Help Your Patients Win the Battle of the Bulge with CLA
NUTRITION
Doug Grant
Weight management is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. It often feels like health professionals have lost the battle when it comes to helping patients get their waistline under control. Gym memberships aren’t fixing the problem. The food industry perpetuates the problem even while acting like they’re trying to help, and the increasing ease of leading a sedentary life effortlessly negates all the medical help we have to offer.
Giving up isn’t the answer, so what are we to do?
Find the answer in ample research on one ingredient: conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
Now, there’s often conflicting findings but the explanation for CLAs is simple. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Obesity is the most-talked-about problem in the world today, according to the CDC. It leads to over 60 diseases. People have a hard time fixing this problem, but there are things you can do as a health professional or patient to make weight loss easier.
The CDC reports that 1 out of every 3 Americans are obese—not just a few pounds overweight, but obese. Chances are two-thirds of your patients are obese. That means a huge hit to quality of life and health and even a shorter lifespan. As
"The CDC reports that 1 out of every 3 Americans are obese—not just a few pounds overweight, but obese."
chiropractors, it’s something you shouldn’t overlook, which is easy to do. Talking about patients’ weight can be awkward. You’re often afraid of hurting their feelings. The truth is, your life’s work is going to have a greater impact if you address that elephant in the room and tell patients the hard truth about why they have back pain.
So, once you’ve addressed the root of the problem, how do you put your patients on a weight loss path they’ll stick to?
It comes down to addressing patients’ mental states and where they’re at in their journey to reduce body fat. We at Optimal Health Systems have become intimately familiar with this aspect over the past 25 years. We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, and how to help clients individually. Some are ready for a one-eighty change. Others need a gradual, gentle approach that helps motivate them to keep going.
Even with over two decades in health and fitness, we’ve steered clear of jumping on hyped-up fat loss pills and products.
Still, we’ve kept an eye on the research in case something irrefutably effective cropped up. Such a nutrient happens to be CLA.
This nutrient has conflicting results because some companies jumped on it before research fully revealed why it works. It breaks down to two things: how much CLA to take each day, and how long you need to take it before the full effect kicks in. It’s crucial to take 4g of CLA per day for at least 12 weeks to reap the fat loss benefits this nutrient has to offer.
Not only does CLA help reduce body fat, it also helps sustain lean muscle mass and suppresses food cravings. Safflower oil is the richest, purest source of CLA. It has been clinically proven to boost energy, be rich in antioxidants, help eliminate toxins that have built up over the years, and help regulate metabolism.
The word “conjugated” has to do with the arrangement of the double bonds in the fatty acid molecule. CLA’s bond makes it a trans-fat, BUT it is the type found in many health foods. Not all trans-fats are bad. The ones naturally found in whole foods are extremely beneficial to the human body. There are two different types of CLA, and both of them together create the best results when it comes to reducing body fat.
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled human study published in the Journal of International Medical Research, 20 participants were given either CLA or vegetable oil and were instructed to take the pills for 12 weeks. At the end of the study,
the test group lost 20% body fat while the placebo group lost nothing. Please note: they took 3.4 grams ofCLAfor 12 weeks.
Another double-blind, placebo-controlled human study conducted by Swedish researchers showed that those who took CLA lost 400% more fat than the placebo group over— again—12 weeks. This was done while both groups were on the same nutrition and training regimen.
At an obesity conference, another study substantiated these findings. In the study, 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.
Another study at the University of Barcelona in Spain measured the effects of CLA intake in 60 healthy men and women. Subjects who took CLA lost a significant amount of body fat, 78% of it coming off the belly region, while the placebo group actually GAINED fat mass.
Can you get enough CLA in your diet alone? Yes, BUT, to reach those 3 to 4 grams, you’d have to consume:
• 24 pounds of beef OR
• 50 pounds of cheddar cheese OR
• 10½ sticks of butter OR
• 14 ½ gallons of milk OR
• 160 8-oz containers of yogurt
Those numbers are just your daily amounts. Far horn ideal, your grocery bill—and your waistline—would probably stretch to the North Pole as you took in more calories than would be worth the effort. So ... an outrageous grocery bill or a safe, proven pill?
Now, not all CLA pills are created the same, as conflicting results have shown. You want to make sur e the source comes from sunflower and safflower oil, and properly produced from linoleic acid. The key part is the conversion process fr om linoleic acid to conjugated linoleic acid. It must be done gently with the right pH balance and enzymatic process. If not done right, CLA becomes ineffective. Not all CLA are created equal. Different versions have been proven to be more effective than others with reducing body fat, and the mixed group has produced the best results.
As effective as CLA is, not everyone is ready for it. Not only have consumers produced mixed results, so has the research. But again, the explanation is simple: look at the psychology.
Participants who showed no or negative results saw the pill as an excuse to eat more and move less. CLA isn’t meant to be an excuse to perpetuate the obesity problem. It’s meant to be an enabler and motivator. The more positive lifestyle changes a person makes while on CLA, the better the results.
One other question you might have is if you can take CLA for more than 12 weeks. The answer is yes. Studies show a consistent fat loss for the first six months before slowing down. When that slowdown happens, it’s ideal to cycle off it for two
weeks so your body can reset to regain the full benefits. There are no side effects associated with CLA.
We’d like to offer one more piece of guidance we can offer you when it comes to getting patients on the right track with diet and exercise. This is an effective, multifaceted approach, because each patient is in a different place mentally.
Start your patient off with CLA, carefully explaining that the more effort they put in while on this pill, the more they’ll get out of it. Have your patients commit to giving up fried foods and soda at the same time.
If they sound ready for some movement, have them start exercising 20 to 30 minutes a day. Something as simple as taking a walk will help.
And if you’re patient is ready to fully commit, connect them with a personal trainer and nutritionist. Personalized programs guided by an expert who’s there to motivate and encourage them every step of the way is an excellent way to set people up for health success.
⅝ H Douglas Grant is a degreed nutritionist, formulator and K founder of Optimal Health Systems. For over 20 years PL ⅜⅛⅝ 3 he has taught thousands of doctors how to apply high potency nutrition to achieve optimal health. He is a patNA I ent holder on multiple nutrient formulas, including the purest and most potent form of CLA. He has also been the nutritionist and trainer to NBA Teams and now to thousands of patients through his online training system. You can call about discounts on the CLA andpatient trainingprograms at 1-800-890-4547.
