• Carnitine and ALC enhance the sensitivity of insulin receptors,
helping to decrease blood sugar and circulating levels of insulin.
Dosage information: Carnitine—one or two 250-milligram capsules
with a meal up to three times daily, or as recommended by your
health care professional. ALC—one or two 500-milligram capsules
daily in divided doses between meals.
• Maitake SX Fraction enhances insulin sensitivity for controlling
blood sugar levels. Dosage information: Take one 100-milligram
tablet three times a day between meals, as a dietary supplement
or as recommended by your health care professional.
Gamma linoleic acid (GLA) from borage oil improves cell sensitivity
to insulin, reducing our chance of developing diabetes,
heart disease, and excess body fat. Dosage information: Take one
1,000-milligram softgel with breakfast and one 1,000-milligram
softgel with dinner as a dietary supplement or as recommended
by your health care professional.
• ALA increases insulin sensitivity by increasing the body’s ability
to take glucose into the cells. Dosage information: Take one 50-
milligram capsule with breakfast or with lunch and one 50-
milligram capsule in the evening with dinner as a dietary
supplement or as recommended by your health care professional.
Co-Q10 enhances the metabolism, giving us greater energy and
endurance and a greater ability to lose body fat, while preventing
the energy decline seen in aging cells. Co-Q10 also works
synergistically with other antioxidants to elevate cellular levels
of vitamins C and E and glutathione and to help regulate blood
sugar and enhance insulin sensitivity. Co-Q10 also maximizes the
burning of foods for fuel, helping to normalize fats in our blood.
Each of these supplements offers many other benefits as well,
and I highly recommend them for their anti-aging as well as their
weight-control properties.
Dosage information: Take one to three 10-milligram softgels daily
with or after a meal as a dietary supplement or as recommended
by your health care professional.
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a fatty acid that is found in many of
the foods we eat. However, with the dietary change from grass to
grain, levels of CLA dramatically decreased in meat and dairy products.
When taken in effective doses, CLA decreases body fat, especially
in the abdominal area.
CLA actually concentrates in the cell membrane, stabilizing it
and thus preventing the breakdown of arachidonic acid into a
pro-inflammatory prostaglandin. It helps the insulin receptors
remain intact, thus increasing insulin sensitivity, which will then
decrease blood sugar and circulating insulin levels
• Remarkably, studies show that CLA also helps block the absorption
of fat and sugar into fat cells (adipocytes). It even induces a
reduction in the actual size of the fat cells. (One reason people
gain weight as they age is that their fat cells literally become fatter.)
• Although one article published in the Journal of Nutrition reported
that CLA supplementation for 1 year does not prevent weight or
body fat regain, another relatively recent and large-scale study
published in the same journal showed that taking 3.4 grams of
CLA a day for 2 years led to a small but significant decrease in
body fat in overweight people. Interestingly, CLA appears to have
no effect on the body fat of people who are not overweight. It
appears to have the most effect on women with a body mass
index of 25 to 30 kilograms per square meter.
Many studies show that in addition to having antioxidant, antiinflammatory,
and insulin-sensitizing actions, CLA helps prevent muscle
loss and weakness associated with aging and disease. This is one
of the reasons CLA has long been a favorite supplement of athletes
and body builders. What could be more exciting or encouraging than
a supplement that shrinks body fat while increasing and preserving
lean muscle mass?
Comments on this entry are closed.