Eight genuinely easy ways to shift dangerous central fat and prolong HealthSpanThe following 8 strategies have scientific evidence to support them and obvious logic. Critically none of them require you to go hungry.
I don’t deal here with hormone issues but will do so next week.
Rationale:
Intermittent Fasting is a regime like the 5:2 diet where you eat very little for 2 days each week. [If interested use Michael Moseley’s book] However, fasting days are challenging days and many people think that TRE is easier to maintain, I certainly find it so. The science suggests it is also effective*. Essentially, in the time you are not eating, you are burning fat and it is easier to reduce overall intake, consistently.
Action:
Start by eating within a 12 hour period, for a week. So eat only between say 7am and 7pm [or 8/8]. Next, reduce the ‘eating window’ to 8 hours. Open your window at 12, and close at 8pm if you skip breakfast. Or have breakfast e.g. at 8am but eat nothing after 4pm. When I say close the window, I mean nothing after that, except non-calorific liquids until start time the following day. This is so much easier than you think, so do give it a try.
Intermittent Fasting is a regime like the 5:2 diet where you eat very little for 2 days each week. [If interested use Michael Moseley’s book] However, fasting days are challenging days and many people think that TRE is easier to maintain, I certainly find it so. The science suggests it is also effective*. Essentially, in the time you are not eating, you are burning fat and it is easier to reduce overall intake, consistently.
Action:
Start by eating within a 12 hour period, for a week. So eat only between say 7am and 7pm [or 8/8]. Next, reduce the ‘eating window’ to 8 hours. Open your window at 12, and close at 8pm if you skip breakfast. Or have breakfast e.g. at 8am but eat nothing after 4pm. When I say close the window, I mean nothing after that, except non-calorific liquids until start time the following day. This is so much easier than you think, so do give it a try.
Take a protein supplement
Rationale:
Ageing reduces the efficiency of protein digestion and absorption, so you need to take in more from mid 50’s on. Ideally you have 1.2g/Kg body weight daily; eg around 100g of protein if you weigh 80Kg [12 stone 8 lb, 176 lb] **. A 100g is 3 large chicken breasts, so supplements help you reach the goal.
Action:
Whey protein powder sold for body builders and gym bunnies dissolved in milk or water in a shaker is an easy drink to add in. The one I use has 30g protein per scoop. Vegans use pea protein.
Rationale:
Ageing reduces the efficiency of protein digestion and absorption, so you need to take in more from mid 50’s on. Ideally you have 1.2g/Kg body weight daily; eg around 100g of protein if you weigh 80Kg [12 stone 8 lb, 176 lb] **. A 100g is 3 large chicken breasts, so supplements help you reach the goal.
Action:
Whey protein powder sold for body builders and gym bunnies dissolved in milk or water in a shaker is an easy drink to add in. The one I use has 30g protein per scoop. Vegans use pea protein.
Boost your gut microbiome
Rationale:
‘Bad’ gut bacteria (the total population is called ‘the microbiome’) cause leaky gut, increase inflammation and produce chemicals that stimulate cravings for sugar. They also create sugars in the large colon that are absorbed, secretly increasing your ‘calorific’ intake.
Action:
You need fibre in your colon for the bugs to live on [a pre-biotic] eg plenty of green vegetables in your diet and add a tablespoon of milled linseed and/or chia seeds: a teaspoon of potato or sweet potato flour helps. For the bugs the best source is a fermented food. Start with kefir which has the best spectrum. I soften my tablespoon of linseed and tablespoon of chia in half a mug of kefir. Sauerkraut and kimchi, plain yoghurt and fermented miso or tempeh are other sources. You can buy probiotic cultures from healthfood shops or online. If you can get a culture of Akkermansia that is the premium bug to have.
Reduce blood sugar spikes
Rationale:
Sugar spikes are stored as central, health-damaging fat and lead to ‘Insulin resistance’ and a downward spiral of increasing fat deposition [insulin is the fat storage hormone]. Paradoxically, high fat diets don’t increase fat storage to a significant extent or impact insulin.
Action:
Use the following hacks that slow down and flatten the blood sugar response. ***
‘Bad’ gut bacteria (the total population is called ‘the microbiome’) cause leaky gut, increase inflammation and produce chemicals that stimulate cravings for sugar. They also create sugars in the large colon that are absorbed, secretly increasing your ‘calorific’ intake.
Action:
You need fibre in your colon for the bugs to live on [a pre-biotic] eg plenty of green vegetables in your diet and add a tablespoon of milled linseed and/or chia seeds: a teaspoon of potato or sweet potato flour helps. For the bugs the best source is a fermented food. Start with kefir which has the best spectrum. I soften my tablespoon of linseed and tablespoon of chia in half a mug of kefir. Sauerkraut and kimchi, plain yoghurt and fermented miso or tempeh are other sources. You can buy probiotic cultures from healthfood shops or online. If you can get a culture of Akkermansia that is the premium bug to have.
Reduce blood sugar spikes
Rationale:
Sugar spikes are stored as central, health-damaging fat and lead to ‘Insulin resistance’ and a downward spiral of increasing fat deposition [insulin is the fat storage hormone]. Paradoxically, high fat diets don’t increase fat storage to a significant extent or impact insulin.
Action:
Use the following hacks that slow down and flatten the blood sugar response. ***
Control portions and proportions and eat a ‘rainbow plate’
Rationale:
You gain anti-inflammatory chemicals vitamins and fibre and leave less room for high sugar carbs. We all eat too much when there is lots of food available. Try a smaller plate.
You gain anti-inflammatory chemicals vitamins and fibre and leave less room for high sugar carbs. We all eat too much when there is lots of food available. Try a smaller plate.
Action:
Make at least half of every plate you eat green and have several different greens eg choose from parsley, rocket, lettuce, celery, beans or peas or spinach or watercress or fennel or avocado. Then add colours like tomato carrot, pepper, corn and enough protein to take up a quarter to a third. Your plate is now pretty complete. If you are having carbs too then it should be a modest addition as a treat. Ideally whole grains say a tablespoon or some pulses. If you are vegetarian or having a veggie meal then pulses will be part of your protein ration.. Enough is not ‘enough to stuff’, stop when you are less hungry and wait for that feeling of satiety to settle in as the hunger hormones fall.
Make at least half of every plate you eat green and have several different greens eg choose from parsley, rocket, lettuce, celery, beans or peas or spinach or watercress or fennel or avocado. Then add colours like tomato carrot, pepper, corn and enough protein to take up a quarter to a third. Your plate is now pretty complete. If you are having carbs too then it should be a modest addition as a treat. Ideally whole grains say a tablespoon or some pulses. If you are vegetarian or having a veggie meal then pulses will be part of your protein ration.. Enough is not ‘enough to stuff’, stop when you are less hungry and wait for that feeling of satiety to settle in as the hunger hormones fall.
Eliminate UPFs
Rationale:
The population at large is overweight. The reason is probably consumption of ultra-processed foods. Convenient, created to be addictive [think salted caramel, pot noodles], often cheap and always very calorie dense, they trick you into eating lots of grams of carbohydrate, contain lots of health damaging colourings, preservatives and texture additives and are very low in true nutritional value [more really is less]. I suggest refined wheat is also an ultraprocessed dangerous food that is best avoided if you want to stay trim. Gluten harms very few people - the real problem is refined wheat and all the foods made with it that are ubiquitous. Fortunately, because of the demand for gluten free foods you can find wheat-free flour, appropriate baking recipes and eg pasta made with lentil or other non-wheat flours.
The population at large is overweight. The reason is probably consumption of ultra-processed foods. Convenient, created to be addictive [think salted caramel, pot noodles], often cheap and always very calorie dense, they trick you into eating lots of grams of carbohydrate, contain lots of health damaging colourings, preservatives and texture additives and are very low in true nutritional value [more really is less]. I suggest refined wheat is also an ultraprocessed dangerous food that is best avoided if you want to stay trim. Gluten harms very few people - the real problem is refined wheat and all the foods made with it that are ubiquitous. Fortunately, because of the demand for gluten free foods you can find wheat-free flour, appropriate baking recipes and eg pasta made with lentil or other non-wheat flours.
Action:
Eat real food. If you can’t or won’t prepare food there are plenty of prepared vegetables and nicely portioned meat and fish options in the supermarket and in the freezer cabinet. Steaming, microwaving and roasting are no more complicated than Fortnite or Call of Duty so you can do it. If you doubt me there are YouTubers of all size, shape and nationality dying to show you how to cook a nutritious meal in 10 minutes – even Gordon Ramsay [who has a book]
Eat real food. If you can’t or won’t prepare food there are plenty of prepared vegetables and nicely portioned meat and fish options in the supermarket and in the freezer cabinet. Steaming, microwaving and roasting are no more complicated than Fortnite or Call of Duty so you can do it. If you doubt me there are YouTubers of all size, shape and nationality dying to show you how to cook a nutritious meal in 10 minutes – even Gordon Ramsay [who has a book]
Ensure you have enough sleep.
Sleep deprived people eat 400-500 calories more on those days. If that is several days a week then ‘We have a problem Houston’ and weight will go up.
You will get hungry sometimes between meals. Not often if you eat as I have outlined – those hunger pangs are usually the result of eating a high carb meal, stimulating lots of insulin and getting a rebound hypoglycaemia ie low sugar crash. When you do, you need a plan so you don’t reach for a Mars bar or a donut. Good options include plain nuts [not salted and not a mix with dried fruits that have high sugar], an apple [washed but not peeled] or a few berries, cream cheese or peanut butter on a celery stick or a portion of protein shake …. Carry with!
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