buy New $29.38
(as of 09:57 UTC - Details)
Meanwhile, the body is also coming under pressure from too much sugar in the diet; and this, combined with stress, causes high blood sugar levels. The body produces more insulin to mop it all up, but a fatty liver can’t break it down as it should and it ends up as more fat in the middle of the body.
Hormones add to this. The female hormone oestrogen instructs the body to store fat on the hips and thighs; but as levels decline with age, the target for storage shifts to the abdomen.
Likewise, men experience a drop in testosterone levels. And if they have high insulin levels or a fatty liver, this can lead to more fat on their breasts and bellies.
The problem is not just one of aesthetics, either. The fat that gathers in and around the vital organs in the abdomen is called ‘visceral fat’, and it behaves very differently to ordinary ‘subcutaneous fat’, which settles all over the body under the skin.
In fact, when there’s enough of it, visceral fat can behave like an active organ that responds to brain chemicals and hormones and sends out its own chemical messages.
One of the things it triggers is inflammation in the blood vessels – damaging them and making it more likely for your blood to form clots, which is bad news for the coronary arteries. Some scientists believe that this, not cholesterol in the blood, triggers cardio-vascular disease.
The two Dr Eades argue that middle-age spread doesn’t respond readily to the old adage of ‘eat less and exercise more’. But with the right nutritional tools, it can be quickly reduced.
L-Leucine 227 Grams (1...
Check Amazon for Pricing.
SO HOW DOES THE DIET WORK?
The diet kicks off with a two-week programme of nutritionally-packed home-made protein shakes. In the first week, they target the liver, reducing its load by banning toxins like caffeine and alcohol and by encouraging it to give up its accumulated fat reserves so it can function normally again.
The shakes are based on the principle that high levels of protein send a signal to the brain and cells that you’ve been nourished. Basically, you feel full despite the fact that you haven’t consumed many calories.
The shakes also contain leucine, an amino acid found in meat, thought to accelerate weight loss. Leucine also helps prevent or slow the loss of lean body muscle which often occurs with rapid weight loss. (What dieters often don’t realise is that you actually need muscle in order to burn calories.)
Controversially, the shakes contain saturated fat in the form of coconut milk or double cream. The authors claim this is because saturated fat has been shown to help the liver metabolise and burn any fat collected there.
April 7, 2010
