Are you frustrated with your stubborn belly fat?
Go from tummy fat to tummy flat with healthy, slimming omega-rich fats.
Is your waistband feeling a little snug? Adding inches in your midsection does more than make it hard to fit into your jeans or zip up that slim skirt.
Belly fat increases your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, cancer (both breast and colorectal) and gallbladder problems - even if you don't notice a change on the bathroom scale. Not that abdominal fat isn't often the first sign of being overweight - it is.
While it may sound counterintuitive, research finds that certain fats - particularly polyunsaturated omega 3s and omega 6s - can cut tummy fat and protect against many of its harmful effects. Several studies in the American Journal of Clinical Research show distinct benefits for conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an omega-6 fat, for instance.
A 36-week randomized, double-masked, crossover trial of postmenopausal women with Type 2 diabetes reports that they not only lost weight with supplemental CLA but also reduced fat, as shown in a significant reduction in their body mass index. Other research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that CLA supplements decreased fat in obese and overweight school age children - increasingly a problem today.
Dr. Ann Louise's take:
For three decades I've been singing the praises of essential fats as part of a healthy diet. Interestingly, a new study in the Journal of Lipid Research shows that even among people with genetic tendency toward belly fat, which is linked to metabolic syndrome (a precursor of Type 2 diabetes), both omega-3 and omega-6 fats are beneficial.
Even in obese women, omega-3 fish oil supplements reduce cardiovascular and diabetes risks, plus these supplements - taken during weight loss - help reduce dangerous triglyceride levels. In terms of weight-loss alone, individuals who consumed fish oil and walked for 45 minutes three times a week lost up to five pounds more than the control group, according to another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. And scientists note that fish oil and exercise significantly reduces body fat.
Two other slimming fats
With weight-loss clients, I initially recommend the omega-6 fat, gamma-linoleic acid (GLA), because blood tests find people tend to be most deficient in this essential fat. It helps make you thin, because GLA also mobilizes metabolically-active brown fat, called the "new obesity treatment" by the New England Journal of Medicine.
Primarily activated by cold, brown fat triggers the body to burn more calories and generate body heat. Overweight people have been found deficient in this fat, and by adulthood, brown fat may be metabolically inactive in many individuals.
To remedy this, adults can take two 90 mg softgels of GLA-90 daily. Not only does this supplement, containing the most balanced form of GLA in black currant oil, promote fat and weight loss, but it also helps keep your skin moist and glowing while relieving inflammation, morning stiffness and PMS symptoms.
Once you've flattened your belly, you'll want to maintain your new, slimmer middle and ensure that any few pounds that you might add on are regained as muscle rather than fat. Taken as a concentrated dietary supplement, CLA prompts the body to burn stored fat as energy, decreasing overall body fat and helping to balance blood sugar levels.
Whether you're trying to break through a weight-loss plateau or want to increase fat metabolism and lower cholesterol levels, CLA-1000 can help. Take one softgel three times daily or as recommended by a health care professional - it's nature's belly fat fix.
Why is it such a boom to waist watchers? Reporting on a human clinical trial, the Journal of Nutrition found that taking 3,000 mg of CLA daily produced a stunning 20 percent decrease in body fat - for an average loss of six pounds of body fat per person - without any dietary changes.
Sources:
• Fat Flush for Life
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20855566
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20695213
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20200257
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19195867
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17490954
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728639/?tool=pubmed
Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman is the award-winning author of more than 30 books on health and nutrition and guest on many TV and radio programs. She resides in Kootenai County. Information: annlouise.com