Healthy Alternatives to Banned Fat Burners

Not so long ago, the FDA banned one of the bestselling and best known over the counter fat burners, Hydroxycut. Whether the ban was justified or not, the FDA seems to be out to get fat burners off the market. Fortunately, there are simple, natural, FDA-approved, healthy alternatives to Hydroxycut and similar products.

The way Hydroxycut works was often explained in obscure technical terms, but it is really not all that complicated. Hydroxycut, like the ephedra products it replaced almost ten years ago, is thermogenic. It stimulates the body to generate heat. Raising body temperature requires burning calories, and the more calories you burn, the more weight you lose.

Ephedra and Hydroxycut both increased body heat production by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. They worked on any part of the body that can be stimulated by adrenaline, but especially the skeletal muscles. The more the user worked out, of course, the greater the muscle mass and the even greater fat loss.

Hydroxycut and exercise seemed like the winning combination for weight loss. For hundreds of thousands of people, it was. Unfortunately, for 23 people, it was also a combination that caused liver failure, and in May 2009, the FDA took Hydroxycut off the market.

Fortunately, there are several other natural remedies that also rev up the rate at which the body burns fat. Omega-3 fatty acids work on Peroxisomal Proliferator Activated Receptors, or PPARs. These components of every cell burn fats the same way the mitochondria in every cell burn sugar. Omega-3 fatty acids accelerate the rate at which they utilize fats to make energy, especially in muscle cells. Omega-3's of plant origin work as well as omega-3's from fish oil.

A seldom-publicized complication of using Hydroxycut was that it stimulated breakdown of fat if the Hydroxycut was taken before a meal, but it stimulated storage of fat if it was taken after a meal. Almost every dieter has the same kind of problem with insulin and fat storage.

Insulin moves sugar out of the bloodstream and into cells that need it, but it is far more efficient at moving fat out of the bloodstream and into cells that don't. A non-diabetic's pancreas produces a large amount of insulin after a high-carb or high-sugar meal. This extra insulin clears sugar out of the bloodstream fast, but it also clears fats. Dieters who cannot take a fat burner should at least avoid eating a lot of fat with a lot of carbohydrate. Protein, on the other hand, is useful at every meal.

Another way to lose weight is to eat more of those fruits and veggies. The benefit of plant foods in a weight loss diet, however, is not limited to their low calories. Plant foods are generally high in potassium.

Every cell in the human body is constantly exchanging sodium and potassium with the bloodstream to keep its "battery" charged. Every cell has to maintain a specific electrical charge across its membrane so it can electrostatically grab the nutrients it needed out of the bloodstream. When dieters consume too much sodium and not enough potassium, the charging process becomes "sloppy" so that cells take in fat and glucose with ease, but struggle to get their amino acids. Eating fruits and vegetables at every meal actually helps the body use protein.

Some dieters find losing weight and maintaining without fat burners to be a difficult task. Fortunately, these three natural changes, omega-3 fatty acids, not mixing fat and carbs in large quantities, and eating more plant foods, can help you maintain your gains without putting on fat while you are looking for your Hydroxycut replacement.