Article Surfing Archive

Do you believe that 'eating fat makes you fat'? Well it just isn't true and I want to help anyone who is overweight, all seniors in particular, to learn how they can lose as much as 20% of those unwanted pounds over a 12 week period and keep them off.

Eating beef, cheese, eggs, poultry and other dairy products should be a path to lifelong weight control but only if they contain one very important fat that has a slimming effect on the body, and that is conjugated linoliec acid [CLA for short] which is one of the essential fatty acids [EFA's for short]. When the fats we eat contain CLA they are converted into muscle and energy but without CLA they are simply stored as more fat cells.

So where is the CLA that should be in these foods? Many other countries have an abundance of CLA in their foods but in North America the CLA content has fallen to almost nothing. And since our bodies can't produce it on our own --- and it is essential --- where do we get it?

Ever since farmers started feeding cattle in feed lots where they got only processed packaged grains with added vitamins instead of grazing them on fresh natural grasslands, the CLA content has slowly depleted. In Australia, for instance, where cattle and poultry still graze on free range the CLA content is 400% higher than ours.

Have you tried the high protien/low carbohydrate diet and lost some or a lot of weight? But what happened when you got off it? Did you gain the weight back faster than it took to lose it. Your body needs fresh air, clean water, sunshine and exercise ---- but it also needs a balance of protiens, carbohydrates and fats or in other words, EFA's also called vitamin F, particularly omega-3 fatty acids [found in flax oil, fish, wheat germ, pumpkin seeds and walnuts] and omega '6 fatty acids [found in safflower, sunflower, canola, soybeans, sesame seeds and pine nuts].

There are now many forms of EFA's available but most of them have an equal balance of omegas 3, 6 and 9 and our diets already get an abundance of omega-6 due to the feeding practices of the animals and poultry that no longer free range. Omega-9 can be found in virgin olive oil which you should try to supplement your diet with to help balance the omega-6 that is found in almost all other oils that are used for frying foods. Avoid other oils that are high in only omega-6, and throw away that margarine!

Some omega-3 rich foods are eggs [preferably free range] salmon, trout, catfish and shrimp but they are now being fed omega-6 rich grains and byproducts. Flax seed oil and crushed flax seed is one of the best sources of omega-3 oil. To insure you get enough omega-3 you can take CLA capsules in a form called tonalin. Each sofgel contains 1000mg of safflower oil, 750 mg of which is CLA. Be sure you get the conjgated tonalin from Safflower oil. Taking 4 per day will give you the recommended 3000 mg of CLA. You can find them at your local health food store.

If you don't need to lose weight there are other great benefits from CLA. It has a significant impact on cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and bone and joint health. It may reduce tumor growth and slow prostate and breast cancers. It improves immune system response to attack and inhibits harmful inflammation such as arthritis and also increases muscle mass.

On my blog, I give you information on working from home as a retirement way to supplement your income or simply find an enjoyable hobby to pursue. I suggest you work diligently at weight reduction if it is a problem for you as work-at-home projects tend to aggravate the weight problem due to easy access to food and a sedentary life style. It is to your benefit to make these later years as comfortable as possible and may you have many of them.