Weight Loss

Eat fat - get thin..!

Research has established that Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids, but not monounsaturated, saturated, or trans-fatty acids play a major role in the body’s ability to burn fat. Omega 3 does it better than Omega 6. Omega 3 is inadequately supplied in the diets of 95-99% of affluent populations worldwide. In fact, our intake of Omega 3 today is only 1/6th of that found in yesteryear’s diets.

Omega 6 intake, on the other hand, has doubled in the past 100 years for people who eat the diets common in affluent populations. People on low fat, no fat, fake fat, fat blocker, fat substitute, and fat remover diets are likely to get too little Omega 6 as well as too little Omega 3.

The ratio between Omega 3 and Omega 6 is far out of line with what it ought to be for good health and normal weight, and this has implications, both for health in general and for body fat and fat burning in particular.

How do essential fats help burn body fat and make us slim?

• All fats including essential fats suppress appetite
• Unlike carbohydrates, fats keep blood sugar and insulin levels stable, and prevent the high/low blood sugar cycle
• Essential fats improve thyroid function, and normalise metabolic rate and energy levels provided enough iodine is present in the diet
• Omega 3 essential fats decrease inflammation and water retention in tissues (which is a large part of being overweight) and speed the removal of water held in tissues by means of the kidneys
• Omega 3 essential fats improve kidney function, making excess water removal more efficient
• Omega 3 essential fats increase energy production, making it more likely that a person will be physically active. This in turn leads to more calories being burned.
• Omega 3 essential fats elevate mood and lift depression. The better the mood, the less likely people are to eat more calories than they burn, and the more active they tend to be

Men's Health Magazine were so impressed with Udo's Choice's ability to burn fat, they picked it as winner of their 2009 "Best For Losing Weight" Awards. Read more HERE

A new food Pyramid for Supporting Good Health

Greens

This new food pyramid must have greens as its base as the most important food for health and normal weight.

Greens draw minerals from the soil, and make them available to us in a form that our bodies can use - we can’t suck rocks to get our minerals, but plants do exactly that for us. Greens also manufacture the other components of health - molecules that we need to build and maintain a healthy body but cannot make ourselves.

Greens make the vitamins, essential amino acids(proteins), and essential fatty acids(good fats) that we need. They make fibre (important for bowel regularity, detoxification, and blood sugar stabilisation), anti-oxidants(that slow down the processes that lead to ageing), phytonutrients(potent healing molecules which are the basis of herbal medicine), and fuel (to burn for energy).

Raw greens also provide enzymes(for digestion and against viral infection), and probiotics(friendly microorganisms/flora that protect our digestive tract from being ravaged by nasty, toxic bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, fungus, and yeasts like Candida). Cooking destroys enzymes and probiotics.

In short, greens provide all of the building blocks that our genetic programme - our built-in programme for building a healthy body - needs to build maintain, repair, and replace cells, tissues, glands, and organs.

Good Fats

In addition to greens, good fats are the second most important food group. The good fats are essential for health, but the body cannot make them. They must therefore be provided by foods. Too little leads to deterioration of the health of every cell, tissue, gland, and organ, accompanied by many symptoms of degeneration that resemble the degenerative diseases that we suffer and die from. Complete absence will kill anyone who avoids fats long enough.

Good fats, made up of Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fats, are the most neglected, confusing, misrepresented part of the pyramid.

Good fats are easily damaged by the destructive influences of light, air (oxygen), and heat, and must therefore be made, stored, and used with health rather than shelf life in mind. The processes used to improve shelf life of good fats damages them, producing toxic molecules that increase cancer, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, inflammation, and other diseases.

Of the good fats, Omega 3 is inadequately present in the diets of almost the entire population. Lack of adequate Omega 3 is the greatest single nutrient deficiency in modern diet.

As a result, Omega 3 holds the most powerful key to improving health for most of the population. To do so, however, Omega 3 must be made with great care, taken in adequate amounts, taken in the right ratio with the other essential fat (Omega 6) accompanied by adequate antioxidants and phytosterols, and used as part of a program for good health.

Protein

The third, equally important food group, is protein. Protein is adequately supplied in the diets of most affluent people. We are protein-conscious, and too much rather than too little protein is more prevalent in industrialised nations. Our sources of protein include red meat (pork, beef, lamb), eggs, fish, white meat (chicken, turkey), and dairy (milk, cheese).

Protein is also present in all whole foods, including greens, grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. If one eats whole foods in the form in which nature provides them, protein malnutrition is inconceivable unless one does not have enough of them to eat. Protein under-nutrition is a problem during famines in underdeveloped countries. In developed nations, protein deficiency is found only among very poor, aged, and infirm people incapable of looking after themselves.

Carbohydrates

Fourth are the carbohydrates. Carbohydrates do not supply any nutrients that cannot be got from other foods. They are therefore the least important of all the major foods.

Whole grains cause fewer blood sugar and weight problems than polished grains, the difference being the rate of absorption. The faster the absorption, the quicker blood sugar goes high.

The more digestion is required, the more time it takes to turn starch into glucose. Slower digestion slows down the absorption of glucose into the body preventing insulin spikes and carbohydrate crashes (those 3 o'clock slumps people often get after a carbohydrate rich lunch!).

So have a nice solid base of green foods, topped up with good fats and proteins, with carbohydrates as required for fuel, and as little processed white foods as possible!