John Lark

It is the classic scenario that eludes so many people. They hit the gym hard yet they find it hard to shift the love handles.

Days drag into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and still the dreaded tyre just wont shift. The rest of the body may (or may not be) taking shape nicely. So what is going on and more importantly how can we fix it?

Your love handle levels are a direct correlation to your glucose or sugar tolerance. His work over the past 27 years has found direct correlation between the levels of fat on your back and side and your insulin management.

In simple terms when we eat sugar, take for instance a piece of cake, our body responds by releasing insulin to shuttle that sugar to the muscle cells for use. That is when we are insulin sensitive.

However, our consumption of grain, pastas, starches and simple sugars grossly outweigh our ability to tolerate the level of sugar in our diet. Do we need to consume the amount of sugar we consume on a day-to-day basis to ‘keep our energy levels up’? – NO!

We have become insulin resistant whereby the sugar is shuttled to the fat cells instead.

Genetically we have evolved 0.01%  in 40,000 years. Our consumption of grain is alien in the grand scheme of things in our evolutionary diet. We are fighting against our genetic code instead of working worth it.

To stick to what you should be eating try this simple lifestyle adjustment:

“If it does not run around in a field, swim, fly or is not green, do not eat it”.

Since our genetic code has not changed since Caveman times it seems logical to eat like one. That certainly did not mean popping to the tree and picking a biscuit off it or leaving the cave to pop on the fire 10 breaded chicken goujons.

We ate wild meats, green vegetables and rarely (maybe once a year according to expert Loren Cordain) we would stumble across a bee-hive and gorge ourselves on the honey.

The easy way to locate this type of food will be found on the fringes of your supermarket and at your local butcher’s.

Upping your intake of protein including the more nutrient dense plant based proteins  at each meal will aid in managing your insulin levels better with small more frequent feedings of protein and healthy fats such as Fish Oil, Avocado, Macademia, Walnut Oil.

It is a far cry from the ‘low fat’ offerings that are found in the aisles these days. Please – do not be fooled.

“But they are all high in fat” cry the ‘low fat gurus’

“Really?” I reply

The calorie is a calorie is far too simplistic in this case. Certain low-fat staples such as Skimmed Milk are low in fat. However, they are insulinogenic meaning they will still spike the insulin to store the sugar in fat cells.

In addition they are acid forming foods forcing our body to buffer this acidity by removing it from our blood and vital organs and straight to our fat tissues – out of harm’s way.

The classic breakfast cereals with skimmed milk are out and best found in the bottom of a garbage bin.

Increasing your fibre intake will also aid in blunting the dreaded insulin response alongside improving your colon health by protecting the mucosa.  A grain-free fibre rich in Cranberry Seed Extract, Hydrobind Carrot Fibre and Probiotics will suffice with an optimum amount of 30g per day over divided amounts.

And finally – get off the fat to get the fat off. You have to move and move with intensity. Put away the spandex and get lifting weights with the aim of building muscle.

Ladies you will NOT look like a bodybuilder. In fact the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn through the day as 1lb of muscle burns 50 kcal. It also aids with insulin management.

So simple steps equals long term progress. A skilled exercise physiologist should be able to tell you why you are holding your body fat around your love handles and more importantly tell you how you can reduce them.

John Lark is a Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. Download your ‘5 Top Tips for Fat Loss’ at www.spherefitnessstudio.com. He can be reached at 01-5052131.