Diet and Exercise
Physician’s are always advising weight loss and exercise. Both are important and accomplish different things for our metabolism. I hope to explain why this is the case.
This may seem strange, but our bodies are meant to store extra energy as fat. However, Not all fat is equal. There are two basic types of fat in our bodies, peripheral fat, the fat under our skin, and visceral fat, the fat around our organs. Our bodies are designed to store fat in our peripheral fat cells. However, there is a limited capacity to this. Our fat cells have a limit to what they will store. This mostly determined by our genetics. When our fat cells become full, they become resistant to insulin, and will stop storing more fat. The extra energy , fat, wants to look for a home, and starts to go into our muscles and organs. Our muscles can use fat for energy when we are moving, however, the preferred energy to be stored in muscle would be sugar in the form of glycogen. When fat starts to store in muscles, the muscles become resistant to insulin as well, lowering their ability to store sugar. At this point, our bodies try to make more insulin to keep our sugar levels normal.
When fat starts to store in our liver, the liver will either package it up as triglycerides to ship it to other parts of our body, or convert it to cholesterol, and try to ship it to other parts of the body. This then starts to have a profound effect on our cholesterol. If left unchecked, this will damage our arteries, causing heart disease and making us prone to heart attack and stroke.
When we lose weight, we create a place for fat to be stored in its normal place, and the body will start to move it from other organs and our muscles back to fat cells. This takes a great amount of pressure off the system that is making triglycerides and cholesterol. When we exercise, we do a few things. We burn off energy that is being stored in our muscles, and create a home for sugar to be stored.
However, the story is even far more interesting., We are now learning that fat cells are not only a storage facility, but an active endocrine organ. Fat makes hormones that signal the rest of the body. These hormones raise our blood pressure, and make other parts of our body resistant to insulin. Our fat cells also secrete inflammatory markers as well. These inflammatory markers make us tired, and are also linked to worsening gastric reflux disease. All of these factors improve when we exercise and lose weight.
Diet and Exercise
Physician’s are always advising weight loss and exercise. Both are important and accomplish different things for our metabolism. I hope to explain why this is the case.
This may seem strange, but our bodies are meant to store extra energy as fat. However, Not all fat is equal. There are two basic types of fat in our bodies, peripheral fat, the fat under our skin, and visceral fat, the fat around our organs. Our bodies are designed to store fat in our peripheral fat cells. However, there is a limited capacity to this. Our fat cells have a limit to what they will store. This mostly determined by our genetics. When our fat cells become full, they become resistant to insulin, and will stop storing more fat. The extra energy , fat, wants to look for a home, and starts to go into our muscles and organs. Our muscles can use fat for energy when we are moving, however, the preferred energy to be stored in muscle would be sugar in the form of glycogen. When fat starts to store in muscles, the muscles become resistant to insulin as well, lowering their ability to store sugar. At this point, our bodies try to make more insulin to keep our sugar levels normal.
When fat starts to store in our liver, the liver will either package it up as triglycerides to ship it to other parts of our body, or convert it to cholesterol, and try to ship it to other parts of the body. This then starts to have a profound effect on our cholesterol. If left unchecked, this will damage our arteries, causing heart disease and making us prone to heart attack and stroke.
When we lose weight, we create a place for fat to be stored in its normal place, and the body will start to move it from other organs and our muscles back to fat cells. This takes a great amount of pressure off the system that is making triglycerides and cholesterol. When we exercise, we do a few things. We burn off energy that is being stored in our muscles, and create a home for sugar to be stored.
However, the story is even far more interesting., We are now learning that fat cells are not only a storage facility, but an active endocrine organ. Fat makes hormones that signal the rest of the body. These hormones raise our blood pressure, and make other parts of our body resistant to insulin. Our fat cells also secrete inflammatory markers as well. These inflammatory markers make us tired, and are also linked to worsening gastric reflux disease. All of these factors improve when we exercise and lose weight.
