Age-Related Obesity: Causes and Solutions

Obesity is a complex disease involving an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity isn’t just a cosmetic concern. It is a medical problem that increases your risk of other diseases and health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers.

That’s a great beginning.

Then things start getting a little out of whack when explaining the so-called causes of obesity.

(Highlighted text inserted by me.)

There are many reasons why some people have difficulty avoiding obesity (so far so good). Usually, obesity results from a combination of inherited factors (possibly…see below), combined with the environment (absolutely!) and personal diet (least likely) and exercise (not a chance) choices.

Then they really head down a rabbit hole…

The good news is that even modest weight loss can improve or prevent the health problems associated with obesity (yup!). Dietary changes (maybe…see below), increased physical activity (nope) and behavior changes (oh yeah!) can help you lose weight. Prescription medications and weight-loss procedures are additional options for treating obesity (the worst options – ever!).

NOTE ABOUT “INHERITED FACTORS” Yes, heritable factors can lead to obesity, if they are epigenetic factors as opposed to genes. This is another way of saying that environment influences obesity. The earliest influences from epigenetic “inherited factors” come from the mother. They are created long before pregnancy and persist all the way through gestation.

Modern medicine, however, does mean “genes” – even though the theoretical underpinning of this view has become obsolete. Unfortunately, medical research still adheres to such backward thinking. I’ll have a lot to say about this in my Boomer Health Reports, since it represents a monstrous failing in medicine for every disease that has been blamed on genes.

NOTE ABOUT DIET AND EXERCISE “Dieting” here refers to eating less. This has never worked for treating obesity, at least for long-term, healthy results.

It never will.

For the obese, exercise causes more damage than it’s worth. It also doesn’t work for long-term, healthy results.

Obesity is diagnosed when your body mass index (BMI) is 30 or higher.

BMI is actually pretty useless. Instead, keep things simple. Just look at yourself in the mirror. That tells you everything you need to know, without some fancy-schmancy calculation to tell you whether you are fat.

The Mayo page then continues by repeatedly referring to the (mostly incorrect) main causes cited in the overview. Nothing new there.

Obesity can occur at any age, even in young children. But as you age, hormonal changes and a less active lifestyle increase your risk of obesity (definitely, on both counts). In addition, the amount of muscle in your body tends to decrease with age (true). Generally, lower muscle mass leads to a decrease in metabolism (not a real problem). These changes also reduce calorie needs, and can make it harder to keep off excess weight (not so at all…calories have nothing to do with obesity). If you don’t consciously control what you eat (nope) and become more physically active as you age (yes, if done right), you’ll likely gain weight.

Yes, hormonal changes are at the root of obesity. Unfortunately, what Mayo means is steroid hormones. The two biggies are our sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone. However, Mayo ignores the roles of other steroids – our bodies make more than 150 of them in all. All steroid hormone balance depends on how we metabolize the key precursor that leads to other steroids, pregnenolone.

And here is a surprise for you: the precursor for pregnenolone is cholesterol. This just means that, if you are taking statins or other cholesterol-lowering drugs, you are guaranteed to have rampant hormone imbalances. Those drugs are evil in many ways, and this is just one of them.

LEPTIN: THE REAL HORMONE OF INTEREST

This is the protein hormone that directs communication between fat cells and your brain. For those in the know, it’s referred to as the master hormone.

Leptin has been known to science since 1994. Its role in fat metabolism was established by 1998. One of the latest reviews about it states (2):

“One of the most important and widely studied players in the control of energy balance is the hormone leptin.”

And, “…defects in leptin production underlie the massive obesity observed in ob/ob mice.”

How far behind is modern medicine on this one? How about this: the Mayo clinic page on obesity fails to even mention leptin. Not once. Neither does their page on weight loss.

Hmm…let’s see…that puts mainstream medicine behind by at least 20 years. (It’s actually worse than that, if you have followed the 1970s-era government advice to follow a low-fat diet.)

Leptin resistance is like insulin resistance. Once it develops, no amount of leptin will make the hormone signaling pathway work. This is why Big Pharma’s (i.e., Amgen’s) development of leptin as a treatment for obesity failed. The notion of just taking more leptin is was doomed to fail from the get-go.

This is why you absolutely must reverse leptin resistance if you are ever going to lose fat, slim down, and be healthy.

The question is, how do you do that?

GREAT NEWS! Everything falls into place when you become leptin sensitive again.

Directions for exactly how you do that are already known. I’d be surprised, however, if your doctor or anyone who works in a weight loss clinic is even remotely aware of what you must do to recover leptin sensitivity. Even the most well-known programs – e.g., Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Richard Simmons – have nothing to say about leptin.

By the way, leptin sensitivity is crucial in many more ways than curing obesity. After all, it’s the master hormone. Addressing obesity, though, is a good place to start.

Does that sound like any weight loss advice you ever heard of? Probably not. Just keep in mind that you are resetting your fat-to-brain hormone signaling pathway – i.e., for leptin. Everything else falls into place once you accomplish that.

Step-by-step instructions for resetting your leptin signaling are the focus of the first issue of my Boomer Health Reports.

That report shows you how easy it is to overcome obesity – when you follow the protocol closely.

What Can You Expect?

The most common change that you will observe early is a shrinking of your waistline. An overall drop in weight soon follows. (At first this is just water weight, so don’t get too excited about it right away. Dropping excess weight will continue past this point, ultimately reducing your body fat composition.)

You’ll also most likely notice a reduction in your hunger and cravings within the first 4-6 weeks.

Sweating pattern will change. When you’re leptin resistant, profuse sweating at any time is common. When you’re leptin sensitive, sweating is more normal – i.e., you sweat when you’re supposed to sweat.

Expect better recovery from exercise once you reintroduce it into your fitness program, too. Your hunger and cravings will continue to disappear. You’ll awaken every morning refreshed and ready to tackle the new day.

Gee…who wouldn’t want that?

That’s It for Now

This post is a quick overview of age-related obesity and what to do about it.

One thing I want to mention before signing off is perhaps one of the scariest things I’ve ever heard about obesity. The brain inflammation behind it has led to a new name for Alzheimer’s Disease that has been floating around lately.

It’s now called Type 3 diabetes. Specifically, this means diabetes on your brain.

Obesity and Alzheimer’s creep up as you age. They’re linked by the development of brain inflammation in response to insulin (and leptin) resistance. What this means is that getting control of your leptin signaling pathway provides benefits for your brain health. Indeed, there is no better alternative.

All in all, this is a big win, wouldn’t you say?

By the way, the story of Alzheimer’s Disease according to mainstream medicine is every bit as flawed as the story of obesity cited above. Just as with obesity, current medical views of Alzheimer’s Disease are a prescription for epic failure. I bet you’re not surprised about that comment, are you?

Separating myths from truths about this insidious disease can be a challenge. That’s why I dedicate more than one of my upcoming Boomer Health Reports explaining what is really behind it and what you must do to reduce your risk of developing it.

Take a look at the page link there and see what you can do to get my reports sent right to your In Box.

References Cited

All the best in natural health,

DISCLAIMER

Statements on this page have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information here is not is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.