Are you ready to lose your love.....handles?

This may come as a surprise, but burning body fat is not about eating less food. It's about eating the right foods.

If you have been with us over the last few years you have heard us talk about insulin the "fat-storing hormones" & glucagon our "fat-burning hormone" These two hormones are both produced in the pancreas, when one goes up the other one comes down, kinda like a see-saw. If you had to pick, which side of the see-saw you wanted up and down, which one would you choose?

Once you understand how these two hormones work in either weight loss or weight gain it can make it easier to choose a lifestyle. If you are wanting a way to win the battle of the bulge, keep reading.

Insulin is a fat-storage and blocking hormone.

Insulin is not only fat-storing it also blocks access to your body's fat reserves and it also causes your body to store excess glucose as fat. Insulin does have a job and important job, its job is to lower your blood sugar by moving glucose into the muscles and liver as a source of energy. So when glucose is present your body will burn sugar and your fat stays where it is.

Glucagon is a fat-burning and unlocking hormone.

When no sugar is available to fuel our body, our body signals glucagon our fat-burning hormone. Glucagon signals the body to release stored fat to be used as fuel. This is how the unlock our fat reserves and we can begin to beat the battle of the bulge.

There have been many studies done on these two hormones and the one that I found most interesting was done by the researchers from the Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, who injected one group of rats with insulin and another group of rats with glucagon.

The rats that received the insulin gained body fat and ate more. The rats that received the glucagon lost body fat.

Take-home message: Insulin promotes fat storage and it keeps you fat by blocking access to your fat reserves. Glucagon is essential for breaking down body fat and burning it for energy.

What can I do to become a "Fat Burner"

Remember - Fat loss and getting lean isn’t about calories… it’s about hormones, and if you want to get your body into a fat-burning state, it is essential that you keep your insulin and blood sugar levels low. Your body will always choose burning sugar over burning fat, and the more carbs and sugar in your diet, the higher your blood sugar, and insulin levels will be.

In the end, being a “sugar burner” means you’ll end up being a “fat accumulator”.

But that’s not the worst of it, because once you get on the sugar-burning track, you’ve started a vicious cycle that’s hard to stop. Sugar is so addictive and like cocaine, your body will beg for it, you end up crashing, becoming edgy, depressed, and low-energy until those cravings are fed...and when you feed those cravings with more carb-rich food the crazy cycles continues.

So How Do You Stimulate More Glucagon?

The first thing you need to do to stimulate glucagon is to reduce total carbohydrates in your diet and be sure those you choose are low glycemic and eat a protein-rich diet.

Why protein?

Protein directly stimulates the production of glucagon and sends the signal to your body that the “hunting is good” and it is safe to shed excess fat. Make sure you are eating high-quality protein at every meal.

• Grass-fed beef and lamb

• Wild seafood (sardines, mackerel, wild salmon, etc)

• Pastured poultry

• Game meats (bison, elk, rabbit, etc)

• Pastured eggs

Take away message: The plan for shedding fat and keeping it off forever is very simple and you don't have to starve yourself or eat a salad every day. The key is a lifestyle change of choosing healthy proteins, healthy fats, choosing carbs that are low glycemic and high in fiber. In just 3 days you can shift your body from a "sugar burner" body to a fat burner" body. Best of all, your metabolism will fire on all cylinders, locking your body into a perpetual fat-burning state.