You can begin to use a weight loss supplement, and diet supplements the Flat Belly Bible way. It just takes a little common sense with some good science to back you up! You want to make educated decisions based on the best current information available. This holds true for anything you do, but is especially pertinent to the things you put in your body.
Easier said than done.
The weight loss supplement industry is something of a Pandora’s Box. There are a lot of conflicting and confusing claims made for a vast array of products on the market. It’s difficult for today’s fat loss supplements shoppers to separate the bogus claims from the legitimate ones.
Here’s a helpful reminder for when you buy that next weight loss pill.
Virtually everything you read or hear in the popular media about any particular diet supplements, or fat burner supplements has a commercial bias. Clever marketers disguise their advertising claims as sophisticated research reports and studies. Follow the money. Most of the studies are funded by the (weight loss industry) companies themselves. They have powerful, vested interests in how ‘results’ are interpreted.
Research funds are supported by financial interests with a budgeted bottom line. Many of today’s nutritional companies use the same tactics that the giant pharmaceutical firms have been using for years. In fact, many of them are owned and controlled by the drug companies.
Giant economic interests don’t necessarily translate or equate with your own personal, best interests. Its always wise to remember the adage, “Buyer beware”.
It gets even more confused by the fact that many weight loss pill compounds showing great promise in the research labs and double-blind/placebo studies of the scientific world, don’t always prove out in the real consumer world. It turns out that much of the stuff is animal tested. Rats and mice aren’t people.
Many (human) test subjects have documented responses under very tightly controlled clinical conditions. You and I couldn’t realistically match those same conditions in the real world. Many otherwise excellent lab test results are flawed in just this manner.
Often, specific clinical trials achieve scientifically validated results with active ingredient dosages that are cost prohibitive to the average consumer. You can often read about the amazing effects of some new wonderous weight loss pill. But, when you examine the fine print, you notice that a $40 dollar bottle of product has less than 1/4 the amount of the milligrams per caplet (of the active ingredient) as was administered to the trial subjects.
You’d have to gobble half a bottle at a time to get the same results! And even then, there’s no guarantee the reported effects will work for YOU. You could be among the percentile of the group that showed marginal or minimal effects when ingesting the fat burner supplements used.
Even worse are instances where active ingredients documented to have specific effects in a rigorously controlled study, are then substituted by manufacturers with similar but synthetic or inferior-grade substances. Nevertheless, the producer will use the original data in a scientifically “peer reviewed” study with university credentials to support claims for their second rate product. The old bait and switch.
What’s a consumer to do?
Aren’t we protected by the FDA from these sort of industry shennanigans? Isn’t this what the Dietary Supplement & Health Education Act (DSHEA) of 1998 was meant to safeguard? How do you spell E-N-R-O-N? Or, W-O-R-L-D-C-O-M? Not the same? I’m not betting my health on the honesty or ethics of the commerce world. Their job is to make profits, (despite FDA oversight) which may or may not happen to jive with consumers’ best interests.
There are many excellent products and very fine, reputable companies that are accountable to the buying public. Our job as informed consumers is to reward the companies that deliver quality products, at a fair price. We do that with pocketbook power.
You can check out our review of our recommended fat burning diet pills here.
But, we can still get into trouble, even if we thought we did all our homework. What do I mean?
PPA (or Phenylpropanolamine) and sometimes listed as pseudoephedrine is an ingredient that has been commonly used for decades as a cold remedy and weight loss pill. Available for at least 53 years, Americans have been taking over 6 billion doses of PPA each year in a wide range of over-the-counter products, including such popular brand names as Alka-Seltzer Cold, Bayer Cold, Dexatrim, Accutrim, Dimetapp, Dristan, and others. As many as 400 OTC products have contained PPA.
However, reliable research has linked PPA to dramatically increased risk of stroke, especially in women ages 18 to 49. “Besides catastrophic effects of a stroke, some acute psychosis, convulsions, kidney failure, heart damage and hypertension have also been reported.”
In a landmark Yale University study (actually funded by the pharmaceutical industry itself!) Yale University scientists linked PPA to a significant increase in the risk of stroke, especially in women.
On November 6, 2000 In response to the Yale University study, the FDA ordered all over-the-counter manufacturers to remove PPA from their products.
Now admittedly, I just crossed the line in my discussion of fat loss and diet supplements, by using the example of a pharmaceutical drug rather than a “natural” food, or dietary supplement. In fact, many companies prefer to cloud that distinction. “Natural” is such an overused and abused term, it has almost been rendered meaningless by diet industry hype. That’s why terms such as “real”, “whole food concentrate”, or “organic”, or even “natural- sourced” have a greater perceived premium placed on them.
Even when a product ingredient listed IS natural it doesn’t always mean that its necessarily healthy for you. The herb ephedra, known as ma huang, also listed on product labels as ephedrine, is an all natural,”real” herbal product.( Which PPA mimicked). Product safety of ma huang weight loss stimulants are the subject of ongoing debate.
It’s significant that ephedra based products are unavailable in Canada (without prescription?), and cannot exceed a 25 mg. dosage in Australia. Coffee, for that matter can be purchased as an all “organic” beverage in most popular health food stores. That doesn’t make caffeine any more healthier–although its reassuring to know you’re not getting any pesticides or other chemicals mixed in with your java beans.
Perhaps in the case of the PPA example, the “real” informed consumer is the one who had independently decided never to rely on a pharmaceutical style weight loss supplement or cold remedy. Thus, they would never have exposed themselves to a risk that it took 53 years to discover. The educated consumers of today are increasingly demanding products that have none of the inherent risks associated with man made, synthesized drug products. Drug company propaganda notwithstanding!
We here at the Flat Belly Bible wish to serve those of you that are willing to stop putting harmful chemicals in your body.
Your long term goal should be to make sure that anything that enters your mouth can be used as building material or energy. If it is not, your body will perceive it as a dangerous substance!
So watch what you use as your next weight loss pill.
A Weight loss supplement of any type should be supplemental to a complete, primary, program that’s designed to put you back on track to optimum health and ideal body composition.
You cannot lose body fat by fasting or going hungry without damaging your metabolism. Insist on a weight loss program that includes balanced nutrition & the identification of your “reactive” foods that trigger carbohydrate sensitivities. Include exercise, elimination of stimulants and other drugs (detoxification), stress management, and hormone replacement therapy, if indicated. Many of the fat burner supplements can be a superb way to help the body cleanse itself from the inside out, because they provide the concentrated nutrients that cells use to expel toxins, and rebuild themselves.
Excessive body weight, particularly fat around the middle is the sign of a distressed hormone system. The rotund middle has been termed “The Insulin Meter”. High Insulin levels triggered by high (refined, processed) carbohyderate consumption and other detrimental lifestyle factors disrupt every other hormone system in the body. Over time, hormone imbalances always lead to disease.
“When insulin levels are kept high too long, the result is a physiology prone to infections and all the chronic degenerative diseases of aging: osteoarthritis, different types of cancer, cholesterol abnormalities, coronary artery disease, less lean body mass with excess body fat, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, stroke and type II diabetes.” The Schwarzbein Principle
“The medical establishment considers these degenerative diseases to be genetically transmitted…High insulin levels are also considered genetic. I disagree.” Diana Schwarzbein, M.D.
So you see. The things that make us fat…are the same things that are sending us to early graves. And furthermore…
“Because 300,000 people die each year from obesity-related problems, anything that exacerbates weight gain is a serious issue. Therefore, the average person’s ignorance about [what causes high insulin levels, including negative,] delayed food reactions is a serious public health problem”. The False Fat Diet
Now, if you stuck with me this long, I hope you hang in there to make this leap with me.
Because…
In the months and years to come, you could be considered a weight loss winner if…you grasp the following concept.
Heck. The entire rise and fall of Western Civilization could very well hinge on whether we as a people “Get it”. No kidding.
Substitute “overweight and obesity” for “degenerative diseases” in the above sentence if you need to make it more relevant to you.
The above statement explains why the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is willing to admit that up to 80% of the current maladies that afflict the American population are directly related to “lifestyle” choices.
If you’re willing to admit it too, (ie. that your eating and lifestyle habits) have more to do with your current state of health than your genetic predisposition, you’ve taken the 1st step towards Health Freedom.
How so? Because you have now empowered yourself with the conviction that YOU have control over your health and weight loss destiny, because YOU can begin to take control of your eating and lifestyle habits.
No more sense of being victimized by your genetics. Start out today knowing you have at least that 80% shot at improving your profile, and 100% choice on how you proceed from here to use what you have today, right now, to start healing your metabolism.
As Yoda of StarWars fame might say, “Flat Belly Bible you are”!
Has it occurred to you that those who are making the money will be very slow to spread this news? Do you realize that much of what we term the weight loss industry (and when you get right down to it)–the entire medical/pharmaceutical industrial complex is built upon the edifice of you remaining a passive victim of your supposed flawed genes?
You’re never profitable to them if you thrive in healthy self-sufficiency! Or even dare to believe that you can! With or without buying an expensive weight loss supplement or other fancy diet supplements.
“And let no man take from you your crown”
I hope that you will choose to make positive changes that will promote balance and improve the quality of your life.
To regain optimum health and body composition you’ll eat a diet rich in proteins, fats, and non-starchy vegetables, and you’ll eat the complex and simple carbohydrates appropriate to your current metabolism and activity level.
As you begin to heal your metabolism, you’ll improve and build your muscle mass–the active tissue that burns off fat stores. The more muscle mass you have, the more capable your metabolism is of burning fat.
This is what we have termed using weight loss supplements the “healthy fat burner” way.
The whole notion of using dietary supplements scientifically rests on our belief that when providing the body the raw materials it needs, both nutritionally, and bioenergetically, it has amazing restorative and recuperative powers to heal itself. All natural healing can be said to rely on these fundamentals:
“Nurture the body, encourage it, support its own wisdom, remove interference and toxicity, and it will heal”. Tim O’Shea, D.C., thedoctorwithin.com
Building upon Dr.Diana Schwartzbein’s Principle (stated in part I) that the systems of the human body are interconnected and that one imbalance creates another imbalance, it follows that any supplement included in the diet should be ingested for the sole purpose of restoring ‘Balance’ to the body systems.
Weight loss supplementation, indeed, any food supplements included in your scientific weight loss program should be targeted towards correcting metabolic dysfunction and biochemical imbalances because…
Most contemporary scientific and (nutritionally aware) medical authorities agree: the overweight and obese suffer from metabolic disturbances and hormonal imbalances triggered by high insulin levels. High insulin levels are the result of over-consumption of starches and sugars (simple and complex carbs) so prevalent in the Standard American Diet.
“Eating a lot of concentrated sweetners stresses the body’s glucose and insulin mechanisms and sets the stage for the development of the most common degenerative conditions that plague North Americans today–excess weight, obesity, Syndrome X, Type 2 diabetes, [etc.]” Going Against The Grain by Melissa Dianne Smith, Dipl.Nutr.
Before purchasing a single, solitary, weight loss supplement…ask yourself, “Am I willing to restrict or reduce the amount of starches and sweets I eat”? Remember, only a small amount of these ( low-fat carbos) can be burned for energy. The rest is stored as fat -(lipogenesis is the insulin mediated conversion of glucose into cholesterol and/or tryglycerides, by the liver) or may alternatively be stored as glycogen-more readily accessible energy stores. This body fat that originates from carbos is….
OH NO!!! Here it Comes…It’s…It’s.. “KARBO FAT”!! Julia Ross, M.A.,in The Diet Cure.
Ultimately, if you are not willing to modify your diet by focusing on raising protein, moderating carbohydrates,(even eliminating refined carbs), eating plenty of green vegetables, and insisting on eating only the “good” dietary fats, you are wasting your fat burner supplement dollars.
Check out our fat burning foods list and fruits that burn fat for ideas on changing your diet to lose weight.
Why? Because the weight loss results you achieve by any other means are doomed to be short-lived, and may actually lead to further weight gain rebound and lean muscle loss.
We at healthyfatburner counsel you in the words of Elson Haas-author of ‘The False Fat Diet’, “…Using nutraceuticals as drugs without other lifestyle and dietary changes is a throwback to old-fashioned “magic bullet” medicine. Nonetheless, as adjunctivemodalities, they can be extremely effective”.
In the long run, you use weight loss supplements scientifically, not only to achieve immediate weight loss, but to also heal your biochemistry.
Here’s what this means in practical terms.
You’ll recall that Syndrome X is the designation that conventional medicine has applied to a metabolic syndrome characterized by, among other symptoms; high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, overweight, and a condition called ‘insulin resistance’ or ‘hyperinsulinemia’.
‘Insulin resistance’ is an increased requirement for higher and higher levels of blood-borne insulin to move circulating blood glucose (sugar) into the interior of cells for their energy needs. These higher concentrations of insulin in the blood over time lead to hormonal imbalances which always lead to disease.
Understand. It’s the receptors on cell membranes that link-up with insulin (for glucose transport) that have become blunted or resistant/insensitive. This is because they have been continually asked to accept too much sugar–along with other detrimental dietary assaults*– over the years. The cells may be reverting to a survival mode by making it harder for sugar to be dumped into their delicate interior. (They only require so much sugar afterall.)
*Another interesting postulate dicussed in Thomas Smith’s excellent book ‘Insulin, Our Silent Killer’ is epidemiological evidence that the lipid membranes of the cell walls themselves may be dysfunctional-(and thereby impairing mobility of glucose transporters) because the membrane was fabricated “from a pool of body lipids that was deficient in omega 3 essential fatty acids”.
“The low carbohydrate diet, popular among some physicians is based upon the idea that if you cannot metabolize carbs (another word for sugars), do not eat them. This is sort of like saying if your car has carbeurator problems, stop putting gas in it and start using diesel fuel instead” ‘Insulin, Our Silent Killer’
So-called low carb diet plans are a start in the right direction for correcting blood sugar imbalances and (in)sensitivities, but most stop short of attempting to restore, revitalize, or normalize cellular membrane function.
This is where a targeted nutrition plan and weight loss supplements can help, along with other lifestyle changes that also includes an appropriate fat burning exercise regime.(Exercise is a proven enhancer of metabolic function and improved insulin sensitivity.)
Do you now understand that too much insulin being produced by the pancreas is a bad thing? Somewhere down the road, if Syndrome X abnormalities continue unabated, the pancreas just gives up in sheer exhaustion, and at that point will be unable to control blood sugar levels. This is called type II diabetes.
Believe me. You do not want to go there. . If you are able to accept the idea that your attempts at losing weight are really an ongoing healing process, you can begin to appreciate the concept that the foods and nutritional and dietary supplements you eat are healing substances. Or should be.
“In fact, from the natural healing perspective, foods are the only healing substances. Drugs do not-and cannot– heal, because a body that depends on outside control cannot be considered healthy”. Health at the Crossroads Dean Black PhD
When any of us becomes too deficient in a nutrient, food alone may not give us enough of that nutrient to restore adequate levels. Supplements can replenish our supplies and make a dramatic difference in how we feel.
Supplements are what the naturopathic doctor calls “isolates”. This is a term used to describe a useful component that has been isolated from our food. Sometimes it is extracted from our food, sometimes it is manufactured from scratch. When using an “isolate” it’s important to realize that it will not be used by the body in quite the same way as when it’s contained in the original whole food matrix.
Vitamin C, for example is synergistic with the bioflavonoid complex, and is much more effective with the bioflavonoids than without them. (For a very informative discussion of this see article on Tim O’Sheas site @thedoctorwithin.com)
Many if not most, of these isolates are synergistic with the other food elements with which they are associated with in nature. Thus context is quite important in the biochemical action of all supplements.
“For this reason, it is much better to obtain our nutrients from food rather than from supplements. The natural is far superior to the engineered”. Insulin, Our Silent Killer by Thomas Smith
Thomas continues…
“Having made this point, it is necessary to state that it is very difficult if not impossible to obtain all of our nutritional needs from our food”. This is owing to the large scale commercialization of our food supply that has corrupted and depleted the nutritional value of many food sources popularly available today. Not to mention the state of our own compromised digestive systems.
Thus, it’s helpful to recognize the differences between various dietary supplements purveyed in the marketplace. Also note there are only a very few companies out there that actually manufacture “whole food supplements”.
Many popular weight loss products are based on herbal preparations and formulas. Herbs, particularly those classed as medicinal herbs can exhibit strong pharmacologic actions. Many of the stimulant thermogenic formulations widely marketed actually have a drug like effect on the body.
Fat burning Foods and dietary supplements are healing to the degree that they nurture the body’s adaptive powers. That is, they provide support to the body’s physiologic ability to maintain balance or dynamic homeostasis when confronted by various stressors or dis-eases. Virtually all natural healing therapies have the goal to achieve some sort of balance.
The Chinese herbalists have traditionally classified herbs in 3 distinct categories.
- Poisonous and/or toxic herbs These can be very powerful therapeutic agents when employed by a skilled practitioner, but are used only in life-threatening medical emergencies.
- Medicinal herbs whose primary action is therapeutic but when used long term create a secondary effect (the bi-phasic effect) of imbalance and worsening of the dis-eased condition. Therefore, medicinal herbs are used on a definite, short-term basis.
- “Food” grade herbs that strengthen the body therapeutically and continue to heal by nurturing indefinitely.
“Physiologically an herb nurtures if it provides raw materials for the body’s adaptive processes, or if it catalyses them, or in some way makes them more efficient. An herb controls, in contrast, if it interrupts or preempts the body’s own control of those processes”. Dean Black, PhD
For Your Information: Many herbal products and weight loss supplements sold in America today are advertised with a (blatant or subtle) medicinal come-on. Our society is indoctrinated by the AMA medical establishment slant. We want our diet supplements to have drug-like properties that control our stubborn, unfit bodies. Consider… drugs are designed to:
Suppress, Sedate, Substitute, Stimulate. New-generation designer drugs now Mimic and Block.
Contrast these actions with the holistic or natural healing therapeutics that:
Modulate, Nourish, Strengthen, Support, Tonify, Cleanse, Detoxify, Etc.
You decide. Are you going to go with the controlling or the nurturing modalities?
“Controlling and healing are opposites, in fact, since we are fully healed only when we have become fully free. The idea that we can’t heal by controlling has certain scientific support. Acting and being acted upon literally create two distinct physiologies, with only the physiology of acting leading to health”. Dean Black, PhD.
Western style herbal medicine on the other hand has nearly the equivalent understanding of the ancient Chinese herbalists and Indian Reishis in the olde tyme herbal tonic remedies.
Only whole plant materials are endowed with tonic properties. No synthetic drugs, not even isolated plant constituents can lay claim to being “tonics”.
“Definition; A tonic is any substance that balances the biochemical and physiological events that comprise body systems”. Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D. in Herbal Tonic Therapies
There’s that word – balance- again.
Dr. Mowrey points out that the concept of a substance that restores balance is foreign to modern medicine. (A HUGE Understatement. ) Also, placing emphasis on increasing the body systems’ natural defense and restorative powers is lacking in the orthodox medical community.
Hello? Is anybody home? I’m sorry the doctor is NOT in…(but he/she could be within…)
“In order to conceptualize drugs as materials for restoring balance, the scientific world will have to undergo a total paradigm shift; and it is not ready to do that”. Dr Mowrey
But that’s exactly what I’m asking YOU to do now. Conceptualize whatever you put into your body as first restoring balance, and as you progress, continue to nurture yourself into maintaining balance.
This is not to say that you need to find that elusive magic elixir or omnipotent potion. What it does mean is that you adapt the over-arching holistic concept to combine your weight loss supplements, strategies and therapies in an effort to tonify, balance, and harmonize your body systems.
You can adopt the concept you often hear referencing the actions of particular fat burner supplements. You’ll hear how the ingredients in the formula work together synergistically. You can blend, potentize, or in body builder parlance, “stack” your dietary supplements and routines in a synergistic manner that compounds their collective effect.
Apply the wisdom of the Chinese herbalists and Indian Aryuvedics. Understand that:
- The use of prescription and non-prescription drugs,(and illegal street drugs-for that matter), and over-the-counter products is comparable to the use of toxic and poisonous herbs. Use only for medical emergencies. When you select these types of products without medical supervision you are Self-Medicating.
- When you use “isolates”, which includes vitamins in therapeutic dosages, individual minerals, amino acids, any and all substances isolated or extracted from foods including many medicinal herbal preparations you are Self-Prescribing.
- When you eat or ingest whole food products and whole food concentrates, super greens and super food blends where the whole food matrix has been preserved intact…you are Self-Nourishing.
On the sliding scale of therapeutic options, it’s always preferable to nourish your way to health. Depending on where your state-of-health is right now, today, your body may not afford you the luxury of just eating your way to wholesomeness. If you have a long history of ‘dieting’ and have relied on heavy dosing of pharmaceuticals or are currently taking prescription medications now…
You may need to use the more invasive, intervening, and controlling measures, until such time as you gain more metabolic equalibrium…
But take this Flat Belly Bible supplement advice to the bank.
Deficiencies in specific nutrients, especially proteins, vitamins, and minerals, may significantly impair your healing progress. Use weight loss supplements to avoid depletion of nutrients in whatever weight loss program you decide on.
