Three little known ways to speed fat loss....

Today's Post: Monday, 11-9-2009

As those of you who read our posts regularly know, and those who read our posts last week know, we believe that 90 % of your ability to lose fat and keep it off is determined by:

1. NOT eating the fattening foods or drinking the fattening drinks;

2. eating health supporting foods that turn off your hunger better and that humans evolved to eat;

&

3. Getting vigorous exercise, ideally both some interval cardio & some strength training each week plus getting in some more moderate exercise such as walking or dancing each week.

However, most people who are working to lose fat or keep it off would like some extra leverage. And more and more of these extra ways to speed fat loss are being discovered.

Here are three I’ve learned of in just the last few weeks.

1. Taking a good vitamin and mineral supplement daily may help some people do better at fat loss.

Some people really do have extra trouble losing fat well due to low thyroid. And, some people with low thyroid have that problem due to iodine deficiency.

Added salt, other than a bit occasionally and a bit in some recipes is undesirable in a culture where too much is added to so many kinds of foods. And, sea salt which contains salts of other minerals besides sodium is better for you than using iodized salt.

But virtually all good vitamin and mineral supplements contain the RDA of iodine, 150 mcg per day. (You can read the label to see if a given supplement had iodine.)

(A recent study also found that taking the RDA can improve mental performance in people who have not been getting enough iodine.)

So, taking a good vitamin and mineral supplement daily not only supports your health in so many other ways, for some people, it may double their success at fat loss.

2. Oddly enough, coconut and coconut oil has been found to both: increase HDL, the beneficial cholesterol, and help with fat loss – plus help people lose belly fat.

Recently, Doctor Al Sears (see: www.alsearsmd.com ) in his emails did an excellent write up on this.

It seems that studies have found that, just like extra virgin olive oil, substituting coconut oil for oils like, corn, safflower, and canola oil that are high in omega 6 oils, using coconut oil lowers insulin which helps reduce fat storage and belly fat AND it increases your HDL cholesterol.

You can substitute extra virgin olive oil for butter, for margarine, and for oils that are high in omega 6 & increase your HDL, lower your belly fat, and improve your over-all health and decrease your risk of heart disease.

But it would be nice to have another health OK choice.

Apparently coconut and coconut oil do so but with an extra kick.

They may also do better at actually increasing your fat loss. Dr Sears says the research he found suggests that’s so.

They can be used when you want to have higher cooking temperatures than extra virgin olive oil can handle.

They can be used in cooking, such as making a more health OK kind of pie crust or a more health OK kind of dark chocolate fudge where you need saturated fat that you cannot use extra virgin olive oil for and get good results.

Lastly, since most people find that coconut and coconut oil tastes really good, you can substitute them for sugar in some treat foods and enjoy them as much as you would have the versions with sugar that are far more fattening.

Even better, and of particular interest with colds, regular flu, and swine flu about, coconut and coconut oil contain lauric acid which has considerable anti-viral effects.

3. There was a study done that found that pregnant women who took probiotics containing the most common probiotic bacteria gained less excess weight than matched women who did not. And they also gained quite a bit less belly fat.

Even better, and of particular interest with colds, regular flu, and swine flu about, other studies have found people who take probiotics each day have more resistance to these things, get less of them, and get lighter cases if they do than people who don’t take probiotics.

None of these 3 are strong enough to cause fat loss if you do none of the three basics. But if you do them, these three things may well increase your fat loss and help you lose more belly fat.

Best of all, two of the three things, also have documented antiviral effects. So, two of them can also boost your protection from swine flu.