In the Nov. 24 issue of the New York Times, Gina Kolata, the newspaper’s science editor, had some provocative statements to make about weight loss such as:
Weight control is not simply a matter of willpower.
Dieting alone is rarely successful.
Moderate exercise, too, rarely results in substantive long-term weight loss.
She points out that the emerging science of appetite control demonstrates that body composition is largely a matter of genetics, which is strongly defended by the brain. These are exactly the same points that I make in my latest book, “Toxic Fat.”
However, unlike Ms. Kolata’s contention that “obesity is almost impossible to cure,” I provide the dietary pathway required to change your brain chemistry and in the process overcome a genetic predisposition to become obese. To do so requires a two-front dietary battle plan. The first part is to reduce a genetic “fat trap” that is triggered by excess insulin. Once that fat trap is activated, incoming dietary calories get trapped in our fat cells and cannot be converted to the chemical energy that we need to survive and move around.
The second part is to reduce the levels of hormones (endocannabinoids) in the brain that cause us to be constantly hungry. The Zone Diet coupled with high-dose fish oil becomes the prescription for those of us who have the genetic predisposition for a fat trap. It turns out that about 75 percent of the U.S. population has that genetic tendency. Since 66 percent of the U.S. population is now overweight or obese, we are pretty close to having virtually everyone with the genetic predisposition to have an activated fat trap.
“Toxic Fat” demonstrates long-term weight control is possible, but only if you control the hormones in the blood, the gut, and the brain that are affected by the diet. For most Americans, this will be a life-long endeavor. However, unlike Ms. Kolata, I am convinced that obesity can be managed effectively like any other chronic disease, but you have to use the right dietary tools. You can’t change your genes, but you can change their expression.
“Toxic Fat”shows you how.