The 6 Fat Flush Commandments: Part 3

Lower your insulin and eliminate “false fat.”
5. Lower Your Insulin to Lower Your Weight
Like cortisol, insulin is another fat-promoting hormone. Remember, hormones—and not just calories—dramatically impact weight. Insulin, the key hormone that controls blood sugar levels, is triggered by an excessive intake of carbs. Insulin helps store blood sugar in the liver and tissues as glycogen. However, the body can only store a limited amount of glycogen and any excess is converted to body fat with the assistance of insulin.

Fat-deprived individuals tend to eat too many carbs, programming their insulin levels to remain high. The insulin in turn instructs the body to store fat. So, the key is to keep insulin levels low by eating a diet high in protein and essential fatty acids (all insulin-lowering macronutrients). Eating protein purposely stimulates the pancreas to produce glucagon, the hormone that counteracts insulin and mobilizes fat from storage.

Fat Flush addresses high insulin levels with a balanced diet of lean protein, low-glycemic, slow-burning carbohydrates, omega-3 oils and foods (like flaxseed oil, fish oil or whole chia seeds), as well as omega-6 botanical oils. Fat Flush features a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and “clean carbs” (starchy veggies, cereals, and non-gluten grains) that are both low-glycemic and hypoallergenic so they do not create an inflammatory response leading to water retention, adding insult to injury. This is why the most commonly reactive foods—like wheat, milk, sugar, and corn—are eliminated on Fat Flush.

It is also interesting to note that sleep, as we have seen with cortisol, also plays a part in balancing insulin. According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep loss can lead to insulin resistance and reduced levels of growth hormones that help to regulate fat and muscle proportions. This is another reason I am so gung-ho about Earthing and its ability to promote restful sleep.

6. Recognize False Fat

Weight gain can also be related to “false fat”—a term coined by my dear friend and associate Dr. Elson Haas, which means water-logged tissues that results from numerous underlying causes: prescription medicines (over fifty have been connected to weight gain), food sensitivities, hormonal imbalances, and insufficient water and protein consumption. Many medicines, including antidepressants, steroid hormones, and anticonvulsants can cause weight gain by spiking appetite and decreasing metabolism.

When it comes to food sensitivities, research published in Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine strongly makes the case that chemicals involved with toxic responses to common foods inhibit the body’s ability to burn stored fat. This can lead to food addictions and binging due to the temporary “high” (an opiod-type chemical response) that eating the wrong food can produce.

There is a whole slew of troubling symptoms that are related to food sensitivities, from unexplained mood swings to panic attacks, sinusitis, chronic fatigue, extreme tiredness after eating, a racing pulse, puffy eyes, and swelling beneath the eyes. Weight can yo-yo up and down every day by as much as five to ten pounds due to an inflammatory response whereby the body holds water to dilute the perceived “toxin.”

Note that unlike food sensitivities, a true food allergy (like a peanut allergy) can lead to anaphylactic shock, an allergic response during which the body releases histamines that cause tissues to swell and inhibit breathing. But food sensitivities are not like immediate allergic responses; they may have a delayed response that can manifest up to two days after the “toxic” food is ingested, making it difficult to pinpoint the problematic food.

Fat Flush helps you overcome food sensitivities by eliminating the most commonly “reactive” foods—wheat, milk, corn, yeast, and sugar. When these foods are slowly re-introduced back into the program, you are encouraged to note your responses in a food journal so that you can better determine the possible food cause of that bloating, gas, “false fat” weight gain (water retention), and/or stalled weight loss.

When food sensitivities are eliminated, weight loss becomes a no-brainer. Fat Flushers typically say, it’s not what they are eating but what they are not eating that is making them lose weight without any caloric concerns. In fact, many Fat Flushers eat more food, not less, than ever before.

Fat Flushing helps rid you of “false fat” by supporting the liver’s ability to better metabolize all drugs and prescription medications through liver-healing foods. Each stage of the program is packed with cruciferous veggies that provide sulforaphane, a phytonutrient that triggers the liver to produce more detoxifying enzymes; green leafy vegetables high in purifying chlorophyll and magnesium that also have natural diuretic properties; high vitamin C citrus; and sulfur-rich foods such as garlic, onion, eggs, and daikon radish that also help the liver eliminate toxins. Zinc-rich, high-protein foods (lean beef, eggs, pumpkin seeds) counter a copper build-up in the liver that can also impede its function. For those who don’t always eat their greens, I like the Liver-Lovin Formula because it is the only one on the market that is made from copper-free chlorophyll and L-Taurine to help the gallbladder produce bile acids to break down fats as well as toxins.

-Edge On Health, Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman