In this post, my hope to take a bunch of this 'science' stuff and articulate it so it can be easily understood and applied to turn your body into a fat burning inferno of glory. Then I will be giving specifics on what foods have allowed me to experience this.

Okay back to the topic at hand: weight loss vs. fat loss. As you recall, we want to lose fat, not weight. What keeps us from doing this? It comes down to having a system that is imbalanced. Specifically, the hormones that are running the show; insulin and leptin.

First of all, let's take a look at leptin. What is it? Leptin is a hormone produced by the fat cells. It is present in the blood stream and its level is in direct proportion to the amount of body fat a person has. i.e. the more fat, the more leptin is produced. Leptin's primary function is to act on the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls appetite and satiety. It tells the hypothalamus to reduce appetite (because fat stores are high), which results in decreased food intake. So in other words, it is what's controlling your appetite, the AMOUNT of food you desire. Ever wonder why the heck you're always hungry? Ever wonder why you want to over eat and every time you sit down it's a will-power battle to excuse yourself from the table?


Check out this little article (with pictures :) "Portion Size, Then Vs. Now"

So what's going on here? Are human beings just more gluttonous then ever before? Hardly.

"Leptin is accurately described as an anti-starvation hormone because low levels lead to increased hunger. In the past it was described as an anti-obesity hormone but researchers have since discovered that obese people (who produce large amounts of leptin) are RESISTANT to its action. This is in a similar way that some people are resistant to insulin."

The bottom line is this: Leptin is the hormone, that if you're beginning to put on too much fat, when functioning PROPERLY, suppresses your appetite. The killer is WHEN FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. If you have trouble controlling your the amount of food you eat (portion control), you probably have leptin resistance going on. Which means your hypothalamus has become de-sensitised to the action of leptin. The perfect analogy is the boy who cried wolf (for those not familiar here's a little video, for those of you who have ADD and need a break from reading, it's here for you too). When leptin is constantly telling the hypothalamus to suppress the appetite, soon the hypothalamus essentially responds "you little jokester you, leave me alone."


So how do we become leptin resistant? Excess fructose consumption (SUGAR) has been found to be the bottom line cause. Which leads me to the next hormone that is running the show: insulin.

We've all heard of insulin because we probably all know someone who is diabetic.

"Type 1: Results from the body's failure to produce insulin. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes. Presently almost all persons with type 1 diabetes must take insulin injections.
Type 2: Results from Insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly, sometimes combined with relative insulin deficiency. Most Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Many people destined to develop type 2 diabetes spend many years in a state of Pre-diabetes: Termed "America's largest healthcare epidemic,"[4]:10-11, pre-diabetes indicates a condition that occurs when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. As of 2009 there are 57 million Americans who have pre-diabetes"

(from Wikipedia.com). Again, the boy who cried wolf. "Insulin, you're always around, I'm not taking you seriously anymore."

Cool, I don't have diabetes so how does this apply to me? How does insulin keep me from cutting off the fat?

"Insulin is a storage hormone. Its function is to take nutrients from the blood stream and store them in body cells. Insulin has the ability to increase the uptake of glucose into the liver and muscles for storage as glycogen (storage carbohydrate); it can also increase the uptake of glucose by fat cells where it can then be stored as body fat; it also increases the uptake of amino acids into muscle tissue where it can be used to build muscle. Since insulin is a storage hormone (rather than a mobilising hormone), it also stops the body from mobilising and utilising fat as a fuel source; it stops fat burning immediately!"

Therefore, if your goal is to burn off body fat as quickly as possible, your goal should be to keep insulin as low as possible. When your insulin levels are low, the love handles will start to come off. When they're high, they simply won't. If you DO lose weight, it's definitely NOT fat....which means you're actually just shedding muscle.



So what's the common cause that is SCREWING up your bodies ability to shed the fat? What's causing these 2 controlling hormones to be so screwed up in MOST OF US (yes the majority of people are now overweight). SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR. Did you get that? It's SUGAR. Eating excess amounts of sugar and foods that get metabolized into sugar CAUSES leptin resistance (which means you're always hungry), and also causes insulin to be released which SHUTS DOWN your bodies ability to burn fat and eventually leads to type II diabetes (insulin resistance).

Think about it, how much sugar do YOU eat? How much of your diet is composed of foods that get metabolized into sugar (breads, pastas, etc.)? How much sugar does the average person eat? Here's a stat for you, in 1700 the average person ate 4lbs of sugar per year. In 2000 the average person ate 145 lbs of sugar per year. Does it make sense why almost everyone has turned into a blob of goo? Doesn't it make sense why our portion sizes have continued to rise? Why diabetes is off the charts?

Here's a little graph if you're still not sold:

So what's the solution? Well obviously we need to eat less sugar. But how do we get ourselves to do this on a REGULAR basis. WE MUST associate massive amounts of pain to sugar. When you see that fat on you, think sugar. When you see the guy in the rascal scooter with his ass hanging out the side, think sugar, and GET PISSED at the system and have sympathy. His/her body happened to react to what the system fed him (corporate food manufactures). When you see the mcdonald's m, think evil and think sugar (they literally engineer their foods and pack it all with high fructose corn syrup...the absolute WORST form of sugar).

Some of you know that I don't eat grains, pastas, wheat products at all. Why? Because most of them get metabolized as SUGAR (more on this in future posts).

So what should we be eating? The short answer is this: things that are produced by mother earth (which are naturally low in sugar). Here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
4 raw eggs (organic free range) mixed with
6-8 oz. raw milk (organic grass eating cows)
1 apple
1 pear
1 tbsp of cod liver oil
Vitamin and mineral supplement

Lunch
Large spinach salad which had chicken, boiled eggs, a bit of cheese, olive oil and vinegar

Snack
1/2 cup of almonds

Pre-workout (around 6)
4 oz raw milk
1 scoop of natural whey
1 tbsp of cocnut oil (organic cold pressed)
1 cup of blueberries

Hit the gym with TONS of energy to spare

Post-workout
4 oz raw milk
1 scoop of natural whey
1 cup of blueberries (I'm on a blueberry kick)

Dinner (8:30 or so)
3/4 lb of Salmon cooked with some organic butter and a little olive oil
coenzyme q10 supplement (anti oxidant)
alpha liopic acid supplement (anti oxidant)
Sauerkraut


The fact is we just weren't made to eat much sugar or foods that get metabolized as sugar, ESPECIALLY the processed sugar that literally gets infused into almost all corporate manufactured, boxed up foods. Live in accordance with this, and watch your life soar: your fitness and health levels will explode, your energy will too, your fat levels will drop significantly etc. etc. etc. Resist this reality and watch your life go to shit. Plain and simple.

Anyone can leave comments by clicking on 'comments' so please do. :)

Live life on your own accord. Be who you're meant to be.

Sam