This article was published in our free video newsletter in January 2010.
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10 Proven Tips for Weight Loss
Part 1: (9 min)
Part 2: (6 min)
With the holidays behind us and spring just around the corner, this is the time to reset our ability to burn fat. This article is the second in a series designed to help you lose weight. Each season and its harvest has an important role that maintains good health. Winter stores fat, proteins, vitamins and minerals to rebuild and insulate. Spring, as illustrated by its low fat harvest and austere menu, naturally forces us to burn stored fat cells for energy. This triggers fat cell detoxification, which is a requirement for weight loss.
Spring is nature's "Fat Burning Season" and we must start preparing for it now. Don't miss nature's one time of year to maximize fat burning.
So it is now, after our holiday feast on fats, that we must reset our ability to burn fat naturally. Come early spring, the low fat harvest will command the release of stored fat.
In my book The 3-Season Diet, and my last newsletter Balance Stubborn Weight, I explained the basics of the 4-step weight balancing plan.
In this newsletter I want to share something new:
The top 10 food choices and tips that encourage fat burning and weight loss.
These ten weight loss tips are important tools to help prepare the body for a great weight loss season from now through June.
The added benefits of fat burning are huge and go way beyond losing weight!:
- Fat is a calm fuel that burns slow and keeps the mood stable.
- Fat burning neutralizes the disease-producing acids that are caused by stress.
- Fat cells are where we store toxic heavy metals, fat soluble chemicals, pesticides, preservatives and environmental pollutants like estrogenic plastics. When we burn our fat cells, we continually detox.
>>>Read more in my recent newsletter Balance Stubborn Weight and video Detox Dangerous Fat Cells.
TIP 1: GRAPEFRUIT
Grapefruit is one of nature's fat metabolizers. They are coming into season right now, so don't miss them. Remember the old grapefruit diets, where you ate nothing but grapefruits? That diet had merit but it was too extreme, I suggest eating just 1 or 2 a day. They are great for breakfast as a "fast breaking" food. Grapefruits support the momentum of burning fat that is established by having an early supper and no snacks through the night.This effect will continue through the morning as the grapefruit forces a metabolism that burns fat, stabilizes energy and balances blood sugar. Add raw honey for best results (see why below).
TIP 2: RAW HONEY
Honey is another natural fat metabolizer according to Ayurveda. Unlike most sweets that create highs and lows in blood sugar, honey, according to Ayurveda, supports energy and normalizes cravings by forcing fat metabolism and detox. Honey allows us to maintain the basic weight balancing plan of three meals a day without snacking. For this to work however, the honey must be RAW, which means not cooked, not pasteurized and not heated. Raw honey also scrubs toxins (ama) off the intestinal wall and fat cells.
If honey is heated for any length of time or cooked (such as in muffins, bread or desserts) it will not burn fat or detoxify toxic fat cells. The cooked honey becomes a toxic hardened material called "ama," which is undigested food in Ayurvedic terms.
In my book The 3-Season Diet I tell the story about bee keepers that sprayed diluted honey on the hives to calm the bees before managing their hives. According to this report, when the bee keepers used cooked honey all the bees where dead within 20 minutes. If raw honey was used the bees were fine and docile.
TIP 3: WATER
Water is a critical tool for encouraging better fat metabolism. A study from The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, (volume 92 number 8) showed that drinking 500 ml increased thermogenisis (heat production) by 24 percent. This increase of metabolic activity before a meal will support more efficient digestion and fat metabolism. In Ayurveda it is recommended to drink 1-2 glasses of water 15-20 minutes before each meal. The water allows the stomach to be hydrated so it is more willing to robustly produce the hydrochloric acid (HCL) needed to digest a big meal. HCL ensures that what enters the stomach is properly broken down and absorbed in the small intestine.
If the stomach is dry or dehydrated, it won't produce enough HCL for optimal digestion because that much-needed acid would end up burning the stomach lining. In a future newsletter I will explain why lack of digestive acids is actually the major cause of indigestion and heart burn.
Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice in your water before a meal for an extra fat burning boost (see why below).
TIP 4: TREAT GLUTEN INTOLERANCE - RATHER THAN AVOIDING GLUTEN
High insulin levels caused by poor diet and eating habits tell the body to store fat. Low insulin levels are one of the major factors associated with weight loss. Breads are usually public enemies for losing weight because of the hard to digest gluten content and their impact on insulin levels. Many get results by avoiding breads and gluten altogether to lose weight. This strategy treats the symptoms of gluten intolerance, but it is essential to find out why the gluten is not digested in the first place. I will report on this in detail in a future newsletter.
Good news! Some grains do have surprising benefits when it comes to weight loss. Sourdough and rye bread have been reported to balance insulin levels according to the September 2009 issue of The Nutrition Journal and the June 2008 issue of Acta Diabetologica.
TIP: Toasting breads helps lower the impact of gluten on the digestive villi because it makes it easier to digest.
TIP 5: SALAD DRESSING IMPROVES DIGESTION AND LOWERS INSULIN
Eating vinegar before each meal helps support blood sugar and lower insulin levels, which typically spike after a high starch meal according to the September 2005 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The vinegar is a weak ascetic acid that fires up the digestive acids needed to break down a heavy starchy meal. The Italians often start each meal with balsamic vinegar. If you're not a balsamic vinegar buff, just add more vinegar to your salad.
If vinegar isn't your thing, Ayurveda suggests a few simple recipes to increase HCL production in the stomach:
· Lemon juice does basically the same thing as vinegar and makes a perfect salad dressing with raw honey.
· Lemon juice can also be used alone, on food, or in some warm water that you sip with the meal.
· To really boost digestive strength slice ginger root into dime size slices. Sprinkle the slices with natural salt (Himalayan, Redmond or Celtic salt) and fresh lemon juice. Eat two before each meal.
>>>Read my article The Hidden Dangers of Digestive Enzymes to learn how to naturally increase your own enzymes rather than weaken your digestion by taking enzyme supplements.
TIP 6: GREEN TEA
Drinking green tea with meals, as the Japanese and Chinese do, helps decrease the absorption of excess fat according to the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. White, green and black tea regulate the enzyme lipase, which breaks down fat. These teas have been shown to stimulate fat burning genes and aid in weight loss according to the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism in 2009. Antioxidants in white, green and black tea also neutralize the toxic chemistry of stress. When caffeine is taken with a meal, such as green tea, the caffeine acts as a digestive stimulant and is beneficial for the efficiency of digestion. The same caffeine on an empty stomach can be depleting to the adrenals and digestion.
TIP 7: SPICES
A little spice with each meal can slow the absorption of white sugar and increase the amount of calories burned during each meal according to the July 2006 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Digestion. Peppers, ginger, Turmeric, cayenne and digestive herbs like Trikatu help support HCL production.
TIP 8: SIP HOT WATER
Sipping hot water every 10-15 minutes all day for two weeks acts as a digestive cleanse and a lymphatic flush. This is one of the best techniques to treat dehydration, which is a major factor in weight gain. Dehydration triggers a survival response in the body that chemically tells the body to store fat. Proper hydration supports the bicarbonate level just inside the stomach lining that protects it from being burned by digestive acids. If the body is dehydrated, this water-based bicarbonate layer will dry out and the tummy can ache. If it isn't treated soon, the stomach will soon be told to make less digestive hydrochloric acid (HCL), which means that food is no longer being properly digested.
My favorite test for dehydration:
· Sip hot water every 10-15 minutes for just one day. If you are not craving and thirsting for more hot water by the end of the day, you are probably not dehydrated.
· If you are dehydrated, you will crave more because the hot water will hydrate, dilate and stimulate micro-circulation and lymphatic drainage. This will rehydrate the tissues as the body absorbs the water and you will get thirsty for more.
· If you are thirsty for more hot water after one day - continue for 2 weeks to totally rehydrate.
· Add a squeeze of lemon to spike the hot water every once in a while. The lemon acts like soap to scrub the tissue and the hot water becomes the cleansing rinse.
TIP 9: IMPROVE ELIMINATION
One of the most common reasons for weight gain is sluggish elimination. I told a story not too long ago in a previous newsletter, Lose Weight with Daily Digestive Cleansing, about a patient who took 2 Trifala capsules after each meal for 2 years and lost 50 pounds. Trifala is an intestinal cleanser and toner that flushes toxins and excess mucus off the wall of the gut. This helps assimilate nutrients properly.
I also recommend that you increase fiber in your diet by eating more vegetables, fruits and whole grains. You can add 1 tbs of ground flax or chia seeds to each meal as a great way to fiber up. These seeds are also loaded with good omega 3 fatty acids which are needed to support weight loss and a stable nervous system.
TIP 10: BEETS
Try to eat one fresh beet a day for the next 3 months to help thin the bile and flush the liver and gallbladder. Beets are best grated raw with lemon juice but also have benefits when eaten cooked. When the bile flows the digestive system can break down fat and neutralize digestive acids and the liver can remove toxic fat soluble chemicals. Optimal bile flow may be the most important piece of the digestive puzzle when it comes to weight loss - so eat your beets!
CONCLUSION
You will enjoy the best results when you combine these 10 Tips with step one in our weight balancing plan. This information can also be found in my book, The 3-Season Diet and on my Weight Loss DVD.