One of the best kept secrets. the unknown reason people are so overweight is because there is an important slimming fat that is missing from our foods.

Forget that story.’eating fat makes you fat.’ It’s simply not true. Scientists have proven that foods like beef, cheese and dairy can be the path to lifelong weight control. Only if they contain one very important fat that has a natural slimming effect on the human body.

Its name is (CLA) conjugated linoleic acid and it’s one of the least understood of the essential fatty acids. Thanks to new research we now know that CLA makes sure the fats we eat are converted into muscle and energy. Without CLA dietary fat is simply stored as new fat cells.

Research scientists say that’s one of the primary reasons why people are having so much trouble controlling their weight-because CLA is missing from our food.

Is CLA the weight-loss discovery of the century!

Why is obesity much less of a problem in other countries? North Americans eat a lot of junk food, but so do many other countries that don’t have the obesity problems we do. So what’s going on?

Scientists say one of the main differences is CLA. It’s abundant in their foods and absent in ours. Statistics now show that obesity has increased in North America in direct proportion to the decrease of CLA in our foods.

Few health experts have made this connection because CLA is a recent discovery. Medical and nutritional texts, except for the newest editions, contain no mention of it. We’re still learning just how important it is, especially in the metabolism of fatty foods.

By the 1990s, the CLA content of milk was less than 1%.

Since the body can’t produce CLA on its own, we must get it from our diet. (Chief sources are beef, milk, and dairy products.) But researchers have found the CLA content of these foods has fallen to almost zero since 1950’s.

That’s when farmers began feeding cattle and dairy cows in feedlots instead of grazing them on grass pastures. By comparison, the pasture-fed beef of Australia contains 400% more CLA than ours!

To make matters worse, people are eating less beef and dairy products in an effort to slim down. This is having a backfire effect, because it further reduces their CLA levels. As a result, it’s even more difficult to lose weight!

But eating more of these foods won’t help either. You still won’t get enough CLA unless the products are pasture-raised, which can be pretty pricey.

The best short-term solution is to take a CLA supplement. Some impressive research has shown CLA can produce a dramatic reduction in body fat. Early experiments with mice found that adding CLA to their diet caused an 88% reduction in body fat in just 6 weeks. And human studies are also amazing.

Would you like to lose 20% of your body fat?

In both men and women, CLA supplements have produced body fat reductions of 20 percent in as little as 3 months. More dramatic results are possible if you also make a few eating changes and add a little exercise.

CLA is now widely available in many health food stores however all CLA is not equal. Apparently some investigators have found some CLA products are nothing more than ordinary vegetable oil!

More Weight-Loss Helpers

Fed up with today’s contradictory weight-loss advice? Don’t fall for those phony fad diets or stupid exercise gadgets or all those useless weight loss supplements.

Flax fights fat. Next to CLA, nothing transforms the human body into a fat-burning machine better than a good flax oil supplement.

Get lean with green tea! Studies in Switzerland have shown that when green tea capsules are taken with a meal, subjects burned 80 additional calories, most of them from fat.

Muscle without exercise! Scientists have found that creatine stimulates muscle growth throughout the body. Creatine works without exercise but really works much better if you do exercise.

Many nutrition specialists say you need to reduce grains and sugar to lose weight. Here’s why.

For several million years, humans existed on a diet of animals and vegetation. It was only with the advent of agriculture a mere 10,000 years ago – a fraction of a second in evolutionary time – that humans began ingesting large amounts of sugar and starch in the form of grains and potatoes.

While the human shift to agriculture produced indisputable gains for man – modern civilization is based on this epoch – societies where the transition from a primarily meat/vegetation diet to one high in cereals show a reduced lifespan and stature, increases in infant mortality and infectious disease, and higher nutritional deficiencies.

Contemporary humans have not suddenly evolved mechanisms to incorporate the high carbohydrates from high starch and sugar-rich foods.

In short, we are consuming far too much bread, cereal, pasta, corn (a grain, not a vegetable), rice, potatoes and snack cakes, with very grave consequences to our health. Making matters worse, most of these carbohydrates we consume come in the form of ‘processed’ food.

65% of North Americans are overweight and 27% clinically obese!

It is not the fat in the foods we eat but, far more, the excess carbohydrates from our starch and sugar-loaded diet that is making people fat and unhealthy.

If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, chances are very good that the excess carbohydrates in your body are to blame:

Excess weight, fatigue, frequent tiredness, depression, brain fogginess, bloating, low blood sugar or high blood pressure

We all need a certain amount of carbohydrates of course, but through our addiction to grains, potatoes, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, we are consuming far too many.

The body’s storage capacity for carbohydrates is quite limited so here’s what happens to all the excess: they are converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose or fatty, tissue.

Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rise, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into the bloodstream, which lowers the glucose.

Insulin is essentially a storage hormone, evolved over millions of years of humans prior to the agricultural age, to store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form of fat in case of famine.

Insulin, stimulated by the excess carbohydrates is responsible for all those bulging stomachs and fat rolls on thighs, arms and chins.

Even worse, high insulin levels suppress two other important hormones – glucagons and growth hormones – which are responsible for burning fat and sugar and promoting muscle development, respectively. So insulin from excess carbohydrates promotes fat, and then wards off the body’s ability to lose that fat.

Excess weight and obesity lead to heart disease and a wide variety of other diseases. But the ill effect of grains and sugars does not end there. They suppress the immune system, contributing to allergies, and they are responsible for a host of digestive disorders. They contribute to depression, and their excess consumption is associated with many of the chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

The bottom line is this: North Americans need to reduce their intake of grains, including corn-based foods, and all sweets and potatoes, dramatically.

Food is fuel – plain and simple, just like gasoline is to an automobile! You eat food and it is broken down via your digestive system. The fuel (food) is ‘burned’ via ‘metabolism’ or metabolic rate, which is the rate that calories are used (burned). Calories are really a measurement of heat (not an amount of food as many people think).

The good or useful parts of food are carbohydrates, fats and proteins, which are needed by the body. The remainder is either eliminated or stored as fat.

Digestive enzymes are also critically important for proper digestion and the production of enzymes diminishes with age and cooking food.

Weight loss depends on having the proper energy balance.

To lose weight, you must consume less than you expend. This will always be true. There are no foods, pills or potions that magically melt pounds and inches off. The only sure fire approach is, eating less and exercising more.

Permanent weight loss requires a few permanent lifestyle and eating habit changes.

You should never go on a diet for a few weeks and then go back to your old eating habits. Every Short-term diet only produces one thing, short-term results!

Although there are many so-called weight loss diets, they are all really just variations on the same basic principles.

The facts are, to maintain and improve your health.

You must take care of your body or it won’t take care of you! As a first step, make sure your diet gives you adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals. Drink plenty of clean healthy water. Get enough sleep and fresh air and try not to be suffering from too much stress. Don’t pollute yourself with smoke and junk foods.

Reduce your total caloric intake.

To lose weight, you have to change your energy balance. There are just two ways to do this – either consume less energy (calories) or expend more energy (via exercise). The easiest way to reduce your consumption is simply to cut back on the size of your meals and/or the amount of high-calorie foods you consume. This doesn’t mean you have to give up any particular food. In fact, completely avoiding a food can lead to strong cravings that derail your diet. A smarter approach is to just eat less of those high-calorie, high fat foods.

To get an idea of how many calories you consume, it’s important you keep a food diary. You don’t have to keep your diary going forever, but do track your daily intake for at least a couple of weeks.

Diet detour to disaster

If you haven’t yet checked out the new USDA food pyramid it:

Gives no specific advice on which foods you should eat.

Gives no real advice on which foods you should avoid.

Ignores the primary dietary problem: the over consumption of carbohydrates, particularly sugary processed foods and drinks.

It’s clear that once again, the USDA has bowed to pressures from the food industry. By not giving any specific information, they don’t offend any particular food maker.

Not surprisingly, grains once again form the base of the pyramid. To make matters worse, they suggested that fifty percent of these grains should come from breads, pastas and breakfast cereals. Which breakfast cereals? (Those cereals that are 38% sugar?)

Here’s a diet plan that actually works

The key should be rebalancing the natural proportions of the three primary nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Try to increase protein, decrease carbohydrates and eat the right kind of fats. It will help you burn fat and lose weight. It will also help to boost your energy level and physical strength.

Increase Protein: Quality protein is the key to good nutrition. Protein promotes muscle growth and over all health and liberalizes the burning of carbohydrates and fat for energy. Fish, lean meats, eggs, dairy, beans and nuts are all good sources of protein.

Decrease Carbohydrates: Processed carbohydrates make you fat and diseased. Sugars and starches in are the main cause of obesity. Limit consumption of anything made from grains or potatoes. Get your carbohydrates from unprocessed vegetables that grow above ground.

Eat Natural Fats: Most modern fat is a health nightmare, but getting enough omega-3 fats is essential to good health. Eat unprocessed vegetable fats like avocados, nuts and virgin olive oil. Avoid corn oil, all hydrogenated oils and margarine. Get your animal fat from grass fed red meat, wild fish or eggs.

You need to know about coconut oil:

Coconut oil is truly the healthiest oil you can consume. It is rich in lauric acid, which is known for being antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal, and contains no trans fat (even olive oil has some trans fat). You can even use it on your skin to help prevent wrinkles.

Fats are categorized as short, medium or long-chain, depending on how many carbon molecules they contain. Close to two-thirds of the saturated fat in coconut oil is made up of medium-chain fatty acids, which have anti-microbial properties, are easily digested by the body for quick energy, and are beneficial to the immune system. Far from being dangerous, the saturated fat in coconut oil is actually health promoting.

Remember hydrogenated oils are oils with trans fatty acids, which have been altered from their original chemical composition and have been shown to raise cholesterol levels and lead to heart disease and other health problems. You should not consume hydrogenated oils.

The edible oil industry began to denounce all saturated fats and heavily promote polyunsaturated fats such as canola, soybean, safflower, corn, and other seed and nut oils. However, these oils easily become rancid when exposed to oxygen and produce large amounts of damaging free radicals in the body. What is not commonly known is that these oils can actually cause aging, clotting, inflammation, cancer and weight gain.

Fortunately, coconut oil has begun to gain some positive media exposure as researchers realize its health-promoting qualities. However, coconut oil can vary widely in terms of the types of coconuts used, the manufacturing processes used to make the oil.

Most commercial coconut oils are RBD (refined, bleached and deodorized). RBD oils contain the medium chain fatty acids, however they also contain chemicals used in processing. Look for a high quality organic brand, one that uses fresh coconuts not dried.

Also beware of foods containing “hidden” calories. For example:

Watch what you drink. What you drink can have a major impact on the total number of calories that you consume in a day. There is very little difference between the effects of different drinks, so this is one of the easiest places to improve your diet. Water is almost always your best choice.

Diet soft drinks are a complete myth and many health professionals warn their patients to avoid them completely. Please read our section on aspartame, equal, nutra-sweet, splenda and any of the other fake sweeteners. See our special report on aspartame et al.

Be smart about condiments and toppings. Butter, mayonnaise, and a lot of the special sauces are very concentrated sources of calories and sugar. If you want to add flavor to your food, try using lemon juice, soy sauce, salsa or different spices instead.

Maintain or increase your metabolism.

One of the most common mistakes that dieters make is to get excited or impatient with their diet and reduce their Caloric intake too far. If you do that, your body will respond by lowering your metabolism and slowing your weight loss. To prevent this downward adjustment of your metabolism, make smaller changes to your eating habits. Your patience will pay off in terms of more consistent weight loss, more energy and fewer cravings.

For the best results, add exercise to your plan. Regular exercise not only expends energy as you’re doing it, but can also lead to increases in your basal metabolic rate, so you’ll burn more Calories even at rest. High-intensity exercises burn the most Calories, but don’t select exercises solely on their fat-burning potential. Instead, pick exercises (i.e. sports activities) that you enjoy, and want to incorporate into your daily routine.

Avoid hunger.

Hunger is one of your body’s strongest stimuli, and can be an evil challenger to your will power. Hunger is also relatively slow to subside, and can cause you to eat more than you intended. To break this unproductive hunger-overeating habit, always try to eat before you get hungry. This may seem counter intuitive to someone who’s trying to limit their Calories, but it’s a very effective concept. Two different techniques can help make this easier to accomplish:

Eat smaller, more frequent meals. Instead of three meals per day, try eating five or six smaller meals. By eating more frequently, there will be less time between your meals, and less chance of you experiencing such intense hunger. As an extra benefit, there is some evidence that suggests that eating more frequently can also help raise your metabolism.

Include more slow-to-digest foods in your meals. When it’s not possible to eat more frequently, make sure that your meals contain a mix of nutrients. In particular, fats and protein are much slower to digest than carbohydrates. While most carbohydrates leave your stomach within about two hours, protein takes approximately four hours to digest, and fat takes as long as six hours.

Note: Slower digestion of fats is one of the primary reasons people on low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins experience less hunger than those on low-fat diets. It’s not necessary to completely eliminate carbohydrates from your meals. Most people on balanced-nutrient plans also experience better hunger control.

Correcting bad eating habits.

We eat not only for nourishment, but also as part of our social interactions. However, many people develop unhealthy habits that encourage overeating. Here are a few examples of bad eating habits that you should try to avoid:

Mixing food and entertainment. It’s easy to mindlessly eat a tub of popcorn, a whole bag of chips, or a carton of ice cream while you’re watching TV. Make eating a separate activity, and you’ll consume less.

Eating to relieve stress. There’s nothing wrong with taking pleasure from eating, but try not to use food as your primary stress reliever. Find other ways to dissipate stress (such as exercising, listening to music, or meditating) before eating.

Eating on the run. With the abundant availability of convenience foods, it’s easy to grab something from a vending machine and eat your meals in your car. But try not to make this a regular daily habit. Plan your schedule to include enough time to prepare and eat your meals in a quiet place, without the rush.

No one eats perfectly. However, if you continuously have trouble controlling what you eat, realize that correction of your eating problems may be beyond your own abilities. Please consult your doctor or a weight loss professional for additional help.

Make a record of everything you eat

When making changes to your diet it’s easy to lapse back into your old eating habits. Keeping a food diary is a great way to help prevent that from happening. Buy an inexpensive notebook and simply write down everything you eat during the day. If possible, keep your food diary with you and make your entries soon after you’ve eaten. For maximum benefit, keep making entries for at least two to three weeks.

Keeping a food diary forces you to give conscious thought to everything you eat. It may be a tedious task at first, but it will help you more quickly develop better eating habits. Your food diary will also be a tremendous asset if you later consult a dietician or health care provider for assistance with your diet.

When keeping a food diary, it’s also a good idea to take the time to add up the total calories and nutrients that you consume each day. For your diet to be successful, your total calories will need to decrease from their original level, but your nutrient intake must at least meet your minimum needs.

If you practice the above dieting guidelines it’s possible to painlessly lose weight. There will still be times when you get hungry and are tempted to overeat. To best control your hunger and provide some resistance to overeating, we recommend that you incorporate more foods into your diet that fill you up with fewer total calories.