These days, as many 90% of us over age 50 find that ordinary diets and exercise barely move the scale. And now NIH scientists have pinpointed a surprise cause. "It's called 'metabolic inflexibility,"" reveals Harvard-trained nutrition expert lan K. Smith, MD. What does that mean? A big part of it is that we've continuously given our systems so much food to burn as fuel, they've 'forgotten' how to burn stored fat. The condition makes it twice as hard to slim down, according to the NIH. Some good news: Dr. Ian not only has a fix, it's actually fun to do. "The results have been amazing," shares the Met Flex Diet author. "We're seeing better energy, better health and tremendous weight loss." Some of his devotees shed 2 or even 3 pounds a day!
To get a sense of what flexible metabolisms do, think back to childhood. Dr. Ian says we’re all born with the ability to run on blood sugar (made from carbs we eat) and fat (from food and fat cells). We shift seamlessly between fuel sources, and it keeps us effortlessly lean and energized.
But once we eat a modern diet long enough, high carb intake and frequent snacks can lead to a chronic excess of blood sugar. Our bodies must constantly burn sugar to keep it at safe levels, rarely burning fat. Eventually, they struggle to shift to fat burning at all. “That’s how inflexibility often begins,” says the doc.
Going on a keto diet makes matters worse. Turns out, cutting carbs lowers blood sugar and forces the body to burn fat, but then it gets used to burning only fat, another form of inflexibility. It’s why keto dieters find the tiniest high-carb cheat will pack on pounds. “For sustainable weight control, you want your body to switch easily between burning blood sugar and burning fat,” says Dr. Ian. And here’s where things get good…
This story is from the September 25, 2023 edition of Woman's World.
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This story is from the September 25, 2023 edition of Woman's World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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