With a new year and an opportunity for a fresh start, it’s high time to tackle your health goals. If one of them is weight loss, be it so you can fit in clothes you miss wearing, want drop the extra pounds for the sake of your weight, or you miss hiking, shooting hoops, or another activity, I’d like to suggest a fresh twist to it: Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA).
Nope, this is NOT just another weight loss pill. I’m not interested in getting your hopes up; I’m here to help you reach optimal health. CLA has hundreds of clinical studies backing its efficacy. For example, at an obesity conference, 180 overweight men and women with a BMI greater than 25% were supplemented with 3.4 grams of CLA per day over a full year. The participants recorded a 9% decrease in fat mass and a 2% increase in lean mass. Want more facts and figures? See the bottom of this post for links to several studies.
Getting rid of those unwanted pounds is possible, even for you. So many people fail at it because it takes longer than most are willing to wait to see results. It took time to accumulate those unwanted pounds so, naturally, it’s going to take time to get rid of them. However, I don’t want that time to discourage you. I want you to know that every day you commit to losing weight is a victory, and that daily commitment builds momentum whether or not you see it in the mirror or on the scale. CLA has been shown to speed things up, thus encouraging people to stick with it in five ways.
1. Increases Fat Metabolism
Many things factor in how well your metabolism functions. When it comes to dropping unwanted pounds, you want to make sure you’re not just getting rid of water weight or losing muscle mass; you want to hit the fat burn zone.
In studies, CLA has been shown to increase energy expenditure by increasing basal metabolic rate, promoting increased heat and energy production and by increasing the amount of fat that you burn at rest (also known as lipid oxidation).
2. Can Help Your Body Prevent the Creation of New Fat Cells
To put it simply, foods can be placed in one of two categories: foods that encourage your body to burn energy, and foods that encourage your body to store energy. I’ll always encourage you to make healthy dietary choices no matter what challenges and holidays life throws at you. The more good choices you make, the more favorably your body responds.
CLA’s role in this is interesting. Studies show it tends to help you burn fat indirectly by preventing your body from storing it in the first place. This means that cheat days and cheat meals don’t spell the end of reaching your weight loss goals.
3. Promotes Healthy Metabolic Function & Has Anti-Diabetic Properties
Many of you may be aware that insulin resistance is a major problem and cause of weight gain among many people in the United States. Insulin resistance stems from inflammation, metabolic derangement and the over consumption of sugary or carbohydrate heavy foods. Insulin is considered a “fat storage” hormone which promotes the storage of calories and energy as fat and adipose tissue in your body.
Daily CLA use has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity (make insulin more effective) and daily use for 12 weeks has shown to increase proinsulin, c-peptide and adiponectin concentrations. It’s not a replacement for diabetic medication but it can make losing weight easier by allowing your body to let go of unwanted pounds.
4. Reduces Inflammation
Inflammation is at the heart of many serious diseases ranging from cancer to weight gain. It may sound strange because it’s gone under the radar for so long, but recent years and recent studies show that inflammation is a growing problem.
CLA has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties that may help to explain its anti-cancer and anti-cholesterol effects. CLA has also been shown to help reduce enteric (or intestinal) inflammation as well as systemic (whole body) inflammation. To reap these anti-inflammatory benefits, make sure the CLA is sourced from plants.
5. Suppresses Appetite
Daily CLA use has been shown to help reduce appetite and promote satiety or feelings of fullness. While helping reduce your appetite may help some people lose weight, it’s also important that you don’t go overboard with appetite suppression. Long term appetite suppression can actually lead to metabolic damage and weight gain overtime.
CLA can be used to help prevent an intake of EXCESSIVE calories, but it should not be used to promote caloric restriction (less than 1,200 calories per day). Not eating enough makes you prone to gaining weight very easily, along with putting your body in a state of panic and causing you to gain more than you lost as soon as you stop under-eating. You shouldn’t ever go hungry, even when trying to lose weight.
Dosing
Optimal LipoLean CLA™ is pure CLA in a potency needed based on all the research. In order for it to be effective, you need to take 4 grams per day for 12 weeks. Your body acclimates to it for the first four weeks, preparing your cells to package up excess fat and remove it from your body. The next 8 weeks your body steadily removes up to 4% body fat.
You get a full three-month supply so you don’t have to worry about refilling before the full 12 weeks are up. You can continue to take CLA for up to six months before you’ll want to cycle off it for a soft reset on your system.There are no known negative side effects at this time when taken as directed.
Please note: portions of this post were directly quoted from Dr. Westin Childs, D.O. You can read up on his take on CLA HERE.
Please also note: With exception of the product photo, we do not own rights to any other images used in this post.