Body Fat Speeds Up Aging
Belly fat and aging are linked through the master hormone for almost everything related to health and longevity: human growth hormone (HGH). Unfortunately, the age-related loss of HGH is made worse by gaining fat.
The big problem with this scenario is that more fat reduces HGH even further. It is a Catch-22 that accelerates aging. The trap is that less HGH leads to more fat and more fat causes less HGH. This is a never ending loop that makes you age faster due to continued fat gain and lower levels of HGH.
Research published in the scientific literature in 1991 first showed the connection between HGH and overweight. Researchers showed that men between the ages of 21 and 71, who were not overweight, typically lose HGH at a rate of 14 percent every 10 years. This compares with a reduction of HGH by 6 percent with every unit of Body Mass Index (BMI) in those who are overweight.
This means that the drop in HGH secretion rate with an increase in BMI from 21 to 28 corresponds to the average drop going from age 21 to age 45. In other words, adult men whose BMI classifies them as obese (i.e., 27 units and above) have HGH levels that correspond to men who are at least 20 years older. This leads to high-speed aging and the increasing prevalence of age-related diseases in younger people.
Women are also susceptible to this pattern, maybe even more so. Even though the 1991 study involved only men, women must consider additional factors that influence fat-driven loss of HGH and its consequent rapid aging. These factors include changes in steroid hormones such as estrogen during monthly cycles and menopause. An imbalance of these hormones leads to fat gain, reduction in HGH levels, and even more fat gain from the loss of HGH.
The Four Top Solutions
It is easy to say that simply losing belly fat would solve the problem. However, that is the problem in the first place. The long-term failure rate of almost all fat loss strategies is too high to make this the central approach.
This is where the connection between belly fat and HGH can be exploited to your advantage. The key is to restore the hormone levels first, which then causes loss of fat. The four simplest ways to raise HGH levels are as follows:
Solution 1: Get HGH replacement therapy. This is the fastest and most effective solution. Unfortunately, it requires medical treatment with a prescription drug (HGH), is very expensive, and is not covered by most insurance plans. For those who can take advantage of this option, fat loss is easy and automatic.
Solution 2: Natural enhancement of HGH is a more likely strategy for most people. These final three solutions are therefore available to everyone who wants to stimulate their own internal production of HGH. One of the highest spikes in HGH levels every 24 hours comes about two hours after you go to sleep at night. Certain amino acid supplements, taken on an empty stomach at bedtime, can significantly boost this spike. These amino acids are called secretagogues because they induce the secretion of HGH from your pituitary gland. The top two are L-arginine (2-3 grams) and L-lysine (1 gram).
Other amino acids that enhance nighttime HGH levels include L-glutamine and L-tryptophan. (The latter may also be replaced with 5-hydroxytryptophan, or 5HTP.) Many supplement companies offer products that are formulated specifically as HGH secretagogues, so the right amino acids are easy to find at most nutrition stores.
Solution 3. Working out at high-intensity with lifting weights will also provide a spike in HGH. You can boost this spike by supplementing with the same amino acid secretagogues as above. An added amino acid called L-glycine has also been shown in research studies to enhance workout results. Generally you have to buy this amino acid separately, since it is not usually a component in secretagogue products.
A crucial point for getting optimum results from a workout boost is to take the amino acid secretagogues on an empty stomach. This should be about 1 to 1.5 hours before you begin working out.
Solution 4. Now for the most overlooked HGH-boosting and fat-reducing strategy of all. It involves meal spacing. When you eat a snack or meal, HGH levels rise about 2 hours later. At first HGH works with insulin in muscle building. Then, when insulin starts to disappear about 4 hours after you eat, HGH levels rise even further. HGH then drives the use of fat for fuel.
The effect of HGH on fat loss is at its greatest more than 4 hours after a meal. Stimulating this HGH spike means that you have to space your meals at least 5 hours apart.
This is what happens during a small fasting period between meals during the day. An even bigger boost in HGH occurs between dinner and breakfast the next morning, as long as you do not snack in between. A 12 hour overnight fasting period works wonders for boosting HGH levels and fat loss.
Recently scientists have been studying the effects of more extensive fasting that is done once or twice per week. They call it intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting has become so important for weight loss, anti-aging, and many aspects of health that any internet search for this phrase will yield tens of thousands of pages.
Speeding Up Belly Fat Loss
The best scientific results and the most supportive testimonials on intermittent fasting involve a 24 to 34 hour fasting period once or twice per week. One of the truly appealing aspects of this approach is that it removes a lot of worry about what to eat on non-fasting days, because the beneficial effects of a single fasting period are so powerful. This does not mean that intermittent fasting gives you free license to eat junk food. However, it does mean that you can lose fat, reverse and slow down the onslaught of aging, and enjoy great health and fitness just by using this simple strategy to boost recovery of your own HGH to youthful levels.
Intermittent fasting is a simple concept. However, you must know what you are doing and you must be dedicated to getting the results that you want for getting the most benefit from this simple approach to health and fitness.
Dr. Dennis Clark is a retired university professor and research scientist, specializing in natural products biochemistry and human health. Get his free scientific report on how to get rid of excess belly fat, including the most overlooked scientific key to the belly fat loss.