Lifestyle Matters¹
With Factor4 Weight Control®

 

Lifestyle Matters, particularly eating habits and physical activity, have proven over many years of research to have positive benefits in improving metabolic and cardiac health.

Factor4 Lifestyles translates evidence-based dietary advice and other behavioral modifications, helping individuals adopt lifestyle changes to prevent, manage and reverse risks for obesity, type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Dietary Guidance is Key

Effective dietary advice must be optimized—considering the individual’s specific medical conditions, food preferences and lifestyle factors—to facilitate maximum adherence and the best chance of long-term success.

This scientifically-supported premise makes Factor4 Lifestyles different from other lifestyle programs designed to reduce and manage obesity, metabolic health and cardiovascular risk.

The Essential Role of Factor4 Weight Control®

Factor4 is built on innovative technology that suppresses appetite and restores metabolism using natural feedback mechanisms related to Power Amino Acids®. With patent protection and a unique proprietary formula Factor4 tames appetite and balances metabolism by correcting deficiencies in positive-charged amino acids, proteins and metabolic pathways.

Power Amino Acids® ensure weight-loss health by exploiting the body’s natural feedback mechanisms to

• Tame appetite to avoid food cravings

• Burn fat to lose excess body weight

• Build muscle to improve body definition

• Boost Energy  to tackle life with vitality

Power Amino Acids® comprise a proprietary blend of essential, positive-charged, and satiety amino acids, which enable the following bonuses:

• Healthy Lifestyles with increased satiety, improved diet, exercise, sleep, attitude, and less dependency on sugar, caffeine and alcohol.

• Weight Control with lower body weight, improved body definition, and increased pep, energy, activity, stamina, endurance and performance.

• Metabolic Health with lower levels of blood cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar and less metabolic disease, including overweight disorders, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder, liver & kidney disease.

• Anti-Aging Health with increased longevity and quality of life evidenced by reduced chronic degenerative disease and enhanced feelings of comfort, satisfaction, and well-being.

Nutritional Plan

Nutritional guidelines for managing body weight, cholesterol and blood pressure, coupled with original dietary studies by world-renowned nutrition, weight loss and diabetes experts have been used to formulate our Factor4 Lifestyles Approach. Optimized nutritional plans, coupled with guidelines and the latest research findings are provided to guide dietary intake. Lifestyle coaching and support tools help encourage compliance and maximize every individual’s ability to successfully improve their metabolic health.

The Science of Diet in Managing Metabolic Health

Factor4 Lifestyles base their dietary modifications on five key elements scientifically proven to decrease and manage metabolic risk factors: (i) caloric reduction, (ii) avoidance of excess saturated fat (iii) restriction of refined sugars and processed carbohydrates, (iv) restriction of dietary salt and (v) the essential role of exercise.

1. Caloric Reduction

Excess body fat increases body weight and cardiovascular risk. Direct comparison of diets via randomized trials indicates that reduction of metabolic risk factors is generally proportional to dietary adherence and weight loss, regardless of the diet type.

Successful dietary strategies to create weight loss utilize an appropriate mix of fats, proteins and carbohydrates to have beneficial effects on metabolic disease risk factors, including obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“…diets that are successful in causing weight loss can emphasize a range of fat, protein, and carbohydrate compositions that have beneficial effects on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
– Sacks, New England Journal of Medicine (2009)²

Factor4 Lifestyles provide calorie-appropriate eating plans suited to the individual’s dietary preferences to maximize adherence while achieving optimal weight loss results.

2. Avoidance of Excess Dietary Saturated Fat

Too much saturated fat increases heart disease risk by increasing unhealthy LDL-Cholesterol in the blood. Research has proven that heart disease risk factors are reduced by following a diet that replaces saturated fat (red meat) with polyunsaturated fat (fish and plant-based foods).

“Epidemiologic studies and randomized clinical trials have provided consistent evidence that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat, but not carbohydrates, is beneficial for coronary heart disease. Therefore, dietary recommendations should emphasize substitution of polyunsaturated fat and minimally processed grains for saturated fat.”
– Siri-Tarino, Current Atherosclerosis Reports (2010)³

Factor4 Lifestyle dietary plans avoid excess dietary saturated fat in favor of increased dietary unsaturated fat, which is particularly important in combatting overweight disorders, high LDL levels and cardiovascular disease.

3. Restriction of Excess Dietary Carbohydrate

Diets higher in protein and lower in refined carbohydrates have been associated with risk factor reduction for metabolic and cardiovascular disease, including increasing healthy HDL-Cholesterol and reducing blood pressure. Such diets have also been shown to reverse abnormalities associated with metabolic syndrome, particularly the lipid profiles that promote atherosclerosis associated with insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes.

Consumption of whole grains has been associated with reduced risk of CVD and type-2 diabetes in large observational cohort studies.

“Our results support a growing body of research suggesting that carbohydrate restriction and saturated fat restriction have different effects on cardiovascular risk profiles. Low carbohydrate diets consistently increase HDL cholesterol and low–saturated fat diets consistently decrease LDL cholesterol levels. Low carbohydrate diets have typically been more effective for short-term reduction of serum triglycerides, glucose, and/or insulin.”
– Dansinger, JAMA (2005)⁴

Factor4 Lifestyle dietary plans manage carbohydrate intake while incorporating an appropriate balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, with particular attention to metabolic risk factors.

4. Restriction of Dietary Salt

For individuals with high blood pressure, sodium restriction is recommended due to the consistent evidence from large observational studies and randomized trials that salt restriction lowers blood pressure.

5. The Essential Role of Exercise

The benefits of physical activity are consistently associated with good metabolic and cardiovascular health. Numerous studies have shown that regular exercise at moderate intensity raises healthy HDL-Cholesterol, lowers total triglycerides, and decreases blood pressure and resting heart rate.

1. Angermayr L, Melchart D, Linde K., Multifactorial lifestyle interventions in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus–a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Ann Behav Med. 2010 Aug;40(1):49–64.

2. Sacks FM, Bray GA, Carey VJ, et al. Comparison of weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. N Engl J Med. 2009;360:859–873.

3. Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, Hu FB, Krauss RM. Saturated fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease: modulation by replacement nutrients. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2010;12:384–390.

4. Dansinger ML, Gleason JA, Griffith JL, Selker HP, Schaefer EJ. Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2005;293:43–53.

5. Steffen-Batey L, et al. Change in level of physical activity and risk of all-cause mortality or reinfarction: The Corpus Christi Heart Project. Circulation. 2000 Oct 31;102(18):2204–9. Adapted from and inspired by

¹Adapted from and Inspired by Lifestyle Matters published on http://www.bostonheartdiagnostics.com by Michael Dansinger, M. D.