Getting rid of excess body fat poses a huge challenge for a lot of people. With all the health warnings about the risks of being overweight, many individuals try all kinds of weight-loss diets with little success.

The bad news is that obesity rates are rising sharply all over the world. Even the medical profession is struggling to find a solution to this problem. Unfortunately, doctors are now resorting to dangerous and expensive surgical procedures on their obese patients. Gastric bypass surgery, stomach stapling, gastric banding, suctioning and cutting out of belly fat, not to mention wiring up of the mouth, are some of the medical procedures now performed in unhealthy attempts at losing fat.

The Latino community in the United States is running particularly high levels of obesity. In such societies, like Jamaica, the associated diseases of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease continue to claim many lives and create suffering at an alarming rate.

Recently, the Latinos developed a very effective way to get the human body to burn, rather than store fat. This programme is called La Bamba.

WHAT IS LA BAMBA?

La Bamba is a scientifically designed three-day programme (initially) designed to kick-start your metabolism to burn fat. The initial day involves drinking lots of liquid: a combination of a patented, highly nutritious protein blend, digestive herbs and herbal tea. This drink, while pleasant-tasting and satisfying, puts your system into fat-burning mode.

On the second day, you consume meal-replacement protein shakes and on the third day healthy solid food is reintroduced into your diet. This can be repeated once a month or whenever you hit a plateau in your weight-loss programme.

HOW DOES LA BAMBA WORK?

The pancreas, an abdominal organ, produces two hormones that greatly influence your body's metabolism: insulin and glucagon. Insulin is the hormone produced when you eat carbohydrates. It tells the body to store fat. Glucagon, on the other hand, is produced in response to the consumption of protein and it encourages the body to burn stored fat.

On the La Bamba programme, you are given optimal quantities of healthy protein with lots of water, while having very little carbohydrates.

This makes your body burn fat like crazy. With the aid of the herbs, the body flushes out the waste, leaving you lighter and energised.

Body-composition analysis, before and after La Bamba, confirms that the weight lost during this programme is not due to water loss but fat loss. Thus it is not rapidly regained as with many other programmes.

THE RESULTS

Many people lose more than five pounds of fat and lots of inches from the waistline in the first week. It is ideal for those persons who struggle to get their weight-loss programme started. The programme is not very expensive and is easy to follow.

Because of the high fluid intake that results in frequent trips to the toilet, many find it convenient to start their programme on a weekend.

La Bamba is safe for everyone except those who have kidney disease, and have been instructed by their doctor to limit their consumption of protein.

In fact, the protein used in La Bamba is very healthy protein and is safe for diabetics and persons with high blood pressure as long as they are not on a protein-restricted diet.

Email Dr Anthony Vendryes at vendryes@mac.com, log on to www.anounceofprevention.org, or listen to 'An Ounce of Prevention' on POWER 106FM on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. His book, 'An Ounce of Prevention', is available from the Vendryes Wellness Centre or at Sangster's Book Stores islandwide.