If you have tried to lose weight in the past and failed, you now understand why. When there are hormone imbalances, food restriction (or dieting) may have only a minimal effect. For optimal fat loss to occur, hormones must be restored to youthful levels. Otherwise, you are fighting an uphill battle.

If you are deficient in nutrients such as magnesium and chromium, the effects of hormone imbalances can be exacerbated. Eating foods at the wrong time of the day can negatively impact your attempt to shed fat. If your metabolic rate is not maintained, then weight loss can become virtually impossible.

What is critical to remember is that following only certain portions of the following program and neglecting others will not produce optimal results. For instance, you should lose some weight if you faithfully take enough soluble fiber before each meal.

You should also experience some fat reduction in response to taking 7-keto DHEA early in the day.

To see meaningful benefits, however, you need to follow every step outlined in this chapter. Remember: Your body is programmed to store fat. That is how your ancestral genome survived the mass starvation that has plagued humankind since its inception.

Amid the food abundance we enjoy in the United States, our bodies are behaving as they are programmed to do. In response to abundance, ingested food is stored as fat awaiting the next famine. The problem comes when there is no famine. Food is plentiful. Fat-promoting meals are affordable and convenient. Is it any wonder that the United States is now experiencing the worst obesity epidemic in its history?

In order to prevail against your body's innate propensity to store fat, you must restore fat-reducing hormones such as DHEA and testosterone lost to aging, and suppress hormones such as insulin and estrogen, which promote body fat. You'll want to enhance insulin sensitivity and maintain a youthful metabolic rate so that your cells are able to release stored fat.

Americans have been misled for decades about what causes them to become overweight. Physicians have failed to provide the complete solution needed to induce significant long-term reductions in body fat. For the first time, a comprehensive program has been designed to address all the factors that scientists have identified as causing or contributing to age-related weight gain and obesity.