Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Everything You Need to Know About Carb and Fat Blockers

Episode Date: May 8, 2018

The Holy Grail of Fat Burning. A supplement that you can take once a day and will prevent you from getting fat despite allowing you to eat anything you want. That magic bullet to shoot away all your problems and, hopefully, not kill you at the same time. It doesn’t exist right now unfortunately, but that hasn’t stopped researchers from trying to discover it. And even if the researchers haven’t discovered it, it definitely doesn’t stop marketers from trying to sell it to you. There are many ideas that have popped up when it comes to how such an amazing theoretical fat burner could work and one of them, the topic of this episode, has quite a simple premise . . .   What if you just didn’t absorb the calories you ate? In one end and out the other? Carb and fat blockers are a sub-genre of fat burners dedicated to preventing calorie uptake and have been studied, well, not extensively, but they do have evidence behind them. Only one problem, they don’t always block calories alone. They sometimes block nutrients as well. Are they worth your consideration? Do the benefits of absorbing fewer calories outweigh the hazards of absorbing fewer nutrients? Are some better than others? Listen to this episode to find out. Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

This episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my 100% natural joint supplement Fortify. Now, Fortify helps keep your joints healthy, functional, and pain-free by reducing joint inflammation and preventing cartilage loss. And its ingredients are scientifically proven to alleviate joint pain, inflammation, and swelling and to help keep your cartilage healthy, strong, and intact.

All of this is why Fortify has over 200 reviews on Amazon with a four and a half star average, which I might add is fairly impressive for a joint supplement. And another 90 plus reviews on my website also with a four and a half star average. So if you want healthy, functional, and pain-free joints that can withstand the demands of your active lifestyle, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Fortify today. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout, and you will save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or

you get your money back, period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.legionathletics.com now, place your order and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot. All righty, that is enough shameless plugging for now at least. Let's get to the show. Hey, Mike Matthews here from Muscle Life and Legion Athletics. And in this video podcast, we're going to talk carb and fat blockers, which are a sub

genre of fat burner supplements that purport to block calorie uptake and block the uptake of carbs and fats in particular, meaning that theoretically you can eat a bunch of food, take some pills, and just it goes in one end and right out the other. Now, if your first assumption when you heard about carb and fat blocker supplements is that they must be complete bullshit. I understand that was my first assumption as well. But once you look into it, you learn that there actually is some evidence that shows that these supplements do something. However, that doesn't mean that you should take them. And ultimately, it doesn't mean that they are going to help you get the body you want faster because they are simply not nearly as effective as the pill and powder pushers would have you believe.

So how do these supplements work? Well, they're actually mimicking something that you can find in nature. There are plenty of carbon fat blockers in nature. You can find them in plants, which have a lot of vital nutrients that they want to hold on to. And so as a part of a defense system, so to speak, they have developed chemicals that make it more difficult for us and other animals to eat them, digest them, break them down and get the nutrients that we need. Now, these carb and fat blocking molecules can work in one of two different ways. They can directly inhibit the absorption by binding to the carbs and fats themselves,

which changes them chemically enough, changes them on a molecular level so that they cannot be absorbed through our intestines and by indirect inhibition, which is the interference with an enzyme that is needed to break the macronutrient down. So by preventing the enzyme from doing its job, you block your body's ability to digest and absorb the food. Now, as far as dietary supplements go, most all of them work by indirect inhibition. So they interfere with enzymes needed to digest and absorb carbs and fats because direct inhibition can also interfere with our body's ability to absorb vitamins and minerals, which would be very bad, of course. So when you start looking at these supplements,

you notice that most of them take a kind of kitchen sink approach and they have small amounts of many different types of ingredients. However, there are three ingredients in particular that are very common and they are white kidney bean extract, salacia reticulata, and psyllium husk. So let's talk about them. White kidney bean extract. This is simply a plant. It has been on the market for some time, sold under the brand name Phase 2. It's probably the first valid carbohydrate inhibitor to hit the market for some time, sold under the brand name Phase 2. It's probably the first valid carbohydrate inhibitor to hit the market for weight loss purposes. And it works by impairing an enzyme that is needed to digest starches. And studies do show that it has resulted in weight

loss when paired with high and very high carb diets. However, we should note that those studies were funded by a supplement company that produced white kidney bean extract supplements, which doesn't necessarily mean that the research is invalid, but definitely should be noted. It is a red flag. We do not have independent evidence that white kidney bean extract can indeed result in or speed up weight loss. It's also worth noting that many of the subjects in these studies often reported gastrointestinal side effects like flatulence, diarrhea, cramping, and bloating. So white kidney bean extract may indeed be able to help you reduce fat gain from starchy foods. However, the evidence that we have is tainted by a conflict of interest. And even if it does work for you, you may end up shitting yourself.

Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth so if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well please do tell them about it it really helps me and if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at MuscleForLifeFitness, Twitter at MuscleForLife, and Facebook at MuscleForLifeFitness. Okay, moving along to salacia reticulata, which is a fancy sounding herbal compound that interferes with a number of enzymes that help us digest carbohydrates. For example,

sugar digesting enzymes like maltase, isomaltase, and sucrase are inhibited by a couple of molecules found in this plant. And research shows that they work quite well, actually, about as well as a pharmaceutical reference drug. And that's why a number of studies have shown that salacia reticulata can reduce glucose absorption in rats, as well as glucose absorption and insulin secretion in people with type 2 diabetes and otherwise healthy adults. Okay, next is psyllium husk, which is a supplement that looks a bit like instant oatmeal. And it is a balance of soluble and insoluble fiber and soluble fiber dissolves in water and it tends to soften your stool whereas insoluble fiber binds to fatty acids and helps your stool move along through your intestines at a normal pace now psyllium is pretty

neat because it's healthy it is the go-to fiber supplement for most people who are not getting a fiber in their diets. And research does show that it can slightly reduce carbohydrate absorption, but not fat absorption. of butyrate in your poop, which is good for your gut. Butyrate is a form of butyric acid that is kind of like a superfood for the good bacteria in your gut. It is good for your microbiome, which can positively impact your overall health and even your performance, both mental and physical, in a number of different ways. So how well do these supplements work and particularly for fat loss, which is the number one reason why people buy and take these supplements. And while technically these supplements can work, they can help with fat loss as evidenced by Orlistat, for example, which is a pharmaceutical fat blocker, most people agree, most people who

are informed agree that these types of supplements and drugs are just a horrible option for several reasons. So the first reason is these supplements cannot cause fat loss. They are not increasing your metabolism. They are not increasing fat burning or affecting fat burning in any way. They are simply preventing fat gain. They are reducing the amount of fat that your body stores from the food that you eat. So in other words, they're really no more effective than simply putting the fork down and walking away or never going into the pantry in the first place. Another reason why I just don't really recommend these supplements is I think they reinforce bad eating habits and prevent people from learning positive eating habits that are going to serve them well for the rest of their lives. So for example, many people struggle with controlling their food intake. They struggle with not overeating and especially not overeating certain types of foods, usually junk foods.

overeating certain types of foods, usually junk foods. And so when you have a carb or fat blocker, enter the picture. Many people hope that they can continue with their poor dietary habits and just make up for them by taking pills. And the third reason why I do not like these supplements and these drugs is the side effects pretty much go hand in hand with the potency. It is basically impossible to get a powerfully effective carb or fat blocker and avoid major side effects. And so let's talk about those side effects. Let's talk about them in the context of safety because while everything that I've discussed so far is safe, so long as it's not abused, there are side effects. So for example, when you have a fat blocker, of course what that means is that you have fatty acids that are not

going to be absorbed and they're going to move through you in that intact state. And as they are oily substances, they're going to lubricate the food that is going to be moving through your intestines and eventually end up as poop. And what this means then is if you are not also eating enough soluble and insoluble fiber, the food that you eat is going to move through you a lot faster than usual. And this not only can get in the way of nutrient absorption, so you're not giving your body enough time to absorb the nutrients in the food because it's just moving through you quickly, it also can result in some rather embarrassing accidents. In other words, you can shit yourself. And if you want to read about this, then just Google orlistat accidents and enjoy. Now, the most common side effects associated with carb blockers are the gastrointestinal

distresses that I mentioned earlier, the gassiness, the bloating, the cramping, and so on. And the reason for this is when carbohydrates pass from the small intestine to the large intestine without being fully digested and broken down, bacteria in the large intestine eat them up with the byproduct being gas. So at the end of the day, carb and fat blockers are probably always going to be around because they are so easy to market. They are the ultimate magic bullet. Eat all the food you want, especially all the carby fatty food that you want. Take these pills and you will lose weight. That of course is not true, but there are many people out there that don't know that or aren't fully convinced of that. And they figure what the hell for 30 or 40 bucks,

I might as well give it a go. And then when they see it doesn't work, they just chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on a little bit more informed. Now I could see these supplements having maybe limited use during high calorie periods. So let's say over the holidays, if you're going to be eating a few really big dinners, for example, and you want to try to mitigate the damage, I could see including these types of supplements. However, I still would say they're probably not going to do very much of anything anyway. So you might as well just enjoy yourself and know that you really can't gain that much fat from one meal or even from one day. Even if you eat a lot of calories in a day, there's only so much fat that

your body can create in a 24-hour period. It's probably somewhere around a pound to a pound and a half. Two pounds would be impressive, but I'd say for most people, it really takes a lot of eating to gain even a half a pound of fat in a day. And for people who are trying to lose fat, I would say skip these supplements altogether because again, they're really not going to make that much of a difference. The side effects are going to be very annoying and they're going to reinforce bad habits. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. bad habits. iTunes, or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss

out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mikeatmuscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out.

All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my 100% natural joint supplement Fortify. Now Fortify helps keep your joints healthy, functional, and pain-free by reducing

joint inflammation and preventing cartilage loss. And its ingredients are scientifically proven to alleviate joint pain, inflammation, and swelling, and to help keep your cartilage healthy, strong, and intact. All of this is why Fortify has over 200 reviews on Amazon with a four and a half star average, which I might add is fairly impressive for a joint supplement. And another 90 plus reviews on my website, also with a four and a half star average. So if you want healthy, functional, and pain-free joints that can withstand the demands of your active lifestyle, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Fortify today.

And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout and you will save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back, period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.legionathletics.com now,

place your order and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot.