How would you like to turn it into a FAT BURNING MACHINE?
This is quite possible with the right lifestyle.
Why, you may ask, would I want this? Weight loss is a universally sought after goal in this obese world of ours. However, it’s not really weight loss that people are after. IT’S FAT LOSS. Counting calories, is not the answer as most of you have probably experienced or observed.
When you reduce calories, you initially loose weight. This, however, stops soon even though you are continuing with your low calorie diet. You stop loosing weight because your genetic programming wants you to survive this “famine” and therefore slows down your metabolism, i.e., you start burning fewer calories.
Perceived as not working, you go off the diet and start putting on the pounds again. Sound familiar? That’s Yo-yo dieting.
As with many of our problems, genes get blamed for our chubbiness. This, of course, is complete nonsense. Our genes haven’t changed in 40,000 years, but it’s only recently that we’ve seen an epidemic of sickness and disease in the human race. How is this possible? I’ve touched upon the fact that our ancestors, the Cro-Magnon, were leaner, taller, more muscular and healthier than us.
There is a branch of science called EPIGENETICS, which tells us that good genes can be turned on, and bad genes turned off, by our lifestyles. There are, of course, genes, like your eye color, hair color, height, etc., that we cannot change.
The best example of epigenetics that I know is ME.
*My mother never knew her dad who died of a heart attack when 38
*My mother was hospitalized for a long stretch after her heart attack
*My father took blood pressure medication and died of a heart attack
*My sister, 6 years my junior, takes cholesterol and blood pressure medication and has 3 stents in her artery
As you can see, my genetic heritage with respect to cardio-vascular disease isn’t anything to be envied.
However, as I stated in my first post, I have NEVER taken any kind of medication in my life, and DON’T HAVE, NEVER HAVE HAD, CHOLESTEROL OR BLOOD PRESSURE ISSUES. I thank God for this, but most of it is due to my lifestyle.
THE IMPORTANCE OF “LIFESTYLE” IS WHAT I’M TRYING TO PASS ON TO YOU.
Let’s get back to how you can convert yourself from a machine that uses sugar as fuel, to one that uses fat.
If your diet is filled with processed carbohydrates like pasta, bread, rice, cereals, chips, baked goods, soda and artificial sweeteners (foods that come in wrappers, cans, bags and boxes) your genes will change how your body handles food.
Putting it simply, you become “sugar-adapted”, which means you teach your body to burn sugar and carbohydrates for fuel, since there is an ample supply of them.
“Sugar-adapted” people are usually:
*Overweight
*Feel fatigued during the day
*Have cravings for “comfort foods”, etc.
The reason for this “hypoglycemic” state is that their brain isn’t supplied with it’s one-and-only nutrition, SUGAR.
This need for sugar doesn’t mean that one has to eat sugars and simple carbohydrates, because the body has a process called GLUCONEOGENESIS, and can convert fat and protein to sugar. Being “sugar-adapted” blocks this process.
All carbohydrates are converted to glucose (sugar), which can cause insulin levels to spike. Insulin stores excess sugar as fat. This vicious cycle eventually makes one insulin resistant and you are on the path to obesity and type-II diabetes and much worse, if not checked.
So how does one teach the body to burn fat as fuel instead of sugar? This can be done easily, if you put your mind to it, as our genes are already hardwired for it.
“Fat-adapted” people:
*Stay thin effortlessly
*Get hungry less often
*Have plenty of energy
*Have no sugar cravings.
The getting hungry less often is very important for INTERMITTENT FASTING, which I’ll write about next.
The question in your mind probably is: Then what do we eat?
Look at my post NUTRITION/HEALTH for the answer.
