BODY FAT – It’s Not Just A Matter Of Appearance

Body Fat – It’s Not Just A Matter Of Appearances
It Can Also Be Toxic

We used to think that body fat was inert. But new research has found that fat tissue produces toxic chemicals, causing inflammation, oxidation, insulin resistance, and cancer-promoting cell growth caused by an increased level of “growth factors.” These chemicals circulate through the body and correlate with many cancers (including aggressive prostate, breast, and colon cancers), heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, muscle weakness, bone loss and other disastrous conditions. Why? But, more importantly:

But, Take Heart! Even if you’re overweight, there are many things you can do to improve your odds of avoiding these diseases! Read on…

Inflammation

Inflammation, caused by excess body fat among other things, contributes to illnesses which are chronic, costly, and corrode our quality of life. Inflammation is a silent killer. You don’t see it or even feel it until after many years when it blossoms into full-blown diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, muscle weakness or bone loss.

How could inflammation contribute to so many seemingly unrelated illnesses? Inflammation is your natural defense against disease-causing pathogens and it can happen anywhere in your body. When you cut your finger and it becomes red, swollen and painful, that’s inflammation at work. It’s your body’s way of fighting infection and it’s a lifesaver. Once healing begins, inflammation ceases and the body resumes normal functioning.  But that immune response – which is constantly on patrol preventing diseases throughout our body, in our blood vessels and organs – can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes, it doesn’t shut down and inflammation becomes chronic. In the blood vessels, inflammation causes fatty plaque to rupture, form blood clots and leads to heart attack or stroke.

Inflammation may also contribute to insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. And emerging research is finding that inflammation may produce genetic mutations which cause and spread cancer. It’s even a culprit in weakening muscular strength and reducing bone mass as we age. There is also evidence that in the brain, inflammation attacks nerve cells, and may contribute to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.  The cause of chronic inflammation can be genetic or environmental. Scientists have found that excess body fat, a sedentary lifestyle, eating a poor diet, smoking, and high blood pressure, all increase various inflammatory biomarkers and contribute to chronic inflammation and disease.

Your doctor may be able to measure your level of inflammation with a test measuring your blood’s “C-Reactive Protein” or CRP.

Oxidation

What exactly is oxidation?  Oxidation, caused by excess body fat among other things, is similar to rusting. An example of oxidation is an apple slice turning brown when exposed to air (oxygen). But simply adding lemon or any citrus juice, an antioxidant, keeps the apple’s flesh fresh, and prevents the browning or oxidation from occurring. Our bodies are constantly “rusting” or experiencing oxidation. Oxidation is responsible for many of the conditions of aging including, but not limited to, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, bone loss, muscle weakness, neurological impairments affecting cognition and balance.

Oxidation is constantly occurring in your cells due to excess body fat, unhealthy diets, environmental pollutants, smoking, the sun, the heat generated through basic metabolic functioning/digestion, and other factors. It takes a large supply of antioxidant-rich foods, and regular amounts at every meal, to counter this.

High Glucose and Insulin

Excess body fat causes high glucose and insulin in your blood stream. High glucose has serious consequences for your cardiovascular system, can lead to blindness, kidney disease, impotence, and is a precurser to diabetes. High insulin levels are associated with heart attack and colon cancer, uncontrolled cell growth and their “growth factors” contributing to various cancers and other diseases.

What To Do About Body Fat?

Exercise Type: Many people believe that a hard work-out in the gym will lead to weight loss: NOT! I have so many clients who have done this for years and their fat hasn’t budged. You’ve seen them in the gym yourself: People who’ve come in year after year after year, and they’re still as overweight now as they were when they started. I know it’s frustrating. Just ask Joe, Elizabeth and Grace. They’re major athletes. Elizabeth is a champion rower, Grace is close to being a pro tennis player, and Joe “works out more intensely than men half his age!” So, what gives?

While strength training and yoga are wonderful for your body and mind, they do very little toward losing weight, no matter how hard your workout is. You need cardiovascular exercise – simply moving – to lower body fat. What do I mean by moving? Walking is ideal! Yes, simply walking. I and all my clients use pedometers to determine if we’re getting enough cardiovascular activity, or walking, daily.

My goal for weight and health maintenance is about 10,000 steps daily (average). That’s about 5 miles or 1.5 hours accumulated through the day. If you want to lose weight, usually it takes about 12,000 steps. If you’re in a hurry to lose weight, or want to get off – or lower – medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, try 15,000 steps per day (average). It will transform your health and your life! Just ask Joe, Elizabeth and Grace – who have lost body fat for the first time in years – and are now true believers in simply WALKING!

Are YOU dangerouly overweight? Find out with my 8 simple steps…

Minimizing the Damage if You Are Overweight

Cardiovascular activity seems to be, by all accounts, the fountain of youth! It naturally clears glucose from your bloodstream and that keeps insulin levels low. It lowers blood pressure, clears fat and bad cholesterol quickly and efficiently after meals, and increases good cholesterol, thus reducing your risk for heart disease. People who are more active have less disease and live longer. Although obesity increases the risk for insulin resistance and type II diabetes, a study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine  showed that cardiovascularly fit obese people with a BMI above 27 cut their diabetes rate in half.  The study showed even obese people received an independent effect from exercise.

Nutrition: Eat plenty of antioxidant-rich and ant-inflammatory foods. Eat in a way which minimizes blood sugar and insulin spikes, and cholesterol clogging your arteries.

To accomplish this, eat more…

Antioxidant-Rich and Anti-Inflammatory Foods: Plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains should be eaten at each meal to counteract the negative effects of oxidation and inflammation. Berries and Deep Green Leafy Vegetables have been found to have some of the highest antioxidant scores of all fruits and vegetables. But every fruit and vegetable will provide healthy anti-oxidants and health benefits. Supplement your diet with nuts, fresh olive  oil, tea, and consistent, small amounts of alcohol.

Anti-inflammatory Foods, such as…
Fish: The omega 3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, found in fish, are the compounds most consistently found to reduce inflammation. It’s been confirmed in large observational studies as well as controlled clinical intervention trials that fish and fish oil reduce heart disease by decreasing inflammation, arrhythmia, blood clotting, CRP and other inflammatory markers. High fish diets have also been found to reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Marine-derived omega-3’s may also reduce cancer risk, arthritis, asthma, psoriasis, and other inflammatory diseases.

Flax Seeds and Walnuts: New research has found that the plant version of omega-3 fatty acids, ALA, found in flax seeds, walnuts, and canola oil reduce inflammation. A clinical intervention study published in the Journal of Nutrition found ALA reduces multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors, including the reduction of CRP and other inflammatory markers. The researchers also found that as CRP lowered, good (HDL) cholesterol increased, a double benefit and an added protection from heart disease.

Vitamins E and C-rich foods: A study found that supplementation with vitamins E and C reduced inflammatory markers and improved asthma, an inflammatory condition, in children. Vitamin E is high in nuts, seeds, and oils, especially wheat germ oil, sunflower seeds, and almonds. Vitamin C is high in fruits and vegetables, especially strawberries, oranges, cantaloupe, tomato juice, mangos, cauliflower, broccoli and sweet potatoes. Another study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that when people ate regular doses of vegetable soup causing high vitamin C levels in their blood, biomarkers of inflammation decreased.

Fruits and Vegetables: Food high in antioxidants play an important anti-inflammatory role since oxidation is part of the inflammatory process.  Studies show people who eat diets low in antioxidants – that is, low in fruits and vegetables – have more inflammatory diseases, like heart disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, dementia and Alzheimer’s.

The Mediterranean Diet:  A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people eating a Mediterranean style diet had significantly reduced CRP and other inflammatory biomarkers. They also had reduced insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. The Mediterranean diet group ate at least nine to eleven ounces of fruit, four to six ounces of vegetables, one to two ounces of walnuts, 14 ounces of whole grains or legumes daily, and increased their consumption of olive oil. While the control group ate the same level of carbohydrates, protein and fat, they didn’t eat as much complex carbohydrates, fiber or olive oil and ate more saturated fat and cholesterol.

Vegetarian Diets: A study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that long term vegetarians had markedly lower CRP levels (and their blood vitamin C levels were higher).

Eat less…

Reducing refined sugar, sweets and flour will help reduce blood sugar and insulin

Red meat and processed meats are correlated with heart disease and various cancers. New research shows this may be related to its disruptive effects in the microbiome, the bacterial environment of the gastrointestinal tract, which can make our break our health.

Additional Behaviors for Minimizing the Damage of Being Overweight

Keep calories at low but healthy levels while still feeling full (in Diet Simple you can determine your personalized calorie needs). Increase consumption of high- fiber, high-water- containing, nutrient- dense, low-calorie foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Reduce consumption of nutrient-poor, calorie- dense processed and refined foods such as chips, crackers and sweets.

Overall Calorie Reduction:  Calorie restriction reduces oxidation, a contributor to inflammation. Calorie restriction also reduces inflammatory markers.

Ideally, Lose Body Fat. It will reduce oxidation, inflammation, negative hormone levels, cancer-promoting growth factors and cell proliferation. Most scientists will agree that weight loss is probably the most effective way to reduce inflammation, oxidation and cancer-promoting cellular proliferation. We used to believe that body fat was inert. But new research has found that adipose tissue produces pro-inflammatory compounds which may help explain why obesity is correlated with heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases.