Archive for October, 2011

The Miracle of Brown Fat

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

There are two colors of fat, brown and white. The type we are most familiar with is white, which comprises most of the fat in the body. White fat is a storage depot for excess calories and provides insulation and produces inflammation, an unhealthy situation for the body. Brown fat is a healthy type of metabolically active fat. Brown fat is named as such because it contains a lot of energy-generating mitochondria which gives rise to the color. Brown fat is considered “good” because it burns calories and generates body heat.

Through complex brain-hormone interactions, the body controls its own body temperature. A higher body temperature is the result of increased metabolism. It’s like running an engine; the harder it runs, the hotter it gets. The hormones that raise metabolism, in fact, do so mainly by increasing thermogenesis. Low body temperature means lowered metabolism; we’ve seen this is an indicator of low thyroid function. People with more brown fat have a higher body temperature and higher metabolism because they burn more calories to produce body heat.

Brown fat produces a specialized blood protein known as thermogenin that allows for the production of body heat. Brown tissue is controlled by nerves and stress hormones. The stress hormones epinephrine and norepinepherine, released from nerve cells and the adrenal gland, activate brown tissue, increasing thermogenesis.

Newborn babies have the highest concentrations of brown fatty tissue, but until recently, it was thought that adults didn’t have any brown fat. In 2009, scientists discovered the presence of it in adults. This was considered a major medical breakthrough when the research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Less than one percent of the body’s fat is brown. Most is located in the front of the neck, shoulders and around the collar bones. It also hides in deeper layers of fat and the number of areas varies among individuals. Thinner people and younger people tend to have the most. Although, you lose brown fat as you get older and as you gain weight, it doesn’t go away completely. In the past, it was thought that once you lost your brown fatty tissue, it was gone forever. However, this is clearly not the case. Everyone has the potential of making more.

Now researchers are working feverishly to find ways to help people make more of this calorie-burning tissue. Researchers are investigating different types of medications and even stem cell transplants as ways to induce brown fat production. Animal studies show that lowering room temperature just a few of degrees will make them lose weight by boosting their metabolism. Cold also makes white fat act more like brownish or beige fat, which burns more calories.

You can make more brown fat by cooling your body down. Even a small decrease in the temperature your body is exposed to will induce your body make more calorie burning cells. From a survival perspective, when the body is cooled, it has to make more brown fatty tissue to generate enough body heat to keep from freezing to death. Researchers have speculated that warm temperatures may be contributing to our obesity epidemic. Turning down the thermostat just a couple of degrees could help boost your metabolism because you need to burn more calories to stay warm.

Exercise done in the water is particularly good at drawing out body heat, forcing your body to burn more calories. You don’t need to make yourself so cold that you feel uncomfortable or shiver. Swimming is one of the best fat-burning exercises. Swimming is extremely relaxing and a great form aerobic exercise. But any water exercise is a great way to cool your body and burn extra calories. Submersing yourself in water that’s cooler than body temperature will cool you down, causing you to make more brown fat to keep you warm. Try walking in a pool, using a kick board or take a water aerobics class. You don’t have to be a great swimmer to use water to help you burn extra calories.

Just as healthy fat can be part of the cycle to help lose weight; dysfunctional brown fat can get in the way. And, ironically – or perhaps not so ironically, considering the constant feedback loops of the body — obesity can cause brown fat dysfunction. If you are very overweight, your fat tissue cannot produce heat properly, so your metabolism is lowered and it becomes even harder to lose weight, ad infinitum.

Weight Loss Diet Programs for Women

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Not so long ago, losing weight for women and everybody else entailed cutting down on the food intake without much thought on its exact effects in the functions of the body. However, with the many dynamics of life today, weight loss diet programs have been introduced. When looking at the probable programs, women can be placed in different categories as it will be seen here.

The working type women are the most liable to uncontrolled weight gain as they are more tempted to overeat. Their intermittent eating habits are not helped by the fact that most of the foods are processed. This kind of woman will be required to work really hard to ward off the yearning associated with these foods. It works perfectly well if such women can replace some of the junk food with groceries.

For middle aged women without children, a diet program can be easily adopted without causing a lot of adjustments. All you need to do is ensure that each meal is devoid of high fats. Fruits, vegetables and yogurt have little or no fat content and should form the biggest proportion of the meals. Start your morning with a nutritious yogurt or fruit juice as this keeps the body energized and burns extra body fat. For lunch and dinner, try a combination of salad dressing and fresh delicatessen salads. If this becomes monotonous, you could alternate with some bread, balsamic vinegar and feta cheese. The idea here is to avoid carbohydrates as much as possible. This kind of diet plan is simple and flexible and would be useful for overweight girls below the age of 30.

For the women over the age 40 bracket, dealing with unwanted fat is a little bit trickier. The other groups of women could do with a simple diet changes but in this case, an exercise program to compliment is recommended. There are many reasons why it is difficult to lose weight at this stage in life, but the major factor is the body hormones. Women in this age group are advised to set realistic weight losing goals and stick by them. As much as you may have a busy lifestyle, finding time to exercise is vital if the diet program is to be effective. As for the body metabolism, it is believed to be reducing at this stage and the diet chosen should address this. By eating smaller quantities of more meals in a day, you keep the metabolism process active. These meals should come in three hours intervals and ought to be nutritious enough, with a higher preference of fiber and minerals. As for fluids, it is highly recommended to increase water and reduce caffeinated drinks intake. Women around the age of 40 may have water retention problems but this cannot be solved by drinking less water.

Losing weight can be challenging regardless of age but it is manageable through remedies such as the ones highlighted here. Women find it difficult to alter their dietary lifestyle and as such require exercise and emotional support to succeed. A point to remember is that weight loss diet programs may not be quick fix solutions but maintaining a positive attitude and setting realistic goals may just work for you.

Lose Weight Now, Fat Loss 4 Idiots Review

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

The Fat Loss 4 Idiots is a diet program that will provide you information on controlling and improving your nutrition and how to lose body fat. It is different from most other diet programs stress exercising, working out, run or changing your schedule. The creator just wants you to work at changing your lifestyle and eating habits. The program is based only on a calorie shifting weight loss method where you only have to change your daily nutrition and everything else just stays the same.

The down side of this program is that it does not require you to participate in a workout program so you do not develop muscles or stamina. But this should not matter if you want to lose weight fast and do it without putting in a lot of physical effort.

The program comes with a 45 page Diet Handbook that outlines how to incorporate the Calorie Shifting Diet. Also included is unlimited access to a web based software called “the meal generator” that generates specialized meal plans for you. You can upgrade program to receive a 28 page ‘Beyond Calories’ guide.

The diet consist of eating lean proteins, fruits and vegetables with fat coming from foods such as cottage cheese or eggs. You will also be able to eat starchy carbohydrates such as oats and pasta. In addition, if you are a vegetarian the meal generator will provide you with meal plans satisfying your needs.

The stuff most people like about the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet program includes you do not have to starve yourself,

You do not have to eat a particular food group, You will not gain back the weight you lose, and You do not go hungry.

Your personal diet will be rich in healthy foods which should include fruits, vegetables, whole food, and lean proteins. You do not have to worry about eating just one full meal a day because this program is about portion control and not eating more than the required number of calories.

You do not have to worry about planning your 11 day meals because the official website will guide you through generating your meal plan. All you need to do is follow the day to day meal plan. You will also avoid the headaches of planning daily meals when you have other worthwhile things to do.

In addition, you are encouraged to walk about 30 minutes a day to help you burn fat.

The Diet Handbook and the Beyond Calories guides provide you with excellent tips on how to eat healthy after you reach your desired weight which is great benefit. It works on a 14 day cycle where you follow the eating plan for 11 days, then take 3 days off while eating normally, then go back on the diet for another 11 days if you need to. For each 11 day cycle you can generate a new set of meal plans or continue to follow the one you just finished.

In the final analysis the best proof of the methods presented in the Fat Loss 4 Idiots will be in the weight that you will lose implementing the eating plan and walking each and everyday.