Can you trick your Body to burn Fat?

AMPK (Activated Protein Kinase) and PGC-1alpha (Proliferator-Activated receptor y co-activator 1 alpha)….sorry for those complicated terms, but both compounds stimulate the mitochondria to make them more efficient fat burner. They both also instruct the mitochondria to divide, a process known as mitochondrial biogenesis

AMPK’s Function

AMPK acts like a fuel gauge, monitoring the energy status in your cells. If the cells are filled with fat and sugar – as in obesity and diabetes – AMPK will diminish, and the mitochondria (your energy factories) , will not e able to burn fat or sugar. When AMPK is increase, mitochondria in your liver and muscles function better, and overall insulin sensitivity improves.

How can AMPK Benefit Your Health?

The biggest impact AMPK has on your body is fat loss.  So triggering AMPK enables you to burn fat and lose weight more effectively, which in turn helps lower your risk of getting serious diseases and hence improve your overall health.

How To Naturally Stimulate AMPK

Sounds almost boring, but it is diet and exercise.

Stimulating AMPK With Diet

One of the most effective ways to stimulate AMPK for fat loss is to follow a low carb diet that focuses primary on high quality sources of protein and natural fats.  Majority of your carbohydrates should come from vegetables, salads and some fruits.  Avoid refined carbs and processed foods to keep your overall carbohydrate consumption low.  The low carbohydrate diet, helps reprogram your body and switch it’s main source of energy from glycogen (stored glucose/sugar) to fat.  This shift in energy source is what triggers AMPK.

Another very effective way to trigger AMPK is by fasting.  When you withhold food for a period of time, your body responds by regulating the master metabolic switch, which directly impacts your weight loss efforts.  When sugar is not available in the body (because you aren’t eating food), then your body will switches to using fat for energy instead of glucose.

The mechanism that triggers AMPK in both fasting and low carb diet is the same.  The key is the absence (or very low levels) of glucose in the body which triggers the metabolic mechanism to stimulate the AMPK.

Some food items which additionally help stimulating AMPK production

  • Grapefruit: contains a constituent called “nootkatone,” which has natural AMPK activating capabilities, especially within the rind (add some rind into your smoothie)
  • Garlic
  • Curcumin (Tumeric)
  • Peppers
  • Alpha-lipoic-acid/ALA (800mg-1800mg/day for 4 months: discuss dosage with your physician)
  • Berberine
  • Butyric acid
  • Capsaicin (chilly peppers)
  • Chromium
  • Green tea polyphenols (EGCG)
  • Genistein (soy: only GMO-free soy!)
  • Ginseng
  • Quercetin
  • Resveratrol

We suggest to consulting your health care professional  to find the best sources of these nutrients so that you can add them to your nutrition program.

Stimulating AMPK With Exercise

Just like low carb diet, there are certain kind of exercises that effectively stimulate AMPK as well.  The best type of exercise you can do is high intensity interval training (HIIT).  Focus on intensity NOT duration. In your youdowell or db.coach motion database you find loads of those short and intense workouts (20 min). You do not need any gear or a gym membership, but can use your own body weight and you can do it anywhere.

Conclusion

There is no such thing like the magic pill to stimulate fat burning, but there some bio-hacking tricks to support it. But the basic is – no surprise – healthy diet and smart exercising. There might be some additional tweeking with adding ALA, berberine, resveratrol, gingseng, garlic, curcumin etc.

This information does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, treatment or services to you or to any other individual. We solely provide suggestions for you and your doctor to research and provide general information for educational purposes only. The information provided  is not a substitute for medical or professional care, and you should not use the information in place of a visit, call consultation or the advice of your physician or other healthcare provider. Youdowell AG is not liable or responsible for any advice, course of treatment, diagnosis or any other information, services or product you obtain through this site.

References:

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25723157
  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27456392
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  • Yu W, Zhou HF, Lin RB, Fu YC, Wang W. Short term calorie restriction activates SIRT1 4 and 7 in cardiomyocytes in vivo and in vitro. Mol Med Rep. 2014 Apr;9(4):1218-24.
  • Winder WW, Hardie DG. AMP-activated protein kinase, a metabolic master switch: possible roles in type 2 diabetes. Am J Physiol. 1999 Jul;277(1 Pt 1):E1-10
  • Friedrichsen M, Mortensen B, Pehmøller C, Birk JB, Wojtaszewski JF. Exercise-induced AMPK activity in skeletal muscle: role in glucose uptake and insulin sensitivity. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2013 Feb
  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2853213/