Fighting Fire With Fire (or Fat with Fat)

Now we venture into the dark side of weight loss. No, not weight loss pills – this is a respectable blog, don't go dragging the modern version of snake oil salesmen into this. Please.

The dark side of which I speak is slightly more respectable than that – natural supplements. Why do I call them the dark side? Well, because they may or may not actually do you any good. I put a lot of study into this a little over a year ago and came up with a list of the ones that I thought had the most potential to help with weight loss – not cause weight loss but help. The way I see it, they may help the littlest bit by themselves (um, probably), but as a part of a larger system and understanding of weight loss they combine to make a perfect storm.

So, for the next several post, I'll be taking the supplements one at a time and briefly talking about the benefits they might have (did I mention that whether the whole supplement thing works is a bit controversial?).

But first, lest you think I used a dartboard in picking the ones I use, let's very briefly look at my criteria for eliminating or picking supplements. It is very simple actually. First, I only read studies from universities with respectable medical programs (this included universities from around the world). Second, I then only considered studies that either included a double blind, a placebo, or a control – or some combination thereof. Finally, if the study was funded by, supported by, or requested by an outside organization or company, I threw it out.

So, let's get on with this. My single favorite supplement (the one I most believe probably has some outside chance of maybe working – was I non-committal enough there?) is CLA or Conjugulated Linoleic Acid (sounds yummy, doesn't it?). Well, it gets better – it's a fat! Yep, taking fat to lose fat. Go figure.

It is a fatty acid the occurs naturally in dairy products and red meats. Unfortunately, as we Americans have reduced our intake of beef and dairy (a good thing), we have also reduce our intake of CLA (a bad thing, because it has a number of weight loss advantages). Also, because of the way we now raise cattle, the CLA levels in what we buy have been lowered by 65%.

A number of very good studies have found that CLA helps you burn more body fat (particularly tummy or visceral fat – more on types of fat in a latter post) and it increases lean body mass. Here's the cool thing – it even worked for people who led fairly sedentary life styles! (OK, it didn't help them a lot – but it WAS measurable!). That means if you are exercising (both aerobic and anaerobic) CLA seems to increase the benefits of doing so.

Other benefits include, enhancing the immune system, helping maintain blood glucose and insulin levels (related to both weight loss and energy levels), helping lower cholesterol, may help fight off cancer, increasing metabolic rate (SCORE!), and it can even reduce food allergies (seriously, I can now eat raw celery).

So, I say take it. How much? Most studies showed no – and I mean NO – benefits until you reached about 3.5 grams per day. Most pills come in 1000 milligrams, so I recommend taking 4 a day (2 in the morning 2 in the afternoon), which is actually what is recommended on the side of most bottles as well.

Week one - 12lbs. lost. I wish I could keep that pace up! But that just isn't realistc - still, each pound (even a week at a time) is worth! Let me hear from you!