Get Fatter And Age Faster
Belly fat and aging are linked through the master hormone for almost everything related to health and longevity: human growth hormone (HGH). Unfortunately, the age-related loss of HGH is made worse by gaining fat.
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 link between body fat and HGH levels was established in a groundbreaking study in 1991 that was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Authors of this study showed that adult men, from 21-71 years old, with normal body mass index (BMI), on average drop HGH levels by 14 percent every decade. In comparison, a drop of 6 percent in overweight men happens with each unit increase in BMI.
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, 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, fluctuations in estrogen levels 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.
Top Four Solutions
It is easy to say that simply losing belly fat would solve the problem. However, that is the problem in the first place. The long-term failure rate of almost all fat loss strategies is too high to make this the central approach.
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: Get HGH replacement therapy. This is the fastest and most effective solution. Unfortunately, it requires medical treatment with a prescription drug (HGH), is very expensive, and is not covered by most insurance plans. For those who can take advantage of this option, fat loss is easy and automatic.
Solution 2: Natural enhancement of HGH is a more likely strategy for most people. These final three solutions are therefore available to everyone who wants to stimulate their own internal production of HGH. One of the highest spikes in HGH levels every 24 hours comes about two hours after you go to sleep at night. Certain amino acid supplements, taken on an empty stomach at bedtime, can significantly boost this spike. These amino acids are called secretagogues because they induce the secretion of HGH from your pituitary gland. The top two are L-arginine (2-3 grams) and L-lysine (1 gram).
Two additional amino acids are known to help, L-glutamine and L-tryptophan (or its derivative, 5-hydroxytryptophan or 5HTP). All four of these amino acids are commonly available at most nutrition stores, sometimes even in prepared formulas as HGH secretagogue products.
Solution 3. Working out at high-intensity with lifting weights will also provide a spike in HGH. You can boost this spike by supplementing with the same amino acid secretagogues as above. An added amino acid called L-glycine has also been shown in research studies to enhance workout results. Generally you have to buy this amino acid separately, since it is not usually a component in secretagogue products.
As with nighttime secretagogue supplementation, amino acids for a workout boost must be taken on an empty stomach to get optimum results. Ideally this would be about 1 to 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.
An enhanced HGH spike for fat loss therefore occurs more than 4 hours after you eat. To take advantage of this HGH spike your meals have to be spaced at least 5 hours apart.
The after-meal spike is even greater between dinner and breakfast the next day, as long as you do not snack in the evening. This brief overnight fasting period yields best results for boosting HGH and burning fat when it lasts at least 12 hours.
The concept of fasting to boost HGH and belly fat loss can be taken advantage of even further by what scientists call intermittent fasting. Studies have shown that an HGH boost from intermittent fasting once or twice per week provides incredible benefits to health, including fat loss. Age-related disorders can be stopped and aging can even be reversed. You can see how important intermittent fasting is by finding the thousands of pages that come on an internet search for this phrase.
Speeding Up 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.
Intermittent fasting seem simple. Nevertheless, you have to know what you are doing to get optimum results. The fat loss benefits and other good consequences of boosting native HGH levels depend on doing it right.
Retired university professor and research scientist, Dr. Dennis Clark, specializes in natural products biochemistry and human health. Get his research analysis and free scientific report on what to do about excess belly fat, especially his most powerful scientific advice on the belly fat loss.
categories: belly fat loss