Illness Is Optional Health Blog

As this fat builds up it damages the delicate machinery of the cell, ultimately leading to complications and disease. While reading various studies on how this fat gets into places that it shouldn’t, I came across a study that was investigating the impact of high fat versus high carbohydrate intake on the burning of fat. While reading the study I was fascinated and horrified by the method used to block the burning of fat in the healthy subjects who took part in the study. How did they do it? How did they block the healthy participants’ bodies from burning fat?

They gave them a popular blood pressure medication.

That’s right, they gave them a medication called a “beta blocker” that is very commonly prescribed to overweight, obese and diabetic patients with high blood pressure. This class of medication is, more accurately, called a beta adrenergic blocker. This means that the medication blocks certain receptors which bind to adrenaline, a hormone produced by the body which causes the heart to race, the blood vessels to constrict and thus blood pressure to increase. By blocking the beta adrenergic receptors of the body, the heart does not beat as strongly or as fast and the blood vessels relax thus lowering blood pressure. Unfortunately, the beta adrenergic receptors on fat cells get blocked as well and thus a decrease in fat loss occurs as well as an increased propensity to store fat.

Does anyone see a problem with this?

As I mentioned previously, the people who are most prone to high blood pressure are people who already have too much fat in their bodies. These include diabetics, people with pre-diabetes, as well as the overweight and obese. We give these people a medication which further inhibits fat use thus stoking the fire of their metabolic difficulties. Perhaps this is why many studies on these medications have resulted in an increased risk of disease and premature death. That’s right, not only have studies not proven these medications to prolong life, many have even shown them to shorten life.

It never ceases to amaze me how the medical establishment can turn a blind eye to the side effects of their treatments. The use of beta blockers to inhibit fat loss is apparently a standard practice in research studies and yet medicine just brushes it aside and convinces themselves that this class of medication is safe to use in overweight and obese people who are already afflicted with fat-clogged cells.

We need to open our eyes and accept the fact that medications are not nearly as effective as they are made out to be. We need to convince ourselves that the right approach is to take the reins of health into our own hands and although it is not as easy as popping a pill in the morning it is far better than the delusion that there is a medication for every disease…that, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing more than a mirage created by the drug industry.

For those of you who have high blood pressure and may have been prescribed a beta blocker such as propranolol, metoprolol or any other generic medication ending in “olol” I am not recommending that you stop your medication. In fact, to do so may cause a rebound elevation in blood pressure that could put you in the hospital or worse. I am simply saying, perhaps there is a better way to control blood pressure. In our experience, people can start living the right lifestyle can find that the need for the medication decreases or goes away as they get healthier. At this time you can work with your doctor to start weaning yourself from the medication. If you would like to learn more about natural methods for controlling blood pressure, check out our article onHigh Blood Pressure. If you are looking for help developing a healthy lifestyle, learn about First Line Therapy that we offer at our wellness center.



Little did they know that one of these rare mice would radically change the way that we view that glob of fat that hangs out around your midsection, butt or thighs.

In 1902, a French researcher named L. Cuenot began to research a special yellow mouse that was popular among mouse enthusiasts. This mouse, known for its peculiar propensity to gain fat, began a domino effect in the science world that ultimately led to one of the most important discoveries in the study of fat!

As researchers continued to study naturally fat mice, they happened upon a mutant strain of mouse that seemed to suffer many of the same complications attributed to obesity in humans. This mouse, referred to as the “ob” mouse suffered with:

1. High insulin levels
2. High stress hormones
3. Low sex hormones (estrogen & testosterone)
4. Low body temperature
5. Low thyroid
6. Lots of body fat
7. High levels of infertility

The investigation of this strain of mouse led researchers to believe that there was some compound that was lacking in these mice that caused them to gain fat. That labeled this compound a “satiety factor”. Then in the 1970s, a researcher performed some of the most interesting and bizarre research that I have ever heard about. He surgically joined a “normal” mouse to one of his ob mice. The mice were attached in such a way to mimic Siamese twins where the two mice share a blood circulation. When he did this, the normal mouse stayed normal and the fat mouse got skinny. This proved that there was some sort of chemical that the fat, ob mouse was lacking. When the mice were sharing the blood circulation, the “satiety chemical” from the normal mouse entered the ob mouse and thus he became “normal”. That chemical came to be known as “leptin” which is now believed to be the greatest discovery in the bariatric sciences. Scientists were excited because they felt that they could purify this compound and inject it into overweight people to literally “cure” their obesity! They succeeded in purifying it and proceeded to clinical studies.

You can imagine their dismay when they discovered that leptin injections had no effect on overweight subjects. When further study was performed on overweight subjects they discovered that they were not deficient in leptin but instead had far more leptin in their blood than their skinny counterparts.

This just didn’t make sense. If leptin eradicates hunger and stimulates metabolism, why would it not cause weight loss? The only feasible explanination was that the body had somehow lost its ability to register the leptin that was floating through the circulation. This same phenomenon occurs when too much insulin is floating through the system which leads to insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes.

What is leptin and why is it important?

Your body, which is really a community of trillions of smaller individual living cells, must be perfectly orchestrated in order to maintain life. This orchestration is coordinated by certain compounds called “hormones”. Hormones allow the trillions of cells within the body to communicate with each other. Leptin is one such hormone, in fact, leptin appears to be the mother of all hormones. This means that if leptin gets out of balance then other hormones such as insulin, cortisol, thyroid, testosterone and estrogen also follow.

Leptin’s main jobs are to regulate eating, metabolism and reproduction.

If the brain is the President of your body then leptin is her chief of staff. When resistance to leptin occurs, it appears to prevent leptin from getting signals to the brain. The brain then gets a constant signal that the body is starving for food and nutrients. This results in a number of physical manifestations to PERCEIVED starvation:

1. Decreased metabolism – To slow your demise due to starvation
2. Insulin resistance – To enhance fat storage when food is once again available.
3. Thyroid deficiency – Slows metabolism to prevent starvation.
4. Infertility – Reproduction requires lots of energy. If the body feels that you are starving then it does not deem you suitable for reproduction. After all, if you can’t feed yourself how will you feed a little one?
5. Hunger and cravings – This motivates you to find food.

So where does leptin come from?

Scientists use to think that fat cells were nothing more than a depository for fat. The discovery of leptin forever changed fat from an annoying blob of goo to an endocrine organ on par with such big players as the thyroid, testicles, adrenal gland, ovaries and pituitary gland. Now fat is known to produce many hormones that play important roles with everything from fat storage to reproduction. In fact, fat may become known as the most important endocrine organ to ever be discovered!

Leptin, is the fuel gauge of the body. It continuously reports to the brain to tell the brain how much fat we have stored up and thus how likely we are to starve to death should famine rear its ugly head. The more fat we have the higher the leptin levels go and the more leptin signals reach the brain. In an ideal world, as fat builds up the brain gets the signal to stop sending hunger signals and start metabolizing fat.

Having fat stored up protects the body from starvation and thus improves its chances of survival during famine. The body, however, does not want to be “fat” or “obese”. Remember, our body is an outdated model. It is built for Paleolithic days where food was scarce and danger seeming lurked behind very bush. It wants some fat to prevent starvation, however, it doesn’t want you to be the slowest creature in the herd because that would make you more likely to get caught and eaten by a lion. Leptin, therefore, must continuously balance fat stores with being lean and agile. Leptin resistance would never have occurred in Paleolithic days because food was just too scarce.

Now, you can see how important the regulation of leptin is in your fat loss efforts as well as the quest for youth and vitality. Once you understand leptin and what causes leptin resistance to occur you will be better suited to achieve the body and health that you desire!

How do I balance letpin?

1. Cut carbohydrate intake – Carbohydrates cause an increase in insulin levels which can ultimately cause insulin resistance. Anytime insulin resistance occurs, so too does leptin resistance.
2. When you eat carbohydrates choose carb sources that have a very low glycemic load- Low glycemic-load foods decrease the amount of insulin produced.
3. Exercise daily – There is no faster way to improve leptin sensitivity than to start exercising regularly.
4. Try not to eat 3 hours before bedtime – Leptin levels should be highest in the evening and lowest in the morning; thus you should be hungry in the morning and not in the evening. If you are hungry in the evening; this suggests leptin resistance.
5. Sleep at least 7-9 hours a night – Sleep deprivation causes lower leptin and higher ghrelin–the perfect storm for overwhelming hunger.

In this study, 107 overweight subjects were given either green tea or a placebo containing an identical amount of caffeine only. The group who was given the green tea enjoyed more weight loss, abdominal fat loss and better triglyceride levels. This study confirms numerous other studies that have shown similar results.
(J Nutr, 2009; 139(2): 264-70)

Dr. Ray’s Notes:
Green tea and other supplements used to assist with fat loss can be helpful, however, it is important to note that these supplements are best used as a means of enhancing other fat loss efforts. If you expect to take a green tea supplement and lose weight without working hard on diet and the gym, think again. The BEST fat loss supplements can enhance fat loss by 1-2 pounds a month. This study used a green tea extract that was standardized to contain 625 mg of catechins and 39 mg of caffeine.

According to Melinda Manore, one of the lead researchers, their research determined that a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise was needed each week just to maintain current weight. This amounts to just 20 minutes of moderate activity each day if you exercise 7 days a week. Their findings also determine that a lifestyle of diet and exercise amounting to 250 minutes per week would be necessary to achieve appreciable weight loss. This recommendation amounts to 35 minutes per day if you exercise 7 days a week or 50 minutes per day if you workout 5 days a week.

Dr. Ray’s Notes:
I am glad that researchers are revamping their erroneous “20 minutes 3 day per week” recommendation to a level that is much more likely to provide benefit. With that said, I still think that researchers are being too wimpy with their recommendations. The researchers comment that we once believed that a 10% reduction in weight was necessary to decrease risk of disease and now we believe that just a 3-5% decrease is necessary to achieve decreases in disease risk. It is almost as if the researchers have given up in trying to decrease weight by 10% and thus exchanging this goal for a more moderate and “achievable” and less effective goal. We have to stop acting as though the population is made up of inept human beings, why not aim for the stars? I have always told people who want to lose weight, “It is time for you to become a FITNESS EXPERT! 20 minutes of exercise three days a week is not going to do it! Learn EVERYTHING you can about fitness, immerse yourself in the fitness lifestyle. If people are not coming to you for advice about fitness, you are doing something wrong!” Look…weight loss, or more accurately fat loss, requires tons of effort and self discipline! But before even that, it requires a belief that you can succeed, how can we expect our patients to succeed if we start them off with an expectation of failure. When we evaluate the records of the National Weightloss Registry, we find that people who successfully lose weight, and more importantly keep it off, include at least 60 minutes of exercise into their lives every day. If you are sitting here, reading this and saying “60 minutes?!?!? Impossible!” Well…you are not getting a free ride from me! You CAN do it and if you are serious about getting healthy then you WILL do it!

Your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is a measure of the number of calories that you burn while at rest. This number accounts for approximately 65% of the overall calories that you burn daily and is typically used to determine how many calories you should eat in a day. The RMR testing is a invaluable tool for people who are looking to lose weight, check out the video at the link below: