With New Year’s upon us- 2020, it’s hard to believe! Many people think of New Year’s Resolutions, and for most Americans, losing weight is at towards the top of that list.
If you are one of those people, first, let me suggest that you rephrase that resolution. Rather than having the focus on weight loss, to try and shift that thought to improving our health. When we think of “losing weight”, it generally has a negative connotation, and if we may not see results as quickly as we wish, it can turn into feelings of failure and low self esteem.
So this year, instead of the idea of weight loss, let’s focus on making changes (even small ones) that can lead us to growing healthier and stronger.
There are many places in our area that can help, the first of which we’d recommend are our friends at Revival Yoga Studio just across the street from our store. Just this past year they’ve also opened two more studios in our mall- a cycle studio and one for aerial and barre yoga. I know without a doubt that their owner, Megan, would agree with us about stopping the negative thoughts about losing weight, and instead to focus on doing something positive for yourself, making small changes to be more active that will lead to less stress and improved mood.
Next, instead of dieting, to shift the thinking to making a change to nourish our bodies with more whole foods, whole grains, and fresh, delicious fruits and vegetables instead of a bunch of processed junk. When we eat better, we feel better, and it doesn’t need to be about deprivation or counting calories.
There is no magic pill, but there are natural products that can help with that journey to better health.
One such product that I wanted to mention is a new supplement backed by impressive scientific research called AMPK Metobolic Activator by Life Extention. There is an enzyme in our bodies called AMPK that regulates energy in the cells of the body. When our bodies need energy, this enzyme moves excess fats and sugars into our cells to be converted into energy. This AMPK enzyme tells our bodies when to start burning fat stores for energy.
Our bodies are made to want to hold on to its fat stores because historically, humans have experienced times of plenty and times of famine, and those fat stores would help us to weather times when food was less abundant. Increasing the activity of the AMPK enzyme can make a big difference in overcoming our body’s tendencies to store excess fat.
We all have this enzyme at work in our bodies, but its activity declines as we age, leading to a slower metabolism that contributes to changes in our bodies, often showing as weight gain, particularly around the midsection.
Excess body fat is actually detrimental to our health since it causes oxidative stress that can harm our tissues and organs as well as inflammation throughout the body, both of which can actually cause a number of serious health problems.
This new product by Life Extention called AMPK Metabolic Activator has two compounds- one from citrus fruits and the other from a plant native to Southeast Asia. Those two ingredients together have been found to activate our body’s own AMPK enzyme, which tells our bodies to start using its fat stores for energy, especially abdominal fat stores.
In one study, people taking one of the ingredients found in one pill of this Metabolic Activator lost 11% of their abdominal fat. Another study on the second ingredient found positive changes in abdominal fat loss.
The amounts used in both studies are found in one pill of this new formula by Life Extension, which I really appreciate since in the past, many products for encouraging fat loss required several pills a day to be effective.
Even though I’ve been impressed by the research behind this new supplement, let me be clear- there is no magic pill, though supplements like this can be a help on the journey to better health. Don’t worry about what your scale says or counting calories- just working on being more active (whatever that means in your life) and trying to eat more whole foods is what really counts. You don’t need to deprive yourself, it’s just all about moderation, and if something like the product I mentioned above can help with a slowed metabolism, all the better.
All of us at Pass Health Foods wish you the very best for this new decade, and hope that it’s your healthiest, most vibrant year yet!