Natural Weight Loss

Studies have shown that when you eat a meal including an Egg McMuffin, potato cakes, and a side of sausage, your arteries literally go into spasm for about 4 to 5 hours. A meal that contains a lot of saturated and trans fats causes a significant inflammation of the fine lining of your arteries. This inflammation literally leads to spasm of your arteries. These studies were done with the use of ultrasound checking the radial artery or the artery in the wrist. The kinds of foods that produce these results in your body have a high glycemic index.  Healthy bodies, and those experiencing natural weight loss, tend to eat foods that are low in the glycemic index.  For examples of foods low in the glycemic index click here.
 
How does a fatty meal like this actually cause inflammation of your arteries? When you eat a meal loaded with what I refer to as “bad” fat, the amount of fat in your blood stream goes up significantly and this causes an excessive release of free radicals. The free radicals irritate the fine lining of your arteries and cause an inflammatory response and spasm. Researchers realized this when they would give their participants vitamin C and vitamin E in supplementation and then have them eat a fatty meal. Their arteries would only go into spasm for 4 to 5 minutes. The antioxidants (vitamin C and vitamin E) were able to quench the free radicals before they could cause any irritation to the lining of your arteries. Antioxidants are extremely important to destroy the free radicals in your body. The right foods for your body are low-glycemic and aid in natural weight loss.

Homocysteine is a by-product of protein metabolism (methionine). Dr. Kilmer McCully, a pathologist and researcher, noted two children (one age 3 and one age 6) who died because of suffering a heart attack. These children had a disease called homocystinuria. They were born with a genetic defect that did not allow them to break down homocysteine into more benign products. Therefore, these children had extremely high homocysteine levels. This led Dr. McCully to postulate that normal people who had moderately elevated levels of homocysteine over a lifetime would possibly be at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.   

We now realize that even mildly elevated homocysteine levels cause significant inflammation of our arteries. In fact, nearly 15% of the heart attacks and strokes are are caused by too much homocysteine in your blood. This is truly sad when you realize that the main reason homocysteine levels are high in some individuals is because they have an underlying vitamin B defIciency. By taking folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6 in supplementation at optimal levels, you can reduce homocysteine levels to a very safe range nearly 70% of the time. For just pennies a day you can eliminate one of the major causes of inflammation of your arteries.

Information from Dr. Ray Strand

When you look at a wonderful wood fireplace it usually burns just fine. However, occasionally a spark or hot cinder shoots and burns a little hole in your carpet. Over the months and years, you will have a damaged carpet in front of your fireplace. Look at the fireplace as the furnace of your cell and the hot cinders as free radicals. Your carpet is your body. Whatever part of your body wears out first is the type of disease you will develop. If it is your brain, you could get Alzheimer’s dementia or Parkinson’s disease. If it is your eyes, you could develop a cataract or macular degeneration. If it is your arteries, you could develop a heart attack or stroke.

You are not defenseless against this process. Antioxidants are like the fine wire mesh or glass doors you place in front of your fireplace. The sparks are still going to fly; however, your carpet—your body—is protected. This is the key. To protect your body, you want enough antioxidants on board to handle the number of free radicals you produce.   The best way to achieve this goal is to take high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional supplements.

When your body is working at its optimum level it doesn’t store unneeded fats. Antioxidants, along with low glycemic foods, are your best combination for natural weight loss.