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

The whole business of calories for weight management is so misused that I am astounded. As a scientist, I understand the concept of calories as a measure of energy. Energy in this case specifically refers to heat.

Consider this regarding calories: they are not useful for metabolism. Once food or anything else is converted to heat, it is no longer useful metabolically. In fact, calories are only directly measurable as units of heat. For example, the calories that are stored in the chemical bonds of glucose are measurable when released in a device called a calorimeter (see figure).

When 1 gram of glucose is burned in a calorimeter, 4,000 calories are released. (Oh, by the way, reference to the potential energy of food is technically as ‘Calories’ – with a capital ‘C’ – one of which represents 1,000 lower-case ‘c’ calories. In other words, 1 Calorie equals 1,000 calories [also called a kilocalories or kcal for short].)

A calorie is the amount of heat that is required to raise 1 cc of water by 1 degree Celsius, at room temperature and at sea level. So 1 gram of glucose can yield enough heat to raise 4,000 cc (i.e., 4 liters) of water by 1 degree Celsius.

Now Here is the Kicker…

You will never, ever get all the energy out of a gram of glucose. The 4 Calories per gram statistic that has become dogma is only retrievable in a calorimeter. The efficiency of your fuel-harvesting metabolism is probably between 10 and 20%, and certainly never greater than 30%, of that potential. At least a dozen factors determine what the efficiency will be for you for any particular food at any particular time.

A Ridiculous Comparison

Consider this: in a calorimeter a gram of starch will yield the exact same number of calories as a gram of cellulose, which is indigestible fiber. As you and I both know, starch is a source of metabolic energy (i.e., food) for people. In contrast, cellulose is not.

I know that lots of folks want to focus on the concept of ‘available calories’ – whatever that means. So we can say that cellulose offers zero available calories. We can also say that starch offers available calories. We just have no idea how many. It is going to be in the neighborhood of 400 to 800 calories (or 0.4 to 0.8 Calories).

What’s Really Important

Instead of comparing the metabolism of food with a furnace or calorimeter, it is much more meaningful to talk about what happens to different foods when they are digested, how they get into different kinds of cells (e.g., fat vs. muscle), and what happens to them once they are there.

By the way, once you understand those factors, you will be very clear on why calories have nothing to do with obesity. I hope you chew on that comment for a while (pardon the pun), because this is the kind of thinking that will guide you to success in any weight loss or muscle-building program that truly works for a lifetime.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

See the whole post here:

Eating After HCG – My Favorite Breakfast.

The reason that I bring this up here is that this is the kind of food that, if you had been eating it right along, would have prevented you from getting any extra belly fat in the first place. Weight loss and fat loss would be a thing of the past, because weight gain and fat gain would be nonexistent. The obesity epidemic certainly wouldn’t have happened. See what I mean when you read what I wrote there.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

…if I hadn’t already lost too much! Mindless dogma rules in the world of weight loss, specifically fat loss. The following drivel is an example from the blog article titled Guaranteed Fat Loss Workouts.

It starts out:

The Battle of the Bulge is created by a sedentary lifestyle and eating foods high in calories and beverages. It takes months or years to accumulate, and unless you opt for liposuction or another invasive type of surgery, the only way to undo the weight is diet modification and exercise. Fortunately, there is some guaranteed fat loss workouts, even the best hope to use food as May on the road to a body slimmer, trimmer and more fit.

Follow that link above for the rest of the story. Meanwhile, unless you know exactly what the scientific research literature says on this topic, you may not see the obvious holes even in the introductory paragraph above.

Here is one: The Battle of the Bulge is created by a sedentary lifestyle and eating foods high in calories… [bolded for my emphasis]

First off, a sedentary lifestyle does not cause weight gain. Secondly, eating foods high in calories does not cause weight gain. This is the kind of sloppy thinking and dogma-parroting that divert important attention from finding the real causes of weight gain and obesity. No matter what exercises are advocated in this article, I guarantee you that fat loss will be hard to accomplish by using them.

Just a little rant here. What I will guarantee is that nothing I say on this blog is unsupported by good scientific research. That is the whole point of BellyFatScience.com.

All the best in natural health,Dr. D

Okay, I digress. On top of the fruit I add a serving of my protein powder (these days it is an unflavored soy protein product – I don’t buy into claims that soy is responsible for the wimpification of American males), a raw egg (dietary cholesterol is NOT a problem, regardless of what anybody else tells you), a scoop of greens powder, enough water for drinkable consistency, a powdered vitamin mix (means fewer pills today), and a collagen powder (a must every day for everyone! more on this topic soon). Just right, not too sweet, not to thick. I love these shakes! They are a great way to add a delicious and nutritious meal to my day. These are nothing like those crappy meal replacement powders (you know who you are!) that last about 20 minutes until I get hungry again. No, my shakes are solid and last for hours. In fact, in a couple of hours I’ll probably go out for a nice, easy 5-mile run just to get more oomph out of my liquid delectable.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D