Make Weight Loss Effective: 10 Scientific Words We Need to Know Right Now!

Written by Jamie, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Weight loss is being talked about everywhere — and we mean everywhere.

On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, in magazines, on TV and by our friends, our co-workers, and even our family.

But is all of this chatter about weight loss today helping us lose more weight or understand weight loss better?

Not by a long shot.

Almased, a unique low-glycemic high-protein (LGHP) diet formula, can give the body a metabolic weight-loss advantage compared to a regular diet, but more about Almased and how to order it later…

Weight-Loss: Some Surprising Facts

A lot of the information out there about weight loss is just plain wrong, inaccurate and, in some cases, even dangerous!

One of the biggest weight-loss myths over the last 40 years has been “All you need to do is exercise like crazy and you’ll be okay.”

However, a recent study looked at Americans during two periods of time. Researchers specifically dug into diet data for 36,400 people from 1971 to 2008 and physical activity info for 14,419 people from 1988 to 2006.

Guess what they found? 

That people today who eat and exercise exactly the same as did people in the 1980s are somehow 10 percent heavier!

How can this be? Experts are guessing that, somehow, all of the synthetic and toxic chemicals we have in our environment, food, air and water today — like pesticides, flame retardants, carpet glue and other chemicals — are completely messing with hormones in our bodies, hormones that control metabolism, appetite and more.

These scientists also point to the animal products (and byproducts) we eat today — that have been treated with growth-promoting antibiotics and hormones. They’re beginning to think that all of these drug-treated animal products have been slowly, but surely, damaging our gut microbiome (all the good bacteria we have). Artificial sweeteners make it worse. 

And so when our balance of good bacteria is completely out of whack, we’re more prone to weight gain and obesity.

So, how can we navigate through this sea, or swamp, of scientific terms and concepts about weight loss? 

And how can we get the real skinny on words we read about weight loss and metabolism? And how can we get a really good handle on not only what these words mean, but also on how we can knowledgeably harness that information to help us on our weight-loss journey!

So, without further adieu, here are:

10 Weight-Loss Terms and What They Really Mean

1. Adiponectin - Just like leptin, adiponectin is also released by fat (adipose) tissue. The body uses adiponectin to regulate the metabolism of sugar and fat, for both energy and weight loss. However, low levels of adiponectin are often linked to obesity. 

Even though adiponectin is produced by fat cells, obese people generally have much lower levels of adiponectin than do lean people.

Adiponectin also has anti-inflammatory effects and has been shown to help the body fend off insulin resistance — including metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes — in addition to heart disease.

This is critical, because if we’re getting enough high-quality protein and amino acids through diet and supplementation, we decrease our hunger hormones and increase hormones that make us feel full.

2. Bioactive peptides - Soy’s health benefits are well established. One of the reasons why soy’s such an amazing nutritional ally is because of its naturally occurring bioactive peptides

Peptides are pieces of protein that are built with amino acids — when these amino acids join together, they make an amino peptide. And when peptides link up, they form the basis of proteins. Peptides are super-important in a whole range of body functions, plus they serve as the building blocks of vital enzymes and certain natural hormones.

Almased is made from non-GMO soy, yogurt and enzyme-rich honey in a special fermentation process that releases bioactive peptides. 

In fact, with each serving of Almased, you get a whopping 27 grams of high-quality protein brimming with amino acids and vital nutrients.

3. Body fat percentage – According to Jamie Luu, RDN, LDN, “Percentage of fat is the amount of body fat you have out of everything else in your body, such as your water weight, muscles and bones.”

Belly fat, also called visceral fat, is not limited to the extra layer of padding located just below the skin (subcutaneous fat). While it’s located around several vital organs — the liver, stomach, pancreas, and intestines — it can also build up in the arteries

And regardless of your overall weight, having a significant amount of belly fat increases your risk of heart disease. 

Although you can target abdominal muscles and tone them with crunches, the best belly fat exercises alone will not get rid of belly fat. 

The good news is that you can reduce the threats that stem from stomach fat because visceral fat responds to the same diet and exercise strategies that lower your total body fat.

4. Circadian rhythm – This is our internal body clock that’s synched with the time of day. 

Living in sync with natural circadian rhythms help the body function at peak performance. Studies show that metabolism and circadian rhythms are tightly linked. 

Eating, sleeping, and waking at regular times further support weight loss. Natural sleep support is mainly focused on giving your body the nutrients it needs. 

One super-important nutrient is L-tryptophan, an amino acid that helps the body make serotonin, a chemical in the brain needed for relaxation and sleep. Tryptophan is also needed to make melatonin, a hormone that controls the “sleep-wake cycle,” or the circadian rhythm.

Almased’s unique formula (which naturally includes tryptophan) provides the amino acids which the body needs, making Almased an ideal healthy diet for weight loss. 

5. Ghrelin – Ghrelin is a hormone that increases appetite. Studies from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, show the body has a significantly lower level of ghrelin after 2 hours of consuming Almased. Almased fills you up and satisfies hunger for hours longer than compared to a standard meal.

6. Glucose – Believe it or not, there are over 50 different names for sugar, including glucose. But some sugars are better for you than others. There's “good” sugar that occurs naturally in vegetables and fruits and “bad” added sugar that’s added to super-sweeten soda, candy, baked goods and more.

We need some of the good sugar for energy in the body, especially in the brain. In fact, glucose is so vital to cell functioning that glucose deprivation can lead to loss of consciousness and even cell death. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), men should eat no more than 9 teaspoons (36 grams or 150 calories) of added sugar per day. For women, the AHA recommends 6 teaspoons (25 grams or 100 calories) per day. 

If we keep in mind that one can of soda has 39 grams of soda, it becomes clear that low-sugar eating is needed for good health. 

And high-protein Almased, which has a low glycemic index of 27 and very low glycemic load of 4, is a perfect meal-replacement and healthy snack.

7. Insulin – Insulin is the body’s master metabolic hormone, one which acts as a key that unlocks cells’ front doors so that glucose can enter and fuel them with life-giving energy. 

But if we regularly eat too much-added sugar, make unhealthy food choices every day and are sedentary, we can develop insulin resistance. 

Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don't respond correctly to insulin and they’re not able to use some of the glucose from your blood for energy. To make up for it, your pancreas produces more insulin. Over time, your blood sugar levels go up. High levels of blood sugar and insulin resistance contribute to (and can lead to) a number of diseases, including diabetes.

8. Ketosis - When glucose levels are cut off (or reduced) due to low-carb intake, the body starts to burn fat instead and produces chemicals, called ketones, that can be measured in the blood. Once glucose is no longer freely available from food sources, we start to burn stored fat instead, or fat from our food. 

A low-glycemic diet can enable us to enter what is called “mild ketosis,” where we burn fat first, but, since it is not extreme, we’re still able to eat from all of the food groups, including carbs from vegetables.

9. Keto diet - the Ketogenic Diet (or Keto Diet) features low-carb eating for weight loss, but it’s different from Atkins or others. On the keto diet, the objective is to keep your carb intake very low, putting the body into a metabolic state called ketosis. 

But it is not a safe or sustainable diet, however, since a strict keto diet calls for 75% fat, 20% carbs and 5% protein each day. While some people swear by it, a strict keto diet is most definitely not recommended for most people.

10. Leptin - Leptin is a hormone, made by fat cells, that decreases your appetite. Levels of leptin — the appetite suppressor — are lower when you're thin and higher when you're overweight. 

This is because the brain doesn’t respond to leptin after a while, so these folks keep eating even though they have enough (or too much) fat already stored, a problem known as “leptin resistance.” This causes fat cells to produce even more and more leptin that isn‘t able to communicate with the brain. So these leptin-resistant people keep eating and eating, but always feel hungry. 

Protein, like the protein in Almased, naturally supports hormones that work to burn fat and help control appetite by making us feel full.

Facts win out over online misinformation every time. And the best diet is always the one that works. 

Almased could simply be the easiest, healthiest lifestyle change you ever make!

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