Stacking Creates Peace of Mind
In this series, I’m going to share some recipes for supplements. When you combine simple ingredients together like an apothecary, you’re “stacking supplements together.” There are many advantages to taking the time to do this.
As I’ve said repeatedly: Food should be your first and best source of nutrition. First concentrate on maximizing your progress with The 8 Patterns of Fitness. If you find you still need to fill gaps or get an extra boost, that’s when it’s time to look at pills, powders, and potions.
There are many pitfalls to avoid when buying supplements. You often don’t know, or cannot control, what you’re taking, since most products come pre-mixed “for your convenience.” Stacking gives you control, because you purchase only those ingredients you want from sources that you trust. You then decide on the serving size, and combine only what is useful and safe.
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In parts one and two of the series, I described the importance of knowing what’s in the food and products that you put in your mouth or on your skin. I also offered options for creating your own recipe for muscle building and energy. This entry will break down the ingredients to make a fat burning stack. I will also describe the functions of each ingredient. The recipe included in this article will address various means of increasing your metabolism to burn calories before they are stored as fat, as well as accessing or using stored body fat and preventing it from being stored in the first place. Please remember to consult with a doctor before taking these supplements. This stack is part of a healthful diet and regular exercise program.
Note: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you.
Note: Please do not use fish or krill oils. They are destructive to the environment. Use a plant-based source of omega 3.
Releasing Stored Body Fat
This part of the stack encourages the fat cells beneath your skin to empty their contents, thus becoming smaller and taking up less space. The two most scientifically studied substances for this are caffeine and yohimbe. Please remember that there is already caffeine in the muscle building stack. Do not add more caffeine if you are doing both muscle building and fat burning stacks simultaneously. Use smaller doses of yohimbe in this stack as you gauge your tolerance. This is even more important if you include caffeine elsewhere in your day. Also, avoid yohimbe if you have liver, kidney or heart diseases. Do not use it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Avoid caffeine and yohimbe if you have anxiety or other psychological disorders.
Note: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you. Use either caffeine or yohimbe, not both.
Purhase Caffeine Tablets on Amazon
Purchase Yohimbe Capsules on Amazon
Boosting Metabolism
Once you purge from your fat cells, you need to burn it or else you could store it again. Boosting your metabolism will force your body to use the accessible energy it has at the ready. The two ingredients to choose between are green tea extract and capsaicin. Green tea extract creates a metabolic burn that causes you to burn more calories each day, whether you exercise or not. Capsaicin is the chemical that makes peppers taste hot. As with green tea extract, capsaicin increases metabolism. Be cognizant of whether or not boosting your metabolism negatively impacts your heart.
Note: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you. Use green tea extract or capsaicin, not both.
Purchase Green Tea Extract Capsules on Amazon
Purchase Capsaicin Capsules on Amazon
Transporting Free-floating Fat
Freeing fat from storage allows you to use more of it; however, even with an increased metabolism, you may not burn it all. To burn it, fat has to be transported into the mitochondria of your cells. They then use it for energy. L-Carnitine is an important transporter of fat into the nuclei of cells.
Blocking Fat
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) inhibits the fat cells under your skin from storing excess fat in the first place. Another benefit of CLA is that it not only inhibits the storage of fat, it also contributes to burning more fat. It is part of the group of good fats called omega-6 fatty acids.
Of course, there are other health benefits of consuming foods with caffeine, green tea, carnitine, CLA and omega fatty acids that go beyond the intention of this fat burning stack; however, one of the benefits of stacking is getting the concentrated fat burning affects without consuming the extra calories in the foods that contain them.
Remember: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you. Use either caffeine or yohimbe, not both. Use green tea extract or capsaicin, not both.
Recent Updates
Glycemic Index vs Glycemic Load
This score indicates how damaging a food will be to your blood sugar levels. Foods that score 0-55 are rated low impact (and thus presumed to be better for diabetics and those looking to maintain healthy weight and/or body fat ratios), but this is not the whole picture.
Caffeine: 14 better options to ease SAD
Nearly a year ago to the dot, I wrote an article about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but there I focused on the importance of getting access to a full range spectrum of light. Here I’d like to focus on caffeine and sleep’s effect on SAD. I’ll also offer suggestions for what to do to help you feel better on the dark days.
Avoid fish oil supplements
I don’t generally promote supplements. Most of them play to specific, isolated points of medical research to serve as a magic pill. One remarkable example of this is fish oil.
