This is a long page but essential reading!

The Key to the Lifestyle Diet

Introduction

This page will give you a brief overview of Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat and how our body responds to food types to produce energy and the effects on our weight.

The Lifestyle Diet focuses on Fat Loss and not Weight Loss.  Low calorie diets tend to focus on weight loss which could have a negative effect on the muscle mass in the body and the body's metabolism, thereby hindering weight loss due to the body's inability to adequately burn fat.  This may explain why some people on a low calorie diet either stop losing weight after a certain period of time and in some cases actually gain weight.

When a low calorie diet is incorrectly balanced a typical weight loss could look like this:

The Lifestyle Diet focuses on FAT LOSS only.

Jargon Buster

Understanding Carbohydrates

When we eat carbohydrate it immediately converts to glucose raising blood sugar in the body.  The pancreas releases a hormone called insulin which converts the glucose to a starch (glycogen), small amounts of which are stored in the liver and muscle to be used as a later source of energy. Any  surplus glucose is converted and stored as fat in the adipose tissue. (Fat stores!) using the process called ‘fatty acid synthesis'.

Eating fast release carbohydrates, our body receives a rapid surge in glucose and a rapid release of insulin to deal with the excess glucose.  Unless we are about to do an intense workout the body cannot use this much energy so the surplus is again stored as fat.  The high levels of insulin continue to convert glucose, even though we are not using the energy, and our blood sugar level drops, so we feel hungry again within 1 or 2 hours.  The cycle continues and we continue to increase the fat stores in our body.

High insulin also impairs receptors in our brain, which release the neuro-transmitter serotonin and normally give us the feeling of satisfaction.   In short we never feel satisfied.

Eating slow release carbohydrates, our body receives a slower release of glucose and consequently a slow rise in blood sugar (energy), this slow release rate of glycogen triggers a slower release of insulin.  This energy is used as it is released and therefore no surplus is stored as fat in the tissues.

Not only that.....

Insulin has a detrimental effect on an enzyme called lipase; this is released by our pancreas and enables the liver to produce ‘ketone bodies' releasing fat from adipose tissue to be used as an alternative energy through a process called lipolysis.  Lipase in the stomach breaks down the fats we eat to produce energy but fats do not trigger an insulin response and therefore do not create fat storage.  However, as we know there are good fats and bad fats.  Saturated fats do have a negative health effect.   Excess digested fats are also stored by the adipose tissue as later source of energy.

Lipase is inhibited by high levels of insulin.  In other words our ability to burn fat reserves from the adipose tissue is dramatically reduced.  This is happening at a time when we are storing maximum amounts of fat through fatty acid synthesis.

The natural process for the body is to turn to fat reserves for energy when no glucose is available from carbohydrate.  However, with the inhibition of lipase, this is not possible, so the body looks for a fast source of energy or carbohydrate and so we feel hungry yet again.  We turn to fast energy foods and the whole negative process starts again.

Protein is the final link in the puzzle.  If we do not eat sufficient protein our body will use protein from muscle and muscle shrinks.  When muscle shrinks, metabolism reduces.  When metabolism reduces we burn less energy.  The sugar in our blood stream is used as energy by our muscles and organs.  The more lean muscle we have the higher our metabolism and the more energy they use.  When we use more energy, less glucose is left behind to be converted to fat and stored in the fat stores.

Proteins are the body's building blocks for healthy organs and lean muscle.  Proteins without saturated fat are better for us as the lipase can then focus on the release of body fat (lipolysis).  If we focus on a low calorie diet we are in danger of excluding valuable proteins just because they have a high calorific value.  Our daily diet should consist of minimum 15% protein.

The introduction of fast convenience process foods since the 1950's has led to an unprecedented level of obesity.  It is a 20^th Century condition.  The Lifestyle Diet is the first step to reverse this condition.  We are offering you access to a solution on a plate.

The secret of the Lifestyle Diet is the ability to force the body to do something it should do naturally.

The additional support received as a member of the Lifestyle Diet community has been described by existing members as exceptional.  "Worth every penny"

"The no-nonsense honest response was just what I needed to motivate me"  Sarah - Kingsbridge, Devon.

"The Forum is a terrific place to get first hand feedback from the people who are actually using the diet.  The tips from other members are really useful" - Julie - Exmouth, Devon

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