F-A-T
is a three-letter word that many of us fear and fight. The
"battle of the bulge", the "war against weight"
and the "fight against fat" are common phrases seen
in magazines, daily newspapers and heard on evening news reports.
Within the last decade we have even learned to beware a new
enemy, known as stealth fats (trans fatty acids), that do
not appear on food nutrition labels.
But what
do we really know about this universal enemy, fat? It seems
that fat cells have the perfect "cover." To most
of us they are simply the passive, inert and flabby flesh
that collects in unwanted places like the waist, hips and
thighs. Fat cells seem to just sit there.
However,
a surprising fact has recently emerged. Fat cells are not
passive. Scientists have discovered that fat cells are really
powerful endocrine agents. Like miniature chemical factories,
fat cells secrete hormones and other chemical messengers.
These chemical signals are sent all over the body to the brain,
liver, muscles, reproductive organs and immune system.
Gokhan
S. Hotamisligil, a professor of genetics and metabolism at
Harvard School of Public Health, said, "Many people think
your brain controls your fat. We promote the idea that your
fat controls your brain."(1)
Fat is
recognized as so active that biologists are now calling it
an endocrine organ like the thyroid and pituitary glands.
There is one difference with that comparison though-glands
do not have the capacity to grow like fat can. As with all
communication, the more messengers, the more messages sent
out. So it is with fat cells. It's important to understand
that as we get more and more fat cells, the messages sent
are not always in our best interest. People who are obese
have greatly enlarged fat cells with as much as 50 to 75 percent
more mass than the fat cells in lean people.
The New
York Times reported that fatty tissues are "riddled with
immune system cells called macrophages, which pour out substances
that cause inflammation, now thought to play a role in heart
disease."(2) In a study conducted at the Harvard School
of Public Health, researchers discovered that macro phages
make up an astonishing 50 percent of cells in fat tissue.
These macrophages, that promote and regulate the inflammatory
process, were found to infiltrate fat in proportion to obesity
in both mice and humans.(3)
Also,
fat cells seem to suppress a crucial hormone that can lead
to the development of type 2 diabetes. A hormone called adiponectin
helps the body's sensitivity to insulin. Obese people's fat
cells create less adiponectin and scientists do not know why.
Lowered levels of adiponectin are also associated with heart
disease.
The Obesity
Epidemic
During
the last couple of decades, people all over the world have
been over-indulging. This passive overeating is the subject
of a survey commissioned by the American Institute for cancer
Research, an organization devoted to exploring the link between
diet and cancer. The World Health Organization noted that
this escalating global epidemic of obesity-globesity-is taking
over many parts of the world. More than a billion people around
the world are overweight. In the United States, 65 percent
of adults are overweight. The New York Times noted that, "government
researchers blame obesity for at least 300,000 deaths a year."(4)
A pharmaceutical
information website showed its interest in the potential for
profit regarding the fattening of America. They wrote that
despite efforts to increase awareness of the dangers of obesity,
predictions were that "the prevalence of obesity will
increase to 168 million in the U.S. alone by 2012." The
report also noted, "Due to the high unmet need, obesity
represents a lucrative market for R&D."(5)
Fat Cells
Gone Wrong
Excess
fat seems to behave differently than the amount of fat found
normally on a fit person. The role of a normal fat cell includes:
Communicating
to the brain how much energy the body has left
Signaling muscles when to burn fat
Telling the liver and other organs when fat needs to be
replenished
Controlling energy flow in and out of cells(6)
These
natural processes directed by the fat communication system
get hijacked by obesity. Maverick fat cells overreact, slowing
good messages and sending false stress and inflammation directions.
These
fat cells slow production of the insulin-sensitivity and anti-inflammatory
hormone adiponectin (which decreases as fat levels rise).
Adiponectin is also decreased in children who are overweight.
This important hormone regulates insulin and protects against
heart disease. Researchers believe overweight children are
set up for early heart disease. A study at the Yale University
School of Medicine studied blood pressure and plasma lipid,
C-reactive protein and adiponectin levels in overweight and
obese children and noted, "Biomarkers of an increased
risk of cardiovascular outcomes are already present in these
children. "(7)
Inflammation
can be blamed for diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease.
Pumped up fat cells delight in calling for inflammation throughout
the body. And there is yet another side effect of obesity.
The epidemiology chief at the American cancer Society, Dr.
Michael Thun, states that obesity causes some cancers and
there is strong evidence that it contributes to a wide variety
of others.
The Other
Side of the Story-Some Fat is Necessary
A trim
man is 15 percent fat, while a fit female is 30 percent fat.
If these two people had an adequate water supply, they could
live about three months on that fat store. It has long been
known that fat cells play an important role in synthesizing
sex hormones. Overweight or obese women often sail through
menopause without nearly the hot-flash suffering of their
slimmer sisters simply because they have more fat cells producing
estrogen. (This is why overweight or obese women are more
likely to die from breast cancer since estrogen feeds cancer.)
The body's
reproductive system is carefully regulated by fat cells. For
example, very thin women (like ballerinas and professional
athletes) often cease menstruating, as a pregnancy would be
in jeopardy without a supply of fat.
Our bodies
require fat. The brain alone is 60 percent fat and the once-popular,
low-cholesterol/low-fat diets had an unexpected side-effect:
men on these diets slid into deep depression, often leading
to suicide.(8,9)
The Conflict
Over Chemistry
Always
seeking cheaper alternatives, food processors learned how
to chemically alter vegetable oils to increase the shelf-life
of foods. So instead of the natural fats found in olive oil
and butter, people began consuming "partially hydrogenated"
oils. These cheaper oils introduced large amounts of trans
fat into our diets. Like many other "advancements"
promised by chemically-minded food producers, instead of margarine
and other partially hydrogenated oils protecting us from the
"dangers" of animal fats, food products and our
bodies were flooded with a harmful fat not found in nature.
Trans
fat has been implicated in numerous health woes, including
cancer. Nutritionist Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., reported as early
as 1978 on the relationship of dietary fat and cancer. In
studying 60 years of per capita dietary fat consumption she
found more cancer with vegetable fat than animal fat. This
was exactly the opposite of what the medical paradigm was
teaching.
In an
interview, Dr. Enig noted, "consumption of trans fatty
acids from partially hydrogenated (a process that adds hydrogen
to solidify or harden) vegetable fats and oils had many adverse
effects in health areas such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
immunity, reproduction and lactation, and obesity."(10)
And the
Answer Is ...
Are you
looking for a magic bullet? Here it is: diet and exercise.
Plain and simple. To get these wild fat cells to quit acting
as immune cells, put them on a diet, replacing the junk food
with healthy food. Liposuction won't get at the riskier visceral
fat. It only removes subcutaneous fat. A study in the New
England Journal of Medicine reported that even losing 20 pounds
by liposuction "does not significantly improve obesity-related
metabolic syndromes."(11) But losing just 7 percent of
total body weight with diet and exercise will help.
The chasers
of profit margin have tweaked our food so that it is making
us fat. More profiteers want to give us drugs to correct the
problem. Some will tell you that fat is the problem. Researcher
W.C. Willett said, "Diets high in fat do not appear to
be the primary cause of the high prevalence of excess body
fat in our society, and reductions in fat will not be a solution."(12)
Replacing trans fat in the diet just may be one answer to
obesity.
Perhaps
it is as simple as eating organic, natural foods and taking
the time to exercise. Eating good food and taking a brisk
walk four times a week are pretty inexpensive regimes compared
to prescription drugs. And these two remedies are proven to
work. When you think about it, what more could you ask of
a magic bullet?
Notes
1 Quoted in "New insights show staggering array of crucial
bodily functions," Rob Stein, The Washington Post, July
12, 2004.
2. Denise Grady, "Fat: The Secret Life of a Potent Cell,"
The New York Times, July 6, 2004.
3 Wellen KE, Hotamisligil GS, "Obesity-induced inflammatory
changes in adipose tissue," J Clin Invest. 2003 Dec;
112(12): 1758-8.
4. Denise Grady (op cited).
5 "Pharmeceutical companies set to make a significant
profit from anti-obesity drugs," 26 Jul 2004, www.pharmiweb.com/features/feature.asp?ROW_ID=447
6. Rob Stein, "New insights show staggering array of
crucial bodily functions," The Washington Post, July
12, 2004.
7. Weiss R, et al., "Obesity and the metabolic syndrome
in children and adolescents," N Engl J Med. 2004 Jun
3;350(23):2362-74.
8. Partonen, T, et al., ''Association of low serum total cholesterol
with major depression and suicide," Br J Psychiatry.
1999, Sep;175:259-62.
9 Sarachiapone M, et al., "Further evidence for low serum
cholesterol and suicidal behavior," J Affict Disord.
2000 Dec;61(1-2):69-71.
10. Dr. Mary Enig, interviewed by Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D.,
www.mercola.com/fcgi/pf/2000/jun/l0/trans_fats.htm .
11 Klein S, et al., ''Absence of an effect of liposuction
on insulin action and risk factors for coronary heart disease,"
N Englj Med. 2004 Jun 17;350(25):2549-57.
12. Willet WC, Liebel RL, "Dietary fat is not a major
determinant of body fat," Am J Med. 2002 Dec 30;113 Suppl
9B:47S-59S.
Reprinted
with permission of Young Living, Lehi, UT 84043
Essential Edge magazine
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here for more information on essential oils
Super
Wal-Mart?
A Wal
Mart store that sells husbands has just opened in Dallas,
TX where a woman may go to choose a husband from among many
men. The store is comprised of 6 floors, and the men increase
in positive attributes as the shopper ascends the flights.
There
is however, a catch. As you open the door to any floor you
may choose a man from that floor, but if you go up a floor,
you cannot go back down except to exit the building.
So a woman
goes to the shopping center to find a husband...
On the
first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor
1 - These men have jobs.
The second
floor sign reads:
Floor
2 - These men have jobs and love kids.
The third
floor sign reads:
Floor
3 - These men have jobs, love kids and are extremely good
looking.
"Wow"
so she goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor
4 - These men have jobs, loves kids, are extremely good looking
and help with the housework.
"Oh,
mercy me!" So she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor
5 - These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking,
help with the housework and have a strong romantic streak.
She is
so tempted she goes to the sixth floor and sign reads:
Floor
6 - You are visitor 3,456,012 to this floor. There are no
men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that
women are impossible to please.
Thank
you for shopping Wal Mart's Husband Store.
Have a
nice day.
January
2008 Vol. 1
Well, a long-time friend dropped in for a few days; and
then, Mark's folks came for a few days (a complete, yet
welcome, surprise, as they had previously told us that
they couldn't make it). There were plenty of laughs, a
few pits, and plenty of crazy turns to keep us very busy!
LOL 
Kathy
Farmer is a champion Young Living business builder, but
when she started, she was only concerned about one thing
sharing her love of essential oils.
