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Losing weight is a struggle.
It's not just a matter of figuring out what foods you can eat, but it's a major life change.
If you're at the point where you want to go on a diet and lose weight, chances are you've come to the realization that some of your dietary habits are no longer serving you. And dietary habits are just as hard to change as any other habit.
This is because many of your habits around food are driven through your body's physical cravings for certain foods.
Your food cravings are driven by your metabolism, and optimizing your metabolism is the determining factor in how successful you are at burning fat.
Metabolism and Hunger
Your metabolism is programmed by your genes and the food you eat.
Evolution has given our bodies the ability to burn both fat and glucose. The secret is that it much more prefers to burn fat than glucose, but because most of the calories in the standard American diet come from carbohydrates, most people's metabolism isn't efficient at burning fat and this leads to fat gains.
The key to fat loss is to flip your body into fat-burning mode.. easier said than done.
The best way to do this is to control your cravings, especially for carbohydrates. You can do this by shifting your macros around to eat more protein and fat, but ultimately you're going to need something to help keep your mind from thinking about all of those delicious carbs and junky foods that you've programmed it to crave.
This is where Nootropics come in.
What are Nootropics?
Nootropics are nutritional supplements that work to enhance cognitive function. Many people use nootropics to increase mental faculties like focus and concentration.
They are great for improving your memory and learning capabilities along with dealing with mental health issues like depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. There is a ton of research that shows how nootropics are even great for treating neurological disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Many of these supplements are designed specifically for cognitive enhancement like Piracetam, and Oxiracetam.
However, there are many everyday supplements that you can find in your local health food store that can be used as nootropics. These include things like Green Tea extract, B-Vitamins, ashwagandha, among others.
Mind and Body Connection
It's important to remember that the body and mind are inextricably connected. The things happening in your body are directly affecting what is happening in your mind. There are hormones, enzymes, peptides, proteins, and fatty acids that are metabolized in your body that can also end up in your brain.
You have nerves that connect parts of your body directly to your brain.
For example, the vagus nerve runs from your gut straight into your brain. This is why your gut is such a powerful force in a lot of decision making like when you get “gut feelings” or you “follow your gut” in a decision. The gut really is the second brain.
Luckily there are many nootropic supplements that can help strengthen this gut/brain bond and help you control hunger. Here are some favorites.
Green Tea Extract
Green tea extract is a powerful nootropic that is used for a myriad of reasons including helping depression and memory but can also be a potent fat-burner.
Green-tea extract includes a powerful complex of metabolism-enhancing compounds including caffeine, catechins, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) that will speed up your cell's ability to burn through glucose faster and start burning the stored fat that you ultimately want it to.
Also, by experiencing less depression you may be less-swayed into emotional eating and sugar cravings.
Raspberry Ketones
Raspberry ketones are quickly gaining popularity in the keto community as an essential nutrient to increase fat-burning capabilities.
Studies on Raspberry ketones have been primarily done in mice but the results seem promising. Multiple studies have shown its ability to prevent visceral fat and increase the burning of existing visceral fat while helping to prevent type 2 diabetes.
The ketones can also be used as fuel for the brain and can downregulate feelings of hunger.
Green Coffee Beans
In recent years Green Coffee beans have come into favor as a possible fat-loss enhancing nootropic. Prized for their high caffeine content many people believe that these coffee beans can also be used to enhance metabolism. They're health benefits been featured on several high-profile tv shows and discussed all throughout the media.
The truth is that while there have been a handful of short-term studies showing promising results, there is no conclusive evidence that green coffee beans will help with fat loss or any other purported health benefit.
Slendesta
Slendesta is a standardized potato extract containing 5% proteinase inhibitor II that catalyzes the release of cholecystokinin (CCK). CCK is a peptide released in the duodenum and has many different effects. One of which is promoting feelings of satiety.
There is evidence of slendesta aiding in fat and weight loss but it's very individual. There is a lot that goes into why and when CCK and can affect everyone differently. However, if you do get a high CCK response than Slendesta can be a powerful tool for you to control hunger.
IdealShape Meal Replacement Shakes
Lately, our favorite way to incorporate the above nootropics is with IdealShape.
IdealShape offers a variety of meal replacements shakes, drink mixes, and bars to help you lose weight. They want you to be healthy and help you lose weight at the same time.
IdealShape makes weight loss easier by blocking hunger and cravings that often hamper you reaching your goals. They do this with the help of slendesta and some of the other nootropics we've mentioned above.
While other weight loss products try to use just fiber to fill you up, IdealShape uses fiber plus proteins and slendesta to do the job. They are the only meal replacement shake that uses slendesta on the market and let me tell you they taste great too!
I've tried several different flavors of IdealShake and they are all amazing. I've tried other shakes in the past, and to be honest, most of the time they aren't palatable. It takes a lot of doctoring up to make those other shakes taste good but IdealShake is great from the start.
Literally, just even the drink mixes in their powder form smell delicious! The chocolate reminds me of brownie mix. Yum!
As for the taste, they are fairly sweet and make an excellent base for smoothies especially the vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. While I think the mocha and salted caramel mix well with coffee.
The great thing about IdealShake is that you can mix them with whatever liquid you prefer, just make sure to drink 8 oz of water afterward to get the full three-hour hunger blocking effect.
You can even mix IdealShake into yummy treats if you want!
Low calories, no sugar, and a fabulous taste that blocks hunger. You can beat IdealShape—try it today!
Krystle Cook – the creator of Home Jobs by MOM – put her psychology degree on a shelf and dived into a pile of diapers and dishes instead. She is a wife and mother to two rambunctious boys, sweating it out in her Texas hometown. She loves cooking, DIY home projects, and family fun activities.
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