For this list only, please do not forward. Here is to your most successful year in 2006! Print and dedicate a quiet 8 minutes to internalizing this article. Successful Fat Loss in 2006 By Shane Ellison, M.Sc. Courtesy of www.healthmyths.net Copyright © 2005 The majority of New Year's resolutions are made to lose fat. Half of these resolutions fail. To achieve fat loss success in 2006, you must be keen to the latest in obesity research. This success will be rewarded with a lifetime of vibrant health, I promise. All future resolutions can revolve around wealth instead of health. After all, what good is one without the other? Most of us are all too familiar with failed fat loss. America is 4 billion pounds overweight. Over the course of a lifetime, 9 out of 10 men and 7 out of 10 women will be overweight. Accompanying the excess fat is a collection of medical serial killers known as hypertension, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and diabetes. America's failure to lose fat is not the result of poor efforts, just poor methods. Most fat loss methods only address the symptoms of obesity rather than the cause. These might include trying to regulate appetite via fad diets (caloric restriction) or increase thyroid activity via prescription drugs. Failed or temporary fat loss is inevitable when only the symptoms are addressed. Looking beyond obesity symptoms, science shows that the major cause of obesity is excess insulin production. Having excess insulin is the metabolic nightmare your parents innately feared when they said, "Don't eat too much sugar." Unfortunately, most people didn't listen – not even your parents. Here is your second chance. Overeating, being sedentary and wanton sugar consumption causes a rise in blood glucose (blood sugar). In response, the pancreas releases excess insulin. Insulin acts as a biological escort service. It carries glucose and other nutrients into the fat and muscle cells to be used as fuel. Over time, muscle cells build tolerance to the insulin overload. This is similar to college students who overload on alcohol and "build tolerance." Tolerance to insulin is known medically as insulin resistance. When it occurs, glucose and vital nutrients remain in the bloodstream. Fasting blood sugar may rise to 115 and higher (normal is 70 to 100 mg/dL). Those who suffer from insulin resistance may feel it as moodiness, low energy, out-of-control appetite, elevated blood pressure and fat gain. Aging accelerates. The glucose and insulin overload becomes poisonous. The greatest health catastrophe ever recorded, victims of insulin resistance erase 10 years of their lives. Excess insulin cogs the metabolic wheel – obesity results. Excess insulin causes the kidneys to retain salt – hypertension results. Excess glucose catalyzes the production of artery-damaging and brain-clogging compounds known as advanced glycated end (AGE) products – heart disease and Alzheimer's disease result. Excess glucose stimulates cancer growth like gas on a fire – tumors result. Excess insulin can cause the body to ignore it completely – blood sugar rises to 125 or higher and type II diabetes results. The impending health crisis caused by insulin resistance is alarming. Drug companies will try to leverage this fear with false promises. Guerilla drug marketing will be at an all time high. Unfortunately, the majority of drugs used by those who suffer from insulin resistance elicit drug-induced obesity. The most common of these drugs are those used to treat high blood pressure (beta blockers such as Atenolol), depression (SSRI's such as Zyprexa), and high blood sugar (sulfonylureas such as Amaryl and thiazolidinediones such as Avandia). This risk comes with no benefit. Not a single drug available today will reverse insulin resistance. The largest paradox ever recorded, the self-appointed custodians of health are unable ameliorate the greatest health catastrophe ever recorded! This won't prevent the drug industry from advertising otherwise. False advertising, fueled by a larger budget than allocated for drug research, is the thread holding this fossilized business model together. Fortunately, science has advanced. The mysteries surrounding the cause and cure of insulin resistance have been unraveled. A disorder of poor lifestyle and nutrition habits rather than a rogue virus or bacteria, reversing insulin resistance is simply a matter of embracing new or forgotten healthy habits. These habits are your 2006 New Year's resolution – at least if you want to successfully lose fat. First and foremost, moderate exercise must be embraced. Exercise and insulin resistance cannot co-exist. Exercise lowers blood glucose by demanding that muscles become more sensitive to insulin. Exercise also reduces mental stress – it turns the volume down on life. Mental stress can be a catalyst to insulin resistance. For a FREE exercise plan courtesy of HealthFX send a blank email to healthmyths@getresponse.com Next on the list of healthy habits is proper eating. This does not have to be complicated or frustrating. Simply let your tongue guide you – not your emotions. Live by the mantra "if it tastes sweet, spit it out." Repeat that sentence. Avoid irregular meal frequency. Irregular meal frequency can be a risk factor for developing insulin resistance. Normal eating patterns prevent dangerous spikes in insulin and glucose after a meal. Forge a healthy relationship with the sun. Lack of sunshine is another risk factor for developing insulin resistance. Proper sunshine controls appetite and normalizes insulin and blood glucose levels. , , This benefit of sunshine is attributed to its ability to elicit the biological production of vitamin D and a neuropeptide known as MSH. Therapeutic nutrition in the form of supplements plays an integral role in reversing insulin resistance. Proven to be of benefit are ProVantage, LifeFX and EF ThermoFX by HealthFX. Learn more at www.health-fx.net. Knowledge of how to reverse insulin resistance is the long-awaited panacea that Americans have been searching for. Physician David Katz, Director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale Medical School, suggests that learning how to regulate insulin could be the master control of all disease. This includes obesity, hypertension, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer and diabetes. As of 2005, Americans stand on the threshold of the most sweeping health revolution in history. For the first time since the rise of prescription drug tyranny, science has made it abundantly clear that health freedom can be procured via simple lifestyle habits – not drugs. Make your New Year's resolution last - take advantage of this great leap in science and control insulin. Your fat loss success story will be the envy of your peers. About the Author Shane Ellison is dedicated to stopping prescription drug hype in its tracks. To this end, he has made it his mission to introduce healthy lifestyle habits as well as safe and effective nutritional supplements to the public. With his keen ability to sift through scientific literature and weed out fact from fiction, Shane has empowered thousands to assert their health freedom by saying "no" to prescription drugs. Shane is an author and consultant specializing in therapeutic nutrition. Learn more about his books and FREE offers at www.healthmyths.net