Gary Taubes notes that calories in, calories out as a cause of obesity is an example of failed medical thinking. The whole concept of calories is too simple. If your metabolism is out of whack, how much you eat or exercise is irrelevant.

The best way to really understand the more than 200 years of scientific research and clinical experience on obesity is to read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. This book is a compendium of detailed research and may be a little too deep for most people. The second best strategy is to read the chapter by chapter review here:

A Summary of Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes

Here is a sample chapter review:

Chapter 14: The Mythology of Obesity

The standard dogma that being overweight or obese is caused by excess calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity does not hold up to evidence and observation. Increased rates of obesity in the U.S. over the last 40 years correlate with increased carbohydrate intake and decreased fat intake. Pima indians living in the United States (on a diet high in refined sugars and starches) have rampant obesity, whereas those living in Mexico (eating their traditional diet) do not.

Diet and Exercise Dogma

Take some time to read the summary of each chapter. What you will find is that answers about how to stay slim and healthy have nothing to do with excess calories or inadequate exercise. Mr. Taubes offers what I call the anti-dogma. Go ahead and take a look and see what I mean. Even go to the extreme like I did and get your copy of his book (Amazon has good prices on used copies by now).

Take-Home Lessons

Unfortunately, too many bloggers have taken the main points out of Gary Taubes’ book and twisted them around for their own purposes. The so-called Paleo Diet enthusiasts are a good example. The relationship between diet and health is just not that simple. If you really want to see where the Atikins and Paleo diet people get sidetracked, then go a step further and get a copy of The China Study (also see Amazon). If you don’t make drastic changes in your diet after reading that book, then you’re going to need a lot of luck if you want to enjoy a long and healthy life.

Epilogue

While you are waiting for your copy of the book, here are some ’sound bites’ that highlight the main points (taken from the above linked review):

1. Dietary fat does not cause obesity, heart disease or other chronic diseases.

2. Refined carbohydrates, through insulin secretion, do.

3. Sugars, especially those including fructose, are particularly harmful.

4. Refined carbohydrates are the dietary cause of heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely (but not only) dietary cases of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic diseases.

5. Obesity is not caused by overeating or sedentary behavior.

6. Calorie restriction does not cause long-term weight loss, it causes hunger.

7. Fattening and obesity are caused by a hormonal imbalance, which can be driven by diet (e.g. insulin secretion).

8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage.

9. Carbohydrate intake drives insulin, and is therefore proportional to our body composition.

10. Carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease energy.

All the best about Gary Taubes,

Dr. D

Man problems are rampant, if the prevalence of commercials about taking baths outdoors with your honey is any indication. One prominent naturopathic doctor calls this increase in ED, man boobs, etc., as the wimpfication of American males. Belly fat might be the main culprit.

The idea for posting on this topic occurred to me while I was out jogging in the heat this afternoon. Delirium sometimes spurs creativity that way.

The naturopath that I refer to is Dr. William Wong. He blames the overdevelopment of the feminine side of men, so to speak, on soy. Soy products are everywhere, so this is an easy target. He objects to the widespread exposure to a particular phytoestrogen, called genistein, that is made by soybean plants. Never mind that genistein is the active ingredient of a patented natural cancer treatment, which is a rare thing indeed. And forget that phytoestrogens such as genistein are, in fact, not steroids; nor are such molecules in any way chemically related to steroids.

The fear of phytoestrogens from soy is misplaced, anyway. The most potent phyoestrogen of all is produced by hops plants, which means that it is common ingredient in beer. Can you imagine a campaign to eradicate beer because it contains a powerful phytoestrogen that might downgrade your manliness? Nah. I didn’t think so. Soy is a much easier target.

I digress.

The topic of this post is that belly fat is a more likely culprit, because abnormal fat is well known to be an estrogen factory. (Quick note to menopausal women: If you are carrying a substantial amount of unwanted fat around your belly, thighs, upper arms, or backside, then be aware that your estrogen production has most assuredly NOT come to a halt.)

Overproduction of estrogen (more specifically, estradiol) by belly fat puts a strain on your balance of steroid hormones. Although your body synthesizes more than 150 steroid hormones, a drop in levels of the one called progesterone as you age seems to be the most critical. Progesterone acts to oppose the effects of estrogen, thereby negating the onset of estrogen dominance. It also provides material that can be made into testosterone, so less progesterone leads to testosterone deficiency.

And heaven help you if you drink bottled water or eat canned foods. The BPA from plastic bottles and plastic liners in most food cans acts like a foreign estrogen (techie term is xenoestrogen), which makes everything in your body that is already going downhill just degenerate faster.

I’m not going to pop off with some sort of general, arm-waving recommendation to get more steroids into your system. You can, of course, get prescription testosterone shots or patches. That may help. You can more easily do what I do, which is to use a progesterone cream every day, in a formula for manly men. (Women have to use a different formula.)

Pointing out problems is easy, and giving simple-minded recommendations may or may not be effective. What I will say, though, is that all of the hormone imbalance that is associated with belly fat, regardless of whether it is the cause or the effect, can be put back on track when you start restoring your native levels of human growth hormone (HGH).

This is why I included a discussion about how to increase HGH levels as one of the steps in my report, “5 Steps to a Slimmer and Healthier You,” which is free through this blog. And it is why I have found out all the easiest natural ways to boost HGH levels, from dietary changes to supplements, exercise, and even the role of sleep.

The bottom line to finish this post, then, is this: Belly fat is a bigger problem than you might think (sorry for the pun there). It diminishes maleness, among other things. However, as long as you do what it takes to get your HGH levels to where they should be, then belly fat becomes less of a problem, as do all the secondary issues that are associated with it.

That is as far as my heat-stroke delirium can take me for the moment.

All the best,

Dr. D

Get Old Fast From Body Fat

The granddaddy of all hormones for regulating aging is human growth hormone (HGH). Loss of HGH over time also leads to a decreased ability to burn off food calories as you get older. The result is fat gain.

The Catch-22 of this scenario is that it also works in the other direction. Fat gain suppresses HGH levels, which accelerates aging. It almost seems like you are trapped on a closed loop. Less HGH leads to more fat. More fat leads to less HGH. And the consequence is that you age faster and faster as you gain fat and lose HGH.

The relationship between HGH and overweight was first described in a research article in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 1991. The scientists behind this study pointed out that, on average, for men aged 21 to 71 with a normal body mass index, the production rate of HGH decreased by 14 percent with each decade of life. In comparison, each unit of Body Mass Index (BMI) reduced the daily HGH secretion rate by 6 percent.

This means that the drop in HGH secretion rate with an increase in BMI from 21 to 28 corresponds to the average drop going from age 21 to age 45. In other words, all adult men whose BMI classifies them as obese (i.e., 27 units and above) have HGH levels that correspond to men who are at least 20 years older. This leads to high-speed aging and the increasing prevalence of age-related diseases in younger people.

Women are not off the hook just because this study included only men in the experimental group. Indeed, fluctuation levels of estrogen and other steroid hormones in women during monthly cycles and menopause may amplify the consequences of HGH loss. One such consequence is faster fat gain.

The Four Best Solutions

Belly fat loss would, of course, be the most important strategy for enhancing HGH levels and thereby additional fat loss. Even though this sounds logical, the failure rate for long-term fat loss is too high to just willy-nilly direct you to do so, wish you luck, and send you on your way.

Fortunately, the close connection between belly fat and HGH levels opens up the possibility of restoring hormone levels first, which then would lead to fat loss. This can, indeed, be accomplished as follows:

Solution 1. The most direct way to increase HGH levels is to receive HGH replacement therapy. This solution, however, requires medical treatment with a prescription drug. It is also very expensive and generally not covered by health insurance. If you can take advantage of this solution, however, you do not have to do anything else for fat loss.

Solution 2. This and the following two solutions entail the natural enhancement of HGH levels that your body already produces over a 24 hour period. One of the normal spikes in HGH levels comes at about two hours after you get to sleep at night. You can enhance this spike by taking certain amino acid supplements before bedtime. These act as what are called HGH secretagogues, which refers to their ability to induce your pituitary gland to release more HGH. The two most important supplementsl amino acids are L-arginine (2-3 grams) and L-lysine (1 gram).

Other amino acids that enhance nighttime HGH levels include L-glutamine and L-tryptophan. (The latter may also be replaced with 5-hydroxytryptophan, or 5HTP.) Most supplement companies offer products that are formulated specifically as HGH secretagogues, so the right amino acids are easy to find at most nutrition stores.

Solution 3. A high-intensity weight-lifting workout will cause a spike in HGH levels. You can boost this effect with HGH secretagogues, especially L-arginine and L-lysine. In addition, L-glycine will enhance the results of your HGH-boosting workout. Most supplement formulas do not include this particular amino acid, even though good research backs up its use for enhancing exercise.

You can get the best results for boosting HGH through a high intensity workout by taking amino acid secretagogues on an empty stomach, about 1-1.5 hours before your workout.

Solution 4. The most ignored and overlooked strategy for enhancing HGH secretion is related to when you eat. Normally your HGH levels will start to pick up at about 2 hours after meal, increasing to a peak amount at about 4 to 5 hours after eating. At first HGH works with insulin to help metabolize food into muscle building. Once the insulin is almost gone, HGH works solely to mobilize fat for burning as fuel.

The effect of HGH on fat loss is at its greatest more than 4 hours after a meal. Stimulating this HGH spike means that you have to space your meals at least 5 hours apart.

Now here is the absolute best way to boost your post-meal HGH surge: fasting. The mini-fast after 4 hours is helpful. However, fasting from dinner to breakfast the next morning, spacing them at least 12 hours apart (no between-meal snacking!), is much more effective for burning fat because of the overnight fasting.

Recently scientists have been studying the effects of more extensive fasting that is done once or twice per week. They call it intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting has become so important for weight loss, anti-aging, and many aspects of health that any internet search for this phrase will yield tens of thousands of pages.

Accelerating Belly Fat Loss

The best scientific results and the most supportive testimonials on intermittent fasting involve a 24 to 34 hour fasting period once or twice per week. One of the truly appealing aspects of this approach is that it removes a lot of worry about what to eat on non-fasting days, because the beneficial effects of a single fasting period are so powerful. This does not mean that intermittent fasting gives you free license to eat junk food. However, it does mean that you can lose fat, reverse and slow down the onslaught of aging, and enjoy great health and fitness just by using this simple strategy to boost recovery of your own HGH to youthful levels.

Although the concept of intermittent fasting seems simple, you have to really know what you are doing to get optimum benefits from it. Fortunately for you (and me), I have found a resource that provides all you need to know. You can see more details about this resource on a special page that I have for this purpose, here:

Of course, is not really a secret. I just wanted to get your attention. Most weight loss folks, however, don’t seem to know anything about it.

All the best for your belly fat loss,

Dr. D