Weight Loss Guaranteed!

Considering the
facts that 100 million Americans are either obese or overweight and that the
number one New Year’s resolution for most of us is weight loss, one of the most
surprising points about pound reduction is how simple it is to do. However, simple is not easy. In other words, while the biochemical principles
involved in losing fat are not complicated in theory, in actual practice, the steps
involved are more than likely to meet with resistance. That’s because, human beings are creatures of
habit and we HATE change. In fact, while
most people think that the most common fears are the fears of death or public
speaking or maybe the fear of the IRS, in actuality, what these, as well as all
fears have as their common denominator, is the fear of CHANGE. So if your fear of changing your lifestyle
and habits is too great, the only way you will accomplish the change of body
contour that comes with weight loss is probably going to be by using ephedrine
or Fastin or some or some other pharmacological furnishing. If however, you are truly ready to face the
changes that a thinner you mandate, the following are the only 10 steps you
need to take in the formation of a new skinnier you. And, what’s even better, as a reward for
taking the following steps, in addition to losing weight you will also:
-
drop
your blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health
-
improve
blood sugar and diabetic or pre-diabetic symptoms
-
reduce
your risks of cancer and degenerative diseases
-
improve
skin health
-
have
more energy
-
feel
a whole lot better

10 Steps to GUARANTEED Weight Loss

1)
Reduce
(eliminate) intake of insulin-spiking foods (breads, pasta, cereal, potatoes, corn, beans,
rice, fruit juice, soda, candy, desserts etc.).
2)
Strengthen
insulin with supplements (chromium, vanadium, thiamin, niacin, magnesium, zinc,
alpha lipoic acid etc.).
3)
Replace
insulin spiking foods with generous amounts of high quality protein (whey
protein, slightly cooked or raw eggs, hempseed protein powder, and fish.)
4)
Use
lots of unprocessed and essential fatty acid rich oils, preferably unheated
(Udo’s Blend, coconut, olive, macadamia nut, butter).
5)
The
bulk of calories should come from veggies of all varieties and colors (easy on
yam, beat and carrot). Daily intake
should be at least one pound of veggies for every 50 pounds of body
weight. Blend veggies with oils and
Celtic sea salt. Create veggies snacks.
6)
Stay
away from food allergens.
7)
Ingest
stomach stretching, non-caloric substances (fluids and fiber) with all meals. Drink copious amounts of water throughout the
day. Many times we eat foods when all we
really need is water. Distinguish hunger
from thirst!
8)
There
are two kinds of eating. The kind of
eating we WANT to do and the kind of eating we HAVE to do. Have to do eating occurs rarely. The large majority of caloric intake is not
based on need but rather on social and psycho-emotional requirements. Eat when hungry and DO NOT EAT when not
hungry (social, habit, taste, fun, boredom, etc.). And most importantly, daily nutritional
supplementation can significantly reduce reduce the amount of eating you have
to do.
9)
Use
metabolic stimulating and fat burning nutrients (B-complex, carnitine,
glutamine, iodine, Omega-3 EFAs, taurine, methionine etc.).
10) Drink water with Celtic Sea Salt and
nutrient drinks (e.g. Beyond Tangy Tangerine™) throughout the day.

If you have at least 5 or 10 pounds of weight to lose and you follow these 10 simple (if not easy!) steps, you will drop pounds, GUARANTEED!

Fructose is natural, but...

I've been thinking alot about fructose lately. And it seems like so are alot of other people. Every week I get between 10 and 20 letters asking for clarifications about this not-so-sweet subject. Fructose, known colloquially as fruit sugar seems like such an innocuous substance. After al, it come from fruit. And we all know how wonderful fruit is, right? And besides, it's natural!

Well, at the risk of bursting nutritional and mythological bubbles, it seems that, much like everything else, even natural fruit sugar has a dark side. The problem is that humanity's exponentially evolving skills at manipulating technology has gotten so sophisticated that we can now extract sugars from plants with such proficiency that we are all getting far more fructose than the body, and specifically the liver can handle. The average American is ingesting around 60 pounds of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and 140 pounds of sucrose every year. When you do the math (HFCS is usually around 55% fructose and sucrose, ordinary table sugar, is around 50% fructose) we're looking over two pounds of fructose a week, per person, per year. And that doesn't include the amount people are getting from fruit and honey and other sources. That's alot of fructose for a body has evolved and is equipped to handle the sweet stuff in only the smallest of quantities.

So, what's the problem with fructose? Well, because of the human body is not supposed to be dealing with alot of fructose (for millennia it was a rare find), the metabolic systems that metabolize (process and store) it are easily overloaded. This is especially problematic for the digestive system in general and specifically for the liver. The alarming incidences of fatty liver disease (which is so prevalent that it is now considered a normal part of aging) and pervasive intestinal illnesses are at least partially related to the skyrocketing fructose ingestion statistics.

There is some interesting chemical choreography that is associated with fructose metabolism. One of the most relevant biochemical ballets when it comes to human health or the lack thereof, involves the way fructose can combine with the amino acid tryptophan. The resulting interaction can keep tryptophan from getting to the brain and when this happens BIG trouble can follow!

Tryptophan is incredibly important. It's a must-have for the repair, recovery and the building of tissue. And, it's mega, mega important for mood and well being and for getting a good night's sleep. It gets turned into melatonin and serotonin which are arguably the two most important chemicals in the brain and fundamental to mental health. You can think of tryptophan as natural Prozac and from many people fructose will be blocking it's access to the brain.

And there's a fascinating fructose/tryptophan connection to eating behavior. Appetite and satisfaction (the feeling of fullness) a regulated by the brain. We eat or don't eat in response to signals from the brain and one of the most important determining factors in what type type of signals will be sent is the presence or absence of certain chemicals. One of these is tryptophan. The brain in constantly scanning the blood looking for tryptophan and if it can't find any, it sends it's owner out on a highly focused, one-pointed hunt for food. If fructose is complexing with this vital amino acid, dietary tryptophan can become unavailable to the brain and there won't be enough to activate the satisfaction centers vs. the "let's go get a Coke or an apple or some kind of sugar" centers. An insatiable appetite for sugar or other foods is the ultimate result.

Another indication of fructose/tryptophan complexing issues is digestive symptoms like gas and bloating and loose stools, although it can show up in other ways. Especially when they occur after eating and drinking fruits, fruit juices and HFCS containing foods. This is especially a problem with big hits of liquid or powdered fructose which are quickly absorbed. Little kids are major victims because of of the vast variety of fructose-containing processed foods that target children. And mothers, please do not do the "apple-juice-in-the-pacifier-tipped- bottle" thing where your baby sucks the sweet toxin out at his leisure. When your baby cries for his apple juice he's going through withdrawal symptoms that's are just as severe as those associated with opium. The same with adults. There is a well-researched link between the sweet taste and so-called “opioid” receptors in the brain. These receptors are called "opioid" because they respond to opium. In other words, sugar and opium (think heroin) both "turn on" the same chemical systems in the brain. Which means, sugar is essentially brain heroin and when a baby (or adult) goes without it he screams because he's withdrawing! That's one of the main reasons it's so hard to get off of sugar. It's a withdrawal stress on, what is for most people, an already stressed out body system. In a way, ingestion of fructose and the associated problems are better than adding another stress in the form of withdrawal.

Taking 500-1000mg of tryptophan or 100-200mg of 5HTP once a day is a great way to stabilize mood and suppress the appetite. It may also be helpful for sugar cravings. 1/2 to 1 teaspoonful of glutamine powder taken once or twice a day may also be helpful. Glutamine powder is tasteless and dissolves easily in a glass of water. Like tryptophan, high brain blood concentrations of glutamine signal satiety. Both of these supplements can be supportive if you're trying to lose weight. There's alot more you can do if you're trying to extricate yourself from the fructose morass. We'll be addressing those strategies in a later post.

Why Diets Fail

Why Diet’s Fail
(or “Your Brain is a Dumbass!)
One of the fundamental building blocks of the Bright Side Philosophy is the notion of simplicity. As Albert Einstein said, “everything should be made as simple as possible…”. Einstein also said “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and so is a lot!” . It’s very easy to get carried away with the minutia and specifics and the nanoscopic details of the human body, and its biology and chemistry and that’s why this whole health and healing business seems so complicated. When it comes to weight loss there are 8 zillion strategies nd formulas and programs and pills that you can take to lose weight and I’m sure that some of them work. But in the interests of keeping Professor Einstein happy and making things as simple as possible, I’m going to give you my take, the Bright Side take, the simple take on weight loss, which will carve pounds off of off the large majority of people who want to lose weight. If you want to do Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers or Nutragenics or Slimgenics whatever, have at it, but you don’t need to.
OK, so the major focal points when it comes to weight loss is body fat, and that’s what we’re really need to be talking about when we talk about weight loss.
In other words, we don’t need to be focusing so much on the numbers on the scale as much as how much extra body fat we’re carrying. The reason that’s important is because fat is produced via biochemical reactions and once we start looking in this direction, now we can start to target some biochemistry.
The old way of looking at weight loss is called “Calories IN and Calories OUT”. And I want everyone to understand something Calories IN and Calories OUT is just bad science. A calorie is a measurement of heat, a unit of heat. The Calories In and Calories Out theory says if you put heat in the body it will get burned and what does not get burned will get stored as fat. The problem with this theory is that it does not take into account the different biochemical mechanism that is involved in turning something into fat. The Calories IN Calories OUT was first developed in the late 19th century and it’s based on steam engine science where you but fuel in and it get’s burnt. It’s very primitive, crude science. Today we know there are key hormone players in this whole weight loss game. And by addressing these hormonal players and their biochemical correlates we can really start to address body weight and more importantly body fat.
Perhaps the most important role is played by the hormone insulin. One of the cool things about looking for elevated insulin is that an increase in the levels of this vital hormone always announces itself. Insulin is a loud-mouth and when insulin chemistry is off, you will know it. And, the classic sign of elevated insulin levels is body fat. Anyone interested in this whole insulin body fat connection should read a book by Gary Taubes called “Good Calories Bad Calories”. He has another book called “Why We Get Fat”. In both of these books he breaks down in a simple layman’s term way (he’s a not a chemist he’s a sociologist) this whole insulin body fat thing down really well. Taubes presents clear and compelling evidence that THE key to dropping weight/body fat is lowering insulin.
So, how do you lower insulin? Well, it’s the simplest thing in the world to do, but it’s also the hardest. You know why that is? It’s because we all have mental problems. I kind of kidding, but I’m not. Because weight problems may not be caused by mental problems in the traditional sense, but they are caused by are brain problems. That’s right. Body fat, weight gain issues begin in the brain this is the most important thing to recognize if we are going to get control over our Great Weight State. Now what do I mean by a brain problem? You see, the brain is programmed to keep the body surviving, and that’s it in a nutshell. Our brain is operating under survival conditions. As if our survival is somehow at stake. As if calories are scarce and as if a famine is ion the way.
In terms of body weight the brain is programmed to put on pounds and keep the body eating if it thinks the body’s starving. It is constantly reading the blood to see what the situation is in the rest of the body. And one of the things it’s reading is protein, specifically it’s reading for the levels of the amino acid tryptophan. When the brain senses there is not enough protein (via tryptophan), it will send the owner out for food, and specifically high energy food like fat and sugar. In fact you can’t eat enough fat and sugar if you’re brain thinks you’re starving. Here’s another problem with the brain. You know how silly people look when they dress like it was two or three decade as before, like really old hippies that still think it’s the sixties? Well, you’re brain is kind of like those silly old hippies with the bald heads except for a ratty little pony-tail in the back, except your brain isn’t living 40 or 50 years in the past. Your cranial computer is actually living 50-100 thousand years in the past. It thinks from a biological standpoint that you are in the great grasslands of Africa with abundant or not-so-abundant game that you can eat and that can eat you. Now, leaving aside the fact for a moment that this kind of mentality doesn’t seem a very nice place to live from, the real salient issue is that this kind of mentality is wreaking havoc on our health in general and or weight in specific.
Under conditions of (perceived) nutrient deficiency, your brain will be sending you on a one pointed hunt for sugar and fat. And then you know what it does? It STORES it and because the brain thinks its Africa and you’re starving or that there is a famine on the way.
So, what does this have to with insulin? Well, insulin is a fat storage hormone and a sugar storage hormone. The more insulin that’s around the more sugar will get turned into fat and the more cells will store fat and the fatter you will be. So the brain makes you eat; it especially compels you eat sugar and fat, and today our sources of sugar and fat are endless and everywhere, another factoid the brain is blissfully unaware of.
OK, so you can see here this brain problem first, WHICH IS WHY DIETS FAIL!!! You have to override the brain’s survival mechanism, which is really a shortcut. The brain doesn’t process things with choice if it doesn’t have to. Just another reason why the brain is a dumbass.
How do you override the brains anti-starvation, Must Eat signaling? Well, stay tuned. We’re gonna save that info for our next post!