It occurred to me that the post that I put up on my HCG site would be great information for BellyFatScience, too. So without further ado, take a look at what has being going on the world of science about fat loss hormones.

Here is my link:

Leptin and Fat Loss During the HCG Diet

Pretty remarkable stuff, I’d say!

All the best in effective fat loss,
Dr. D

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Six meals per day for weight loss is poppycock. Research shows either that there is no difference whatsoever in how many meals you eat per day, or that eating more frequently means just consuming more calories. Reject the dogma.

Here is a recent article that sums up some of the research on the topic of meal spacing.

The Claim: Eat Six Small Meals a Day Instead of Three Big Ones

Metabolically, there are good reasons to give it a rest for 4 to 5 hours between meals. If none of your weight loss meal plans have ever worked for the long term, change up your meal spacing. It is especially important to eat an early dinner and not eat again until breakfast.

All the best in eating right,
Dr. D

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All exercise machines are scams for fat loss. You do not exercise fat. Regardless of how strong your six pack abs become, if they are covered in fat when you start, they will be covered in fat after using an ab exercise machine.

This is a great commentary on how ab machines do not work:

Ab Devices Will Not Make You Thin

Have you questioned why you always seem to get a dieting plan with any new ab machine you purchased which they demand that you use? The rationale is easy. They know that by doing only a few minutes of ab exercises every day, …

All the best in natural health,
Dr. D

Body fat composition can be confusing. This is especially true when you want to lose abnormal fat and keep the fat that you need for good health. Total body fat percent really tells you nothing. Here is what you should know.

Body Fat Composition vs Body Weight

The best way to tell whether your diet, fitness, or other weight management programs are working for you is to keep track of changes in your body fat composition. Imagine that you weigh 200 lbs on Earth and are 35 percent body fat. On the moon you would instantly lose about 167 lbs because of lower gravity. However, your body would still be 35 percent fat.

The point here is that weight is not the issue. Fat is.

Body Fat Calculations and Types of Fat

Now it get a little dicey, because there is no way to know how much of the different kinds of fat are in your body. Your total consists of brown fat and white fat (both referred to as adipose tissues), and even cell membrane fat.

Brown fat is the new kid on the block for fat loss. At one time it was thought to be present only in infants. Recent research shows its presence in adults. It occurs mostly in the upper chest area and around the neck. The importance of this discovery is that the more brown fat you have, the more able you are to balance other types of fat. Brown fat directs the metabolism of that awful belly fat that most folks want to lose.

You can easily tell when you have abnormal fat made of white adipose tissue, because it sticks out somewhere. The usual places are belly, thighs and buttocks, and upper arms.

Ideally, the best fat loss would therefore be white fat loss. Indeed, better weight management would include getting your body to make more brown fat and less white fat. So far, scientists have succeeded in getting mice to do this in laboratory research. We do not yet know whether this will work in people. Of course, drug companies are seeking a new miracle drug that will do this for you. No such thing is available at the moment.

Body Fat Recommendations

Keep in mind that measuring total body fat can be misleading, even though it is currently the best indicator of body fat composition. The accuracy of the main three methods of measurement varies.

The most accurate is the submersion test, where your buoyancy in water is used to calculate body fat percent. The second most accurate method is through impedance devices. These are now available as bathroom scales that read body fat and as handheld devices that use the same principle. In my personal experience, my handheld impedance device measures about 3 percent higher than does the submersion method.

The least accurate method is the caliper method. It varies tremendously because the strength of pinching varies with the examiner.

Regardless of the result that you get, there is a range of body fat composition that is best for optimum health and weight (fat) management. There is no magic number for everyone. Indeed, numbers are always higher for women than for men, and they increase with age.

General agreement among nutrition researchers offers the following as healthy ranges of body fat percent for women and men in different age groups:

Women

20 to 40 yrs, 21 to 33 percent fat
41 to 60 yrs, 23 to 35 percent fat
61 to 79 yrs, 24 to 36 percent fat

Men

20 to 40 yrs, 8 to 19 percent fat
41 to 60 yrs, 11 to 22 percent fat
61 to 79 yrs, 13 to 25 percent fat

These are the target ranges for good health. It is probably obvious that being above these ranges is the foundation for overweight (i.e., overfat) and obesity. There may be no limit to how high it can go. One of my clients, a woman in her 50s, measured at 48 percent body fat. Wow!

Lower Body Fat Percent Is Not Healthier

What may not be so obvious is that numbers below these health ranges are not necessarily healthier just because they are lower. You need body fat in the right amounts, of the right types, in the right places for optimum health and body image.

All best in natural health,
Dr. D

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The Most Important Fat For Fat Loss

If you haven’t heard about the type of fat in your body that is called brown fat (or, BAT for brown adipose tissue), then you are in for a pleasant surprise. This is the kind of fat that makes your body burn fat that you do not want. Yup, you can get one type of fat fighting off another type of fat. What fun!

Here is a little video that introduces the topic.

The Doctors Explain Why Brown Fat is Healthy

The Brown Fat Revolution

Now we know that fat loss involves the interaction among the fat colors: brown fat, yellow fat, and white fat.

The book by Dr. Lyons is available at Amazon, so I’ve put in a link directly to it below. Oh, yeah…this is where, if you buy it through this link you will find a ‘used’ copy for a lot less. And, I might get a HUGE commission from Amazon (usually about 40 cents!).

Find out what it takes to boost brown fat and get it working for you.

All the best for brown fat,
Dr. D

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This may be the best herb there is for directly influencing fat metabolism. Research is solid. Inexpensive supplements are widely available. It seems like a no-brainer. Not too long ago I delved into the scientific research on green tea and found studies that back up claims about green tea and fat loss. Hey, it is a simple thing to add to your fat burning arsenal.

Here is a recent update with some great research-based commentary on green tea for fat loss, with other significant side benefits.

Just click on the link here:

Potential Health and nutrition benefits of green tea | Jarret …

Maki KC, Reeves MS, Farmer M, Yasunaga K, Matsuo N, Katsuragi Y, Komikado M, Tokimitsu I, Wilder D, Jones F, Blumberg JB, Cartwright Y. Green tea catechin consumption enhances exercise-induced abdominal fat loss in overweight and obese people.

By the way, if you are like me and prefer to take green tea supplements, then that will work fine. If would rather drink green tea, here is a little advice that I have come up with to make green tea taste better.

Just squeeze some lemon juice into it when it is steeping. This will bring out more of the active ingredients, too. (They are more soluble in hot water in a slightly acidic environment.) Also add some liquid Stevia for sweetening. I really like the Vanilla Creme flavor, although liquid Stevia comes in many other flavors, too.

Enjoy!
Dr. D

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High fructose corn syrup is bad news in so many ways. First off, fructose is not the benign sugar that it has been widely acclaimed to be. Its low Glycemic Index means nothing. Fructose is the most lipogenic (fat building) sugar of all, even more than table sugar. Take a look at a surprising article that cites the latest research on the most pervasive sugar in processed foods and sweetened drinks:

High-fructose corn syrup linked to obesity

Researchers at Princeton have shown that if you keep the number of calories the same, rats eating high-fructose corn syrup “gained significantly more weight” than rats who ate table sugar.

I must admit that I used to talk about fructose and high fructose corn syrup in glowing terms. Then I discovered the real research. This is one food additive to keep off your diet if you want to stay trim, that’s for sure.

Dr. D

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