Weight Loss Nutrition

If you could eat pasta, cakes, cookies, and goods rich in carbohydrates with out gaining a single pound? You would say that’s impossible. Recent studies have shown that the white kidney bean (phaseolus vulgaris) can actually block the break down and absorption of carbohydrates in the intestinal tract. There is an enzyme in the intestinal tract called alpha-amylase or just amylase, which is inhibited by the kidney beans active ingredients. Amylase breaks down carbohydrates in the intestinal tract so the body can absorb the simpler nutrients.

In the supplement arena, carbohydrate blockers are called phase 2 blockers. Most supplements on the market require one to take 1500mg of a white kidney bean extract to block 75 grams of carbohydrates. Look for more concentrated supplements that require less dosages a lower dosage means a higher quality supplement.

It is possible to sweeten your life with stevia, and without any weight gain, since it as exceptionally sweet herb. In fact it is member of the sunflower family, and is native to parts of South and Central America where it has been used as a sweetener since time immemorial. Also known as sugarleaf, it is a commercial crop, and is available as a dietary supplement.

Extracts of stevia have been found to be up to 300 times as sweet as cane sugar, although does not metabolize in the body to glucose. In fact it is thought to enhance the glucose tolerance of some diabetics, and can be used by people suffering from that condition as a natural sweetener, thus dispensing with the need for artificial sweeteners.

It is also useful for those on diets, especially carbohydrate controlled diets, and any other sweet-toothed person wanting to lose weight and still enjoy their favorite drink or desert. Many recipes have been published using stevia for the preparation of delicious sweets. So why is stevia so sweet and what other uses does it have?

Basically the sweet taste comes from glycosides, which are molecules in which a sugar is bonded to another molecule. The two main glycosides in stevia are called stevioside and rebaudioside. These are formed through glucose combined with the diterpene steviol in different ways, though some minor glycosides also contain rhamnose. Although they contain glucose, the glucose is not released into the bloodstream during digestion and the subsequent biochemistry.

Japan began the cultivation of the plant in the 1970s rather than produce artificial sweeteners that were suspected carcinogens (saccharin and cyclamate). Japan is now the world’s biggest consumer of stevia, even being used in the Japanese Coca Cola plants. Around 40% of Japan’s total sweetener volume is stevia. However, apart from its use as a natural alternative sweetener to sugar, stevia has specific properties, already alluded to, that renders it of particular attraction to certain groups of people, and we shall now take a closer look at these.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that is essential to regulate the glucose content of the blood. It stimulates the cells of the body to take in blood glucose and convert it to glycogen that can be used for energy. Without insulin the blood sugars would increase in concentration without regulation leading to very serious health issues that would eventually result in death.

Diabetes is a condition in which the body either does not produce sufficient insulin, does not use the insulin it produces properly, or produces no insulin at all. Hence, a sweetener that did not exacerbate this situation by being eventually metabolized to glucose, as most sugars are in the body, would be of great benefit to diabetics. This is exactly what stevia is. It is a very powerful sweetener, 250 – 300 times sweeter to the taste-buds than sucrose, normal table sugar, and it does not metabolize to glucose. It is heaven-sent sweetener for diabetics that have a sweet tooth.

It is very safe for them and has been consumed for centuries without any side effects. In fact, studies have indicated that stevia might even regulate the pancreas and help to stabilize the levels of blood glucose in the body, rendering it an effective and safe supplement for those suffering from hypoglycemia (excess blood sugar), diabetes and candidiasis, a yeast infection that thrives on sugar.

Apart from that, stevia is also popular with those who are on a calorie controlled diet – or any other diet for that matter, since an excessive sugar intake invariably leads eventually to weight increase. The 21st century western diet is drowning in sugar, with up to 10 spoonfuls of sugar in every small bottle of cola. There is sugar in cookies, hot dogs, bread, soy sauce, ketchup, cans of beans and peas, and even sugar in cigarettes, though that is the least of the health worries there!

For the first time in history, there are now more overweight and obese people in the world than hungry people, yet the sugar corporations claim that there is no scientific proof that sugar leads to weight increase. Worldwide, diabetes kills 6 people every minute, and obesity caused by the consumption of too much sugar leads to Type II diabetes. It had been shown that fructose is a major player in that corn syrup (fructose) is contained in many soft drinks and foods.

One of the major problems with refined sugars is that they contain nothing but pure carbohydrate. All the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients have been removed, so that when they are consumed, your body has to provide these nutrients needed to metabolize the sugar to glucose and then to energy. Humans cannot live on sugar alone, and in fact you are better drinking water than corn syrup or cane sugar solutions since at least water does not make demands on your existing nutrient store.

It was noted in 1929 by Sir Frederick Banting, one of those scientists credited with the discovery of insulin, that there was a significantly large proportion of diabetes among the sugar plantation owners that ate large quantities of refined sugar, whereas there was none detected in the cane harvesters who were able to chew on only the raw cane. The raw cane contains the minerals and vitamins needed to metabolize the sucrose.

Stevia is a potential answer to this problem, and it is such an obvious one that there are a lot of politics regarding its use. The big USA sugar corporations will undoubtedly be opposed to it, and the FDA has refused to allow its use as a food additive, only as a dietary supplement, yet its use in Japan has been very successful. It is also used throughout East Asia, including China, Korea and Taiwan, and also in South America, Israel and some areas of the Caribbean. It is available as a green powder in its crude form, and also brownish syrup redolent of licorice, but also as a more refined white powder that is likely best used as weak solution due to its sweetness.

It is totally free of calories; this may come as a surprise to many since it tastes so sweet. It is an excellent sweetener for children’s drinks since it does not cause cavities: unlike sugar it is not degraded by bacteria to produce the corrosive acid that eats into the enamel. It does not metabolize to a burst of energy that is practically addictive, since that generally then leads to tiredness and the need for more sugar to make up for it.

Stevia does not cause diabetes in any form, is not a food for yeast and it is beneficial to the pancreas. In short, it is a completely safe food supplement that has been used for centuries without ill effect, and if you want to prevent yourself from adding weight and protect against the possibility of Type II diabetes in particular, then stevia should be your sweetener of choice.

The fact that essential fatty acids may aid in weight loss has been missed by many so-called experts for many years. However the part played by fatty acids, particularly by those in Omega 3, 6 and 9 oils, is now understood and they have been accepted as part of a health weight loss diet.

However, what are the reasons for people to lose weight? The cosmetic reasons are obvious, but what other incentives are there? Health is the major incentive , of course, since excessive weight places more of a strain on the heart. It is a proven fact that the risk of death increases with your weight. If you are obese, you are more likely to have high blood pressure, and will almost certainly die younger than somebody who is of average body weight.

You are also more likely to have more problems with cholesterol levels, since the obese have decreased levels of the HDL lipids that take cholesterol back to the liver for destruction. This means that more LDL cholesterol is available to create conditions ideal for the atherosclerosis that causes heart disease and strokes. You are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you are even 12 pounds over weight for your height. It is a known fact that over 80% of those with diabetes are overweight. There are also many other serious negative effects on your health through being over weight.

So, are you going to lose weight or not? On the face of it, losing weight is simply a matter of calorie balance. If you use up more calories in exercise and through your metabolism than you take in through eating, then you will lose weight. Your metabolism is the rate at which you use up energy while at rest, through the essential functions of life such as circulation, digestion and breathing. Some lucky people burn up a lot of calories when at rest while others do not and have to exercise more.

However, even if you are aware of the calorie balance equation, losing weight is not easy because it involves the breaking of habits. Habits die hard: that is the old saying, and it just as true today with people who have to change their snacking habits. It is not easy to cut down on the foods you like so much, such as ice cream, cookies and cakes, but you have to do it if you want to lose weight.

The blood sugar levels of those that binge eat are all over the place like a roller coaster: sometimes up, when you don’t feel hungry, and often down, when you do. Hunger is associated with the availability of the liver’s store of glycogen which is an emergency energy store. Low blood sugar levels result in insufficient glucose to be converted into energy by the mitochondria in your body cells. The liver then supplies the glycogen to keep you going, and as that reduces you get hungry.

Permanent weight loss requires a complete change in your lifestyle, and the flexibility to maintain good eating habits even when unexpectedly stuck in an airport for hours, or if you are asked to work late. However, there is something that could help. Good high quality fats can help to stabilize your blood sugar levels and so maintain a good level of glucose in your blood over a longer period of time.

The right fats can actually initiate the burning of stored fat in your body rather than adding to it, so it is important to know what these are so that they can be included in your diet. It is somewhat paradoxical: you eat fat to remove fat, yet is works!

Over-consumption of refined carbohydrates such as refined flour and white rice, and complex carbs such as potatoes and whole grains products, result in sharp increases in blood sugar levels. This creates a surge of insulin from the pancreas to compensate. The blood sugar level drops again, but insulin itself produces fat and also suppresses the ability of the body to burn fats to produce energy, so the glycogen level in the liver drops and you feel hunger. You then eat again, and over a period of time this yo-yo effect of excess and depletion of blood glucose and liver glycogen causes you to put on weight and get fat.

Essential fatty acids (EFA), specifically gamma linolenic acid (GLA) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) have been found to be effective in helping you to reduce weight. GLA activates the metabolic process involving ATPase. It has been demonstrated that an increase in body mass index (BMI) is associated with a reduction in calcium ATPase activity and GLA can stimulate ATPase, including the so-called ‘sodium pump’, sodium-potassium-ATPase to burn up a large proportion of the stored fat in the body.

GLA also activates what is known as BAT, or ‘brown adipose tissue’ , which is a fat in people that are over-weight, and can be activated to burn up calories. It is also believed to take part in the biosynthesis of serotonin, a hormone that provides you with the ‘feel-good factor’, and so you are less likely to feel hungry.

All of these combine to render GLA a very effective fatty acid in helping to reduce weight. So how does CLA fit in to all this? CLA has been proved to reduce body fat while helping to improve the proportion of lean muscle tissue with your body. Its only known dietary sources are grass fed meat and dairy products. The reduction in grass feeding of livestock within the USA has reduced this source over the past 20 years.

GLA is manufactured in the body from linoleic acid found in borage oil and evening primrose oil, and to lesser amounts in some vegetables and other seed oils. However, its biosynthesis is blocked by smoking, stress, aging, viruses, trans fats and alcohol. Anybody suffering from or with a high intake of any of these should take a supplement if they want to lose weight, otherwise they will find it very difficult.

Omega-3 fish oils also help by increasing the metabolism. The EFA here is alpha linolenic acid that is metabolized in the body to dicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and then docohexaenoic acid (DHA). These acids provide your body with a wide range of benefits, but weight-wise, they increase your metabolism so that you burn off more calories while you are at rest. Basically, you burn calories off while you sleep.

All of these essential fatty acids are available as supplements, and the general health benefits of essential fatty acids are well known and accepted by the medical profession. Their effect on weight loss is still under investigation, though their positive effects have now been generally accepted.