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Should We Blame the Caveman for Our Love Handles?
By Michael Collins
.........................................................................................
 This
morning I was blasted awake by my alarm clock at 6am.
I showered, shaved and
had a small bowl of oatmeal with slivered almonds and an omelet of 6 egg
whites, 2 yolks and a handful of mushrooms.
For lunch I had a
delicious low-fat grilled chicken Caesar salad and some unsweetened
green tea.
For dinner I had a
mouthwatering piece of pecan-crusted salmon w/ brown rice, and broccoli
on the side.
Of course, I had a few
healthy snacks in between meals, such as a
green apple and a
protein muffin.
I’m very grateful for
my personal chef Wolfgang who prepares each of these meals for
me.
Our ancestors weren’t so lucky!
They didn’t have
personal chefs!
No, no, no, I’m
kidding. I don’t have a personal chef either. Maybe the Caveman DID have
protein muffins and pecan-crusted salmon though, I just don’t know.
Here’s the deal…
Generations ago, our
ancestors were hunters. They would go days, even weeks when times were
tough, with no food.
 So
what’s that got to do with my unsightly love handles?
The human body, over
time, learned to store more of the protein, carbs, and fat from ingested
food as body fat.
This body fat had an
important function - to serve as a continuous stream of energy for the
hunter when “on the hunt”.
Nowadays the only hunt
is for a parking space closer to the restaurant. Unfortunately,
our body still retains this prehistoric fat storage mode. Luckily
for us, this mode is only triggered when we have hit the “starvation”
point.
There are 2 forms
of “starvation” points – short-term and long-term.
The short-term
starvation point is the point when the body has used up the
immediate energy sources (carbs, protein and fat) from the previous
meal. All has been digested and used as fuel or stored throughout
the body in the form of glycogen or fat. The short-term starving
point is not true starvation, but a indication of low blood sugar.
The key factor
influencing the short-term starving point is the digestion time of the
previous meal. Depending on what was eaten during the meal, once
digestion has fully occurred, blood sugar drops. This could take as
little as 30 minutes if you are eating a lot of sugar and little else,
and it could take up to 5 or 6 hours if you’ve eaten a more balanced
meal of protein, fat and carbs.
You’re probably
familiar with the feeling of the short-term starving point - hunger
pangs (especially sugar cravings), crankiness, and light-headedness, all
signs of low blood sugar.
Long-term
starvation point
occurs when you consistently deprive the body of the proper amounts of
calories (FUEL) in order for it to sustain itself. This often
happens on calorie restricted diets. This is the worst of the
worst, because it will cause you to become fatter than before by
grinding your metabolism to a dead stop.
In either case,
hitting the short-term and long-term starvation point will have the same
deleterious effects on your body composition (love handles).
Here’s why…
In both short and
long-term starvation mode, metabolism slows down and calorie
partitioning shifts in favor of fat gain. As I said before, our
bodies still revert to fat storage mode when it senses calorie
deprivation.
Instead of the food
you eat being stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles, a higher
percentage will be stored in fat cells. The fat contained in the
meal will also likely be stored in the fat cells, as opposed to being
used as immediate fuel.
Your body only
cares about survival, not about looking good on the beach!!!
The key point here is
to make sure to eat a small meal or snack every 3-4 hours to avoid
entering “starvation mode”.
Having small meals
spaced evenly throughout the day will benefit you in a number of ways.
First, you will have more energy, mentally and physically- no highs and
lows throughout the day. More importantly for
fat loss, you will
keep the metabolism fire stoked continuously, which results in
more total calorie burn throughout the day.
Look, you may have inherited Caveman genetics, but that doesn’t mean you
have to apply Caveman logic to your feedings. Plan your meals
intelligently. It’s no longer a matter of life or death – just fat
or
definition.
If you're truly looking to lose weight fast,
I suggest you head over to read our page on
black book of secrets. It includes 61 fat loss tips, tricks and
techniques. It is a very good investment.
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