There are a number of reasons why we gain weight as we age. Therefore, one solution will not fit for us all. Here are two reasons we gain weight, and an idea for losing it.
#1 Our cells no longer take in fuel efficiently
Cells need glucose for fuel. A hormone called insulin acts as a key for glucose to enter cells. Aging causes the insulin receptors on cell membranes to lose their youthful sensitivity. Not as much glucose gets into your cells. Results:
1) Less energy for you because your cells aren’t burning as much fuel,
2) More glucose floating in your blood stream because it can’t get into the cells,
3) More fat in your body because excess glucose is converted into triglycerides which in turn are stored in your fat cells.
Look at young kids at play. They can’t stay still. They run, hop and skip. Then look at college students during any “break.” Do they even feel like running, hopping and skipping? How about 60 year olds? And there you have it.
In order to induce weight loss in overweight adults, we need to increase the sensitivity of our cells’ insulin receptors.
#2 Our cells no longer burn fuel efficiently.
Aging diminishes the ability of our cells to utilize the fats and sugars we consume. As we age we have a reduced metabolic capacity to make use of the fats and sugars we eat throughout the day. The result is that our blood streams become chronically bloated with artery-clogging and obesity-inducing dietary byproducts.
An important element involved in successful weight loss is to purge excess sugar (glucose) and fat (triglycerides) from the blood stream. Please remember that your body converts carbs (sugar) into triglycerides when you eat too many carbs for your cells to use.
Yes, we do need to absorb nutrients for good health, but when we overeat, too much sugar and fat ends up in our blood. If you eat a fat filled meal and you have a blood test done shortly thereafter, your blood sample won’t be red. It will be white. The white is fat.
A proven way to reverse chronic fat-sugar overload in our blood is to impede its absorption from the digestive tract. While there are pharmaceutical drugs that effectively do this, green tea extracts have demonstrated promise as inhibitors of fat absorption. Green tea phytosomes are such an extract.
Green tea phytosomes
One answer is green tea polyphenols (a group of chemical substances found in plants) that when combined with phospholipids (a form of fat combined with phosphorous) are called green tea phytosomes. A group of Italian researchers found this combination.
When overweight test subjects were placed on reduced calorie diets (about 1,850 calories/day for men and 1,350 calories/day for women, and two 150 mg tablets daily of green tea phytosome, after 90 days they averaged a weight loss of 30 pounds. That’s hard to believe when reducing calorie intake typically results in losing just a few pounds.
Why does it work? Green tea phytosomes are created when the standardized extract and active ingredients of Green Tea are bound to soybean phospholipids on a molecular level. This combination has been shown to increase the absorption, biological activity, and delivery of the polyphenols, green tea’s active agents. With this enhanced delivery, more of the key compounds get where they’re needed most – to the cells in your body.
Recommended regimen: Life Extension recommends taking two 150 mg green tea phytosome tables a day for 90 days and see if you lose significant weight.
Product availability: Do an online search for green tea phytosomes and you will find a number of vendors.
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