Get Fatter And Age Faster
The granddaddy of all hormones for regulating aging is human growth hormone (HGH). Loss of HGH over time leads to a decreased ability to burn off food calories as you get older. The result is fat gain.
The Catch-22 of this scenario is that it also works in the other direction. Fat gain suppresses HGH levels, which accelerates aging. It almost seems like you are trapped on a closed loop. Less HGH leads to more fat. More fat leads to less HGH. And the consequence is that you age faster and faster as you gain fat and lose HGH.
The relationship between HGH and overweight was first described in a research article in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 1991. The scientists behind this study pointed out that, on average, for men aged 21 to 71 with a normal Body Mass Index (BMI), the production rate of HGH decreased by 14 percent with each decade of life. In comparison, each unit of BMI reduced the daily HGH secretion rate by 6 percent.
What this means is that the expected reduction in HGH levels from age 21 to 45 is mimicked by a rise in BMI from 21 to 28 units. In other words, a BMI rating of 27 or more, which is common, can reduce HGH levels the same as more than 20 years of normal aging. Body fat therefore accelerates aging and leads to an increasing rate of age-related diseases in ever younger people.
Women are not off the hook just because this study included only men in the experimental group. Indeed, fluctuations in estrogen levels and other steroid hormones in women during monthly cycles and menopause may amplify the consequences of HGH loss. One such consequence is faster fat gain.
Top Four Solutions
Of course, reducing belly fat is the easiest advice to give and yet the hardest result to attain. Long-term failure of most strategies for belly fat loss undermine this otherwise sound advice. It is therefore not a good starting point by itself.
Fortunately, the close connection between belly fat and HGH levels opens up the possibility of restoring hormone levels first, which then would lead to fat loss. This can, indeed, be accomplished as follows:
Solution 1. HGH replacement therapy. This involve a prescription treatment from a medical doctor. Although this is the most straightforward solution, it is very expensive and not generally covered by health insurance. However, those who can take advantage of this strategy lose fat quickly and automatically.
Solution 2. The three solutions to follow all entail boosting your native HGH levels naturally. These are the easiest and most cost-effective ways to do so for most people. The first is to enhance your normal HGH spike that comes about two hours after you go to sleep at night. Boosting this spike is made simple by supplementing with certain amino acids that are called HGH secretagogues – i.e., substances that induce your pituitary gland to secret more HGH. The most effective amino acid secretagogues are L-arginine (2-3 gram dose) and L-lysine (1 gram dose).
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. A high-intensity weightlifting workout will cause a spike in HGH levels. You can boost this effect with HGH secretagogues, especially L-arginine and L-lysine. In addition, L-glycine will enhance the results of your HGH-boosting workout. Most supplement formulas do not include this particular amino acid, even though good research backs up its use for enhancing exercise.
As with nighttime secretagogue supplementation, amino acids for a workout boost must be taken on an empty stomach to get optimum results. Ideally this would be about 1 to 1.5 hours before your workout.
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.
Fat metabolism due to this HGH spike therefore peaks out more than 4 hours after a meal. Ideally, this means that your meals should be spaced at least 5 hours apart to take maximum advantage of this pattern.
The after-meal spike is even greater between dinner and breakfast the next day, as long as you do not snack in the evening. This brief overnight fasting period yields best results for boosting HGH and burning fat when it lasts at least 12 hours.
The concept of fasting to boost HGH and belly fat loss can be taken advantage of even further by what scientists call intermittent fasting. Studies have shown that an HGH boost from intermittent fasting once or twice per week provides incredible benefits to health, including fat loss. Age-related disorders can be stopped and aging can even be reversed. You can see how important intermittent fasting is by finding the thousands of pages that come on an internet search for this phrase.
Speeding Up Belly Fat Loss
Intermittent fasting refers to a fasting period of 24 to 34 hours one or two times each week. Belly fat loss goes faster using this pattern. All measures of anti-aging also speed up. One appealing aspect of intermittent fasting is that it is easier than dieting every day of your life. Indeed, just one 24 hour fasting period provides powerful results all by itself. It does not mean, however, that you can trade fasting one day for eating junk food the next. Eating poorly is never a good idea, no matter how many other good things you do for boosting HGH and accelerating fat loss. Once you boost HGH levels by intermittent fasting, you want to maintain the benefits permanently for good health, fitness, and youthful body image.
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.
Research scientist, university professor, and internationally acclaimed author, Dr. Dennis Clark, provides unique views of human health and natural products biochemistry. See his research in a free scientific report on how to quickly and easily lose excess belly fat, with the best science-based advice that you will find anywhere on the belly fat loss.
