burning fat Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Burn Fat While You Sleep

The AHA! Team — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 05:21:47 +0000

Al Sears, MD, CNS – If you’re having trouble sleeping, chances are you’re also living with a broken metabolism. But repairing your ability to sleep soundly through the night can help you melt away unwanted pounds – without lifting a finger. In a study published in the Journal of Lipid Research, researchers from Penn State University linked sleep-wake cycles to your native ability to burn fat while you rest. Fifteen participants – all healthy men in their 20s – started the study by sleeping for 10 hours a night in their own homes. Then they spent 10 nights at Penn State’s clinical research center. While there, they were fed carb-heavy meals – and slept no more than five hours for four consecutive nights. During this stage, the participants reported feeling sluggish and less satisfied with the meals they ate. Unsurprisingly, they also gained weight. The researchers took blood samples from the participants and found that their insulin levels rose as sleep restrictions worsened. But when the participants were able to return to a 10-hour sleep schedule, they were able to return to their normal body weight.1 This study highlights just how connected your sleep schedule is to your fat-burning potential. But the effects of a poor night’s sleep go beyond just physiological. Putting off sleep can also encourage behaviors that lead to further weight gain. Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that when people get less sleep, they’re more likely to take a trip to the kitchen for a late-night snack. When this happens, your body releases cortisol – a stress hormone that encourages your body to conserve as much energy as it can. In other words, instead of burning fat the way it should – you’re just sitting on unused energy. This is the perfect storm for unwanted weight gain.2 If you’re experiencing random hunger episodes in the middle of the night, I don’t blame you… Because the modern world has set us all up for failure. How The Modern World Keeps You Awake The idea of a midnight snack is only something that could happen in modern times. For the vast majority of human history, eating when the sun went down was almost unheard of. Picture yourself living among our hunter-gatherer ancestors. There are no streetlights or sprawling metropolises brightening the night sky. There are no screens demanding constant attention. And the campfire you share with your community does little more than light up your immediate surroundings. In those times, if you wanted to eat, you had to either track down a wild animal yourself or find something edible close to your settlement. During the blackened hours of the night, this is almost impossible. That’s why hunting, gathering, and every other step in food preparation were done during the day – when you could see your surroundings and what you were doing. Of course, our ancestors were not only preparing food, they were trying to avoid becoming food for something else. In short, humans evolved to eat during the day. And in today’s world of near-constant illumination, we are fighting against our own biology. Unwanted weight gain is just one of many consequences. Sleep problems are also getting worse. According to the National Institutes of Health, between 50 and 70 million Americans have sleep disorders. That’s one out of every three adults.3 Fortunately, you can begin to solve both problems by turning to nature. Here are some tips I share with my patients to help them repair their native metabolism – so they can burn fat while they sleep. 3 Ways To Burn Fat While You Sleep 1. Limit artificial light. The screens you stare at all day – your smartphone, your computer, your television, and almost every other electronic device emits blue light. Studies show this type of light interferes with your body’s natural ability to produce melatonin – the “shut-eye” chemical that helps you sleep.Eliminating screens from your life entirely is almost impossible. But there are ways to adapt so that you can keep your exposure to a healthy minimum.Start by keeping your bedroom as dark as possible during the night. Darkness encourages melatonin production. Don’t turn on the TV past a certain time. If you enjoy reading before bedtime, opt for a traditional book instead of a tablet. If you can’t get your bedroom completely dark, try a sleep mask. 2. Use high-quality melatonin supplements. Melatonin does more than make you sleepy. Recently, it’s been discovered that “the sleepy chemical” acts as a mitochondrial decoupler. This means that the melatonin being absorbed into your system has a protective effect on the “batteries” in your body’s cells, and encourages them to be more active.It helps your body remove damaged mitochondria, as well as help transport protons across the inner membranes in your cells…which burns calories.4 Melatonin supplements can be found in almost any drug store or convenience store, but not all of them will absorb into your system properly. That’s why I recommend shopping for sprays, drops, or sublingual tablets. They’re easier to absorb and get to work faster. 3. Try intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting doesn’t mean starving yourself. It means reorienting your body to process food the way human beings evolved to.Our hunter-gatherer ancestors often fasted out of necessity, routinely fluctuating between feasting and famine depending on how successful a hunt was – or the resources they had access to. Fasting is a primal tradition – and it helped our ancestors develop the fat-burning potential they needed to remain fit.It encourages your body to process food during the waking hours of the day and allows you to rest at night when you’re supposed to. I recommend starting with a simple, safe fasting schedule: Start your day with a 10 a.m. breakfast Take lunch in the afternoon as you normally would Finish your dinner by 6 p.m. Eat no additional food from 6 p.m. until 10 a.m. the following morning To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD, CNS References: Ness K, et al. “Four nights of sleep restriction suppress the postprandial lipemic response and decrease satiety.” J of Lipid Res. 2019;60(11):1935-1945. Nedeltcheva, A. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2009. “Sleep Health | NHLBI, NIH.” Www.nhlbi.nih.gov, www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/education-and-awareness/sleep-health#:~:text=About%2050%20to%2070%20million. Demine S, et al. “Mitochondrial uncoupling: A key controller of biological processes in physiology and disease.” Cells. 2019;8(8):795 To read the original article click here.

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Are Morning Workouts Best for Burning Fat? Study Provides Answers

The AHA! Team — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 06:21:36 +0000

Joe Boland via Dr. Axe – If you’re like a lot of people out there, you probably wonder what the optimal time of day for exercise is. The answer depends on many factors, but if you’re looking to burn fat, new research suggests morning workouts may be your best bet. Study: Workout Time and Burning Fat Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark sought to determine how working out at different times of day affected post-exercise metabolism and fat-burning (aka the afterburn effect). They did this by examining physical activity in mice at various times of day. Why mice? Because, as described in an accompanying press release on the study, “mice and humans share many basic physiological functions, and mice are a well-established model for human physiology and metabolism.” Ultimately, researchers wanted to find out the optimal time of day to exercise in order to amp up fat-burning. They did this by studying the adipose tissue in the mice after two sessions of high-intensity exercise — one performed at an early active phase (equivalent of late morning in humans) and one at early rest phases (equivalent of late evening in humans). They found that “physical activity at an early active phase increased the expression of genes involved in the breakdown of adipose tissue, thermogenesis (heat production) and mitochondria in the adipose tissue, indicating a higher metabolic rate. These effects were observed only in mice that exercised in the early active phase and were independent of food intake.” A higher metabolic rate, of course, helps burn fat more than lower a metabolic rate, meaning morning workouts may help amp up your ability to burn fat. ”Our results suggest that late-morning exercise could be more effective than late evening exercise in terms of boosting the metabolism and the burning of fat, and if this is the case, they could prove of value to people who are overweight,” said professor Juleen R. Zierath from the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institutet in the release. Zierath added: “The right timing seems to be important to the body’s energy balance and to improving the health benefits of exercise, but more studies are needed to draw any reliable conclusions about the relevance of our findings to humans.” Other Fat-Burning Tips While this is promising research and could encourage people to exercise early in the day, the truth is exercise at any time of day is beneficial. In fact, starting a fitness routine that works for you and your schedule is important. If that means working out in the afternoon, evening or night fits into your life better than morning, you should get your workouts in then instead. If burning fat is your ultimate goal, here are some ways to enhance your ability to lose belly fat and fat in other areas: Take advantage of natural metabolism boosters, such as getting plenty of sleep and rest, trying high-intensity interval training (HIIT), lifting weights, and avoiding inflammatory foods. Work out on an empty stomach. Add natural fat burners to your routine, such as conjugated linoleic acid, green coffee beans, grapefruit essential oil, green tea and other herbal teas, protein supplements and foods, and probiotic foods and supplements. Consume more fat-burning foods, such as high-fiber foods, apple cider vinegar, bone broth and many more. Incorporate more fat-burning workouts, including Tabata, HIIT, barre, CrossFit, spinning/cycling, cross-country skiing, sprinting, elliptical exercises, burst training, rowing and swimming. Playing sports like football, basketball, soccer and volleyball also is great for burning fat. Eat a healthy diet, and avoid unhealthy, processed foods. To read the original article click here.

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Melt Away Stubborn Belly Fat with this Peptide

The AHA! Team — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 09:43:47 +0000

Al Sears, MD, CNS – For decades, you’ve been given bad advice about how to get rid of stubborn belly fat… Most fitness “gurus” will tell you to do more cardio so you can enter your “fat-burning zone.” But that’s the last place you want to be… Burning fat while exercising signals to your body that it needs fat. Then it trains your body to make more fat. I’ve found a better way to help my patients eliminate abdominal fat and keep it off. I’m talking about safe and effective peptide therapy. Peptides will play an essential role in the future of regenerative medicine. Peptides are made up of short-chain amino acids. You can think of them as small pieces of protein that send messages to a cell, telling it what to do. At the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine, we use a unique peptide known as AOD 9604 to help patients eliminate excess abdominal fat. AOD 9604 is a tiny fragment of human growth hormone (HGH). It stimulates the pituitary gland to speed up the metabolism without increasing appetite. But the benefits don’t stop there. AOD 9604 can also… Activate lipolysis, the process your body uses to break down fat Prevent the creation of new fat cells, a process known as lipogenesis Trigger the release of fat from fat cells Stop non-fatty foods from turning into body fat The research backs up what I’m starting to see in my practice. Australian researchers tested AOD 9604 on 300 obese individuals. Each patient received the peptide daily for three months. The results stunned even the scientists… Compared to patients who got a placebo, the peptide participants lost three times as much weight.1 And their weight loss remained steady and stable throughout the study trial. This indicates that continued treatment would result in even more significant weight loss. A second study was done on mice genetically prone to obesity. This research found that AOD 9604 may indirectly activate apoptosis – or cell death – in white fat cells.2 As I mentioned, white fat is the flabby, bad-for-you fat that holds onto excess calories as lipids. If the only thing AOD-9064 did was to help burn fat, that would be enough. But there’s more… Apart from its fat-burning properties, this peptide can also: Relieve joint pain3 Lower your heart attack risk4 Reduce diabetes risk5 Improve bone mineral density6 Reduce diabetes and regulate blood sugar7 Increase muscle mass8 It’s important to emphasize that the amino acids found within AOD 9604 are bioidentical to those found within human growth hormone. This means there are no side effects when taken properly. Use PACE to burn belly fat. All weight- and fat-loss therapies work much better when combined with the right workout. Earlier, I told you that cardio tells your body to store fat. On the other hand, my PACE principle tells your body to dump fat. PACE stands for “Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion,” It uses brief but vigorous daily routines of increasing intensity. A study at Laval University in Canada compared long- and short-duration exercise programs. Researchers found those who did a short-burst workout lost the most fat.9 In fact, the short-burst group dropped 9 times more fat than the endurance group for every calorie melted! Everyone can do a PACE workout. It doesn’t matter what your age or physical condition is. You can choose any exercise that makes you stop and pant for breath. It could be as simple as going up and down the stairs, biking, walking or swimming. The important thing is to increase your challenge gradually over time. Here’s a simple walking workout to get you started… First, walk as far as you can for each of the three sets. Walk the first set a bit faster than you normally do. Then rest until your heart rate returns to normal. Next, walk as far as you can again for three sets – but go a bit faster. Rest again between sets, but make the rest period a tiny bit shorter. Then walk your sets again. But this time, go even faster and really pump your arms. Then push yourself to do one more set. To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD, CNS References: 1. Zieba R, et al. “Obesity: a review of currently used antiobesity drugs and new compounds in clinical development.” Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online). 2007 Oct 19;61:612-26. 2. Heffernan M, et al. “The effects of human GH and its lipolytic fragment (AOD 9604) on lipid metabolism following chronic treatment in obese mice ANDβ 3-ar knock-out mice.” Endocrinology. 2001;142(12)–5189. 3. D. R. Kwon and G. Y. Park, “Effect of Intra-articular Injection of AOD 9604 with or without Hyaluronic Acid in Rabbit Osteoarthritis Model,” Ann. Clin. Lab. Sci., vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 426–432, Jul. 2015. [PubMed] 4. M. D. Jensen, “Potential role of new therapies in modifying cardiovascular risk in overweight patients with metabolic risk factors,” Obes. Silver Spring Md, vol. 14 Suppl 3, pp. 143S-149S, Jun. 2006. [Wiley Online Library] 5. Stier H, et al. “Safety and Tolerability of the Hexadecapeptide AOD 9604 in Humans.” J Endocrinol Metabolism. 2013;3(1-2):7-15. 6. Biotech Peptides. “Peptides BPC157, AOD960 improve bone mineral density for osteoporosis.” 2021. https://biotechpeptides.com/2021/08/13/peptides-bpc157-aod960-improve-bone-mineral-density-for-osteoporosis/. Accessed on Feb 7, 2022. 7. Stier H, et al. “Safety and Tolerability of the hexadecapeptide AOD 9604 in humans.” J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013;3(1-2):7-15. 8. Stier H, et al. “Safety and Tolerability of the hexadecapeptide AOD 9604 in humans.” J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013;3(1-2):7-15. 9. Tremblay A, et al. “Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism.” Metabolism. 1994;43(7):814-818. To read the original article click here.

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7 Super-Charged Habits for Your Healthiest Summer Ever

AHA Publisher — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 07:00:31 +0000

Dr. Don Colbert – There’s something about summer. It simply feels like the best season to form healthy habits. It seems easier and more natural during warm, light-filled days. If you’re ready to make a change, and make this your healthiest summer ever, we’ve got the top super-charged habits to help you. These habits are not complicated, but they may be life-changing. They are simple and easy to add to your lifestyle. In fact, most of them require just a small change in behaviors you’ve already established. Why not get started today? 7 Hacks to Make This Your Healthiest Summer Ever 1. Make It Ice Water There are actually 2 ways ice water can help you make this your healthiest summer ever. First, drinking ice water keeps your body cool during the hot summer months while improving calorie burn. How? Ice water is much colder than your body temperature, and your body must burn calories to warm it up. While this may seem like a negligible metabolism increase, it can add up to significant calorie burn. In fact, mathematically, every 64 ounces of ice-water you drink should require 61 calories (burned) to warm up. Over a week, this can add up to almost a 500 calorie deficit. In studies, drinking 16 ounces of ice-cold water per day actually increased calorie output by about 100 calories per day (1). While the studies are small in scale, they suggest ice water offers calorie and metabolism benefits. The second way ice-cold water can make this your healthiest summer ever is by exposing your body to it. When your body is exposed to very cold water, it uses brown fat cells to warm itself. These cells are extremely advantageous for metabolism. What’s more, ice-cold showers have been found in studies to activate “white fat” by making it act more like “brown fat(3).” In time, your body will naturally burn more calories the more brown fat you have. Easy Summer Hack Plan: This summer, drink at least 16 ounces of ice-water per day. Then, either shower or plunge into ice-cold water as often as possible. 2. Grow a Garden for Your Healthiest Summer Ever While you may think the only benefit of gardening is the harvest, there’s actually many healthy benefits when you put your hands in soil. In fact, studies have found that gardening is a great stress reducer and promotes feelings of calm and well-being (2). What’s more, gardening is a great excuse to get outside and be active. Take advantage of the time using your muscles and increasing vitamin D production from the sun. Easy Summer Hack Plan: Plant your own garden, herb container-garden, or join a community garden. No matter how you do it, you will reap benefits beyond the food itself. 3. Eat Delicious Seasonal Fresh Produce Like Greens and Herbs Ever feel like winter’s ingredients are less than inspiring? Well then, summer foods are for you! Take a look at your garden or the produce section in your local grocer. It’s brimming with fresh, in-season, healthy foods. In fact, when you add more greens and herbs to your diet, you can consume the same component plants used to grow and flourish: chlorophyll. In addition, vibrant and brightly colored vegetables and fruits offer a vast array of phytochemicals, antioxidants, and other health-promoting nutrients. Try: Delicious Fresh Herb Sauces. A delicious parsley-based sauce like Keto Zone® Chimichurri or Fresh Basil Pesto is perfect for any summer meal! Vibrant Salads and Green Vegetables. Greens are amazingly nutritious foods that are highly anti-inflammatory and health-promoting (3). Try eating a green salad with heart healthy extra-virgin olive oil every day. Fresh Low-Carb Summer Fruits. With a bit of portion control, fruits like berries can fit into a Keto Zone® lifestyle, and they are ripe and flavorful in the summer. Berries support healthy blood pressure (4), deliver loads of antioxidants, and promote overall health. Lemons and limes are also great for you, adding vitamin C, antioxidants, and more. Divine Health Organic Fermented Green Supremefood® and Organic Red Supremefood®. A great way to add even more organic greens and fruits to your diet is through Divine Health’s delicious organic fruit and vegetable powders. They are great-tasting and easy to add to water, tea, smoothies, and more! Easy Summer Hack Plan: Add 1-2 servings of Organic Red and Green Supremefood® to your daily routine, cover half your dinner plate with fresh greens, and try a new herb-sauce this summer! 4. Add Variety by Drinking Tea Tired of plain water? Make the switch to tea for part of your daily fluids. Beyond providing great hydration on hot summer days, black and green tea offer amazing health benefits for your eyes, brain and entire body. In fact, black and green tea support cellular detox, the fight against oxidative stress, normalized cortisol, increased calorie burn, healthy blood pressure and cholesterol, brain health (3), oral health, and a fiery metabolism. What’s more, you can get double the benefits when you add Organic Fermented Green Supremefood® to your tea or other foods during the day. It contains Green Tea Leaf Extract for a fermented, potent healthy green tea source. Easy Summer Hack Plan: Drink 16 ounces of green or black tea per day, preferably ice-cold. Consider adding 1 scoop of Organic Red and Green Supremefood®to your tea. You just might get 3 habits in 1! 5. Move Your Workout Outside Summer is one of the best times of the year for outdoor activities and exercise. Not only does it promote heart health, but being outside also supports mental health and enhanced mood. Studies have found that activity outside improves health markers and supports healthy cortisol. This means less tension, fatigue, and depressed moods. Amazingly, it may also help you exercise more consistently. One recent study concluded that men and women over 66 years who exercised outside reported higher levels of total activity per week than inside-exercisers (5). 6. Take an Evening Walk In addition to an outdoor workout, make this your healthiest summer ever by getting outside for an evening walk after dinner. Why? First, walking always burns calories and supports heart health (6). Moreover, timing a walk after dinner can help normalize post-meal blood sugars, reduce evening stress, and encourage optimal sleep. 7. Follow the Sun There’s really no better time to work on your own 24-hour daily cycle and circadian rhythms than summer. You can make this your healthiest summer ever by aligning your wake and sleep times with the sun. Artificial light is a known issue for sleep cycles. Since most of us are inside much of the day, stay up far past sundown, and stare at blue screens like computers and phones, our circadian rhythms can easily become “off balance.” It’s no wonder. We live in a world with fast-paced, busy schedules and often need artificial light throughout the year to get everything done. However, in the summer, we’ve got the opportunity to use more natural light and align our days with sun-up and sun-down. You’ll find a natural-light cycle can support healthy sleep, which in turn supports brain, immune, hormone, and whole-body health. How to Make These Healthy Habits Stick Habits are best added one at a time until you master each. To make these habits stick for your healthiest summer ever, add one per week over the next 7 weeks. Focus on each for 7 days, and then add the next. You can make small changes to super charge your summer, and then continue them to turn your healthy habits into a healthy lifestyle. Bottom Line Summer is a wonderful time to add healthy habits to your life. These top 7 tips can take your health from mediocre to supercharged! Try them for the next 7 weeks and experience the difference. Add great foods and ingredients like Organic Red and Green Supremefood®. You’ve got nothing to lose, and your healthiest summer ever to gain! To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Colbert click here.

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