Goji: The Asian Weight Loss Secret
In an Asian anti-obesity research, patients were given goji each morning and each afternoon. Results were exceptional with most patients losing significant weight.
Researchers at UCLA and elsewhere have demonstrated conclusively the interconnection between stress and high cortisol levels. If you can reduce stress, you will minimize or eliminate the harmful effects of cortisol.
In an animal study, it was shown that goji’s master molecule polysaccharides improved the conversion of food into energy, and reduced body weight.
Reducing stress may be difficult but for more than a thousand years, traditional Asian medicine has been successfully addressing the problem by the use of adaptogens. The term refers to certain herbs that help the body to adapt to stress. No adaptogenic herb is more renowned than the goji berry for reducing mental and emotional stress.
Beat Stress with Goji
In valleys of Tibet and Mongolia there is a special berry that the locals use and cherish so much that they honor it in special celebrations that last two weeks each year. The Tibetan variety of Lycium now known as ‘Goji’ is considered to be the Mother of all Lyciums! It grows in very remote unpolluted hills and valleys of Tibet and Mongolia, in soil so rich in nutrients that the berries are exploding with this special nurturing vitality.
Goji is the name that refers only to this Tibetan variety of Lycium berry that is indigenous to the Tibetan and Mongolian regions. Local harvesters are cautious to distinguish the Goji berry from its distantly related offspring, the Chinese Wolfberry (Lycium barbarum), pointing out that whilst the later evolved over centuries from the Tibetan Lycium berry variety, its nutrient makeup differs considerably, as do the regions and conditions within which these two different berries are growing.
Goji provides the energy reserves to help one handle just about any difficulty. In Asia, it is said that constant consumption of goji brings a cheerful attitude, and nothing beats good cheer for overcoming stress! It has been suggested that goji’s unique stress-lowering ability can help to normalize cortisol levels. If you can end the cortisol cascade, you’ll soon be on your way to a lower Body Mass Index and a healthier weight. You’ll also notice an impressive array of benefits for whole body good health, including:
-Increased fat burning
-Less fat storage
-Reduction of food cravings
-More energy
-Less fatigue after eating
-Increased fat burning
-Normal secretion of HGH, the body’s growth hormone
-Lower cholesterol and blood lipids
-Improved insulin utilization and blood sugar management
-Reduction of inflammation
-Improved immune function
-Better sleep
Almost two-thirds of Americans aged 20 years and older are overweight. More than 3 of every 10 American adults are significantly overweight – a condition termed obesity. Both overweight and obesity are associated with increased health risk for a host of chronic diseases.
The problem is not purely American. In 1995, a survey by the World Health Organization anticipated the global number of obese adults to be 200 million. A mere five years later, the number had jumped incredibly to 300 million. Justifiably alarmed, the organization has given a name to this seemingly unstoppable worldwide epidemic – globesity.
The excess weight does not necessarily come from fat. If you’re a bodybuilder, professional athlete, or just someone with “big bones,” you may be overweight but not obese.
Being obese refers particularly to those individuals whose excess body weight is a result of a high percentage of body fat. Although experts had long debated the threshold points separating normal weight, overweight, and obesity, there is now near-unanimous agreement thanks to the development of a statistical tool known as the Body Mass Index or BMI.
Fat Distribution – Comparing Apples to Pears
Healthcare providers are anxious not only with how much fat a person has, but also where the fat is located on the body. If you carry fat mainly around your waist (apple-type obesity), you are more likely to result to obesity-related health difficulty than if you carry fat mainly around the hips or buttocks (pear-type obesity).
Causes of Obesity
In scientific terms, obesity arises when you consume more calories than you burn. What causes this imbalance between calories in and calories out may differ from one person to another. Genetic, environmental, psychological, and other factors may all play a part.
Obesity tends to run in families, suggesting a genetic cause. Yet families also share diet and lifestyle habits that may contribute to obesity. Separating these from genetic factors is often difficult. And science shows that heredity is linked to obesity.
Lifestyle behaviors such as what you eat and your level of physical activity are affecting factors. Many people eat in answer to negative emotions such as boredom, sadness, or anger. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases estimates that 10 percent of mildly obese people suffer from binge eating disorder. This disorder is even more common in people who are severely obese.
Probably the most important cause of obesity is something that we all face – the everyday stress of modern life. When under chronic stress, your adrenal glands overproduce the hormone cortisol. Although cortisol is essential in normal amounts, an excess of this stress hormone can create a cascade of detrimental side effects, many of which can cause weight gain – no matter how vigilantly you diet or exercise!
Cortisol causes:
- Instigation of fat-storage and enzymes
- Alteration of protein in the body into unwanted sugar
-Halt in secretion of fat-burning human growth hormone (hGH)
- Stocking of harmful ‘apple-type’ abdominal fat
-increase in appetite and cravings for sweet and fatty foods
-progressive insulin resistance, which leads to type II diabetes, hypertension,
-cardiovascular disease, and the other health risks associated with obesity.
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