Obesity - The Untold Truth

Many a times doctors say that take care of your weight, reduce weight, reduce fat, etc.. but they never tell why we have gained so much of weight, why fat has got accumulated in the body.

They always tell the patients to get rid of the excess fat, but do nothing for the reason why this fat is getting accumulated in the body.

Lets investigate what has gone wrong with our body which is resulting in the fat getting accumulated in our body.

The human body needs energy to power muscles and to fuel the millions of chemical and biological reactions which take place throughout our system every day. This energy comes from the food we consume in our diet. Food consists mainly of water and three types of nutrient - protein, dietary fats and carbohydrate - which are found in varying proportions in most foods. These nutrients are broken down, digested and absorbed by the body in the gastrointestinal tract, running from the mouth to the anus. Each of these macronutrients is processed and absorbed by the digestive system in different ways.

How Are Surplus Carbs Used And Stored?

Carbohydrate is the major source of energy for the body. This is because, of all nutrients, it converts most readily to glucose which is the body's preferred fuel. When we eat carbohydrate, it is converted to glucose in the digestive tract and distributed via the liver to cells throughout the body for use as energy. Once our immediate energy needs are satisfied, the remaining carb glucose is handled in one of two ways. Either it is converted to liquid glycogen (a temporary source of readily available energy) and stored in the liver or muscles. Or, it is converted into fatty acids by the liver and stored in adipose cells (fat-cells) around the body.

How Is Surplus Protein Used And Stored?

Protein is broken down into amino acids in the stomach and small intestine, then distributed via the liver to cells throughout the body for a variety of uses included cell formation and repair. Some surplus protein amino acids are kept circulating in the bloodstream, the remainder is either converted into a type of simple sugar and used as energy, or (like carbohydrate) is converted to fatty acid and stored in adipose cells.

How Is Surplus Dietary Fat Used And Stored?

Dietary fat is broken down into fatty acids and glycerol by the stomach and small intestine. It is then distributed (in the form of triglycerides) via the lymphatic system and bloodstream to the cells for a variety of specialized uses or, in the absence of sufficient carbs, for energy. However, since dietary fat cannot be converted into protein and only about 5 percent (the glycerol part) is convertible into glucose, and because dietary fat is not the body's preferred choice of fuel, a significant amount ends up being stored as body fat in the adipose tissue.

Conversion Of Body Fat To Energy

If energy is required suddenly, the body first uses up its glycogen reserves. After this, it converts the body fat in the adipose cells into energy by a catabolic process called lipolysis. During lipolysis, triglycerides within the adipose cells are acted upon by a complex enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase (HSL). This converts the triglyceride into fatty acids and glycerol. The fatty acids are then transported via the bloodstream to tissues for use as energy, or (along with the glycerol) taken to the liver for further processing.

Adipose cells which make up adipose tissue are specialized cells which contain and can synthesize globules of fat. This fat either comes from the dietary fat we eat or is made by the body from surplus carbohydrate or protein in our diet. Adipose tissue is mainly located just under the skin, although adipose deposits are also found between the muscles, in the abdomen, and around the heart and other organs. The location of fat deposits is largely determined by genetic inheritance. Thus it is not possible to affect where we store fat. Nor is it possible to influence from which area the body burns fat for energy purposes.

Why Do We Get Fat?

Most of us develop body fat because we eat more calories than we burn in exercise. Given a culture which emphasises "value for money food portions" and "super-sizing", along with an steady increase in serving size, an upsurge of new tasty high-calorie foods and energy drinks, such over-consumption is perhaps only to be expected. Lack of exercise is also a major contributory factor. However, overeating and lack of fitness is not the whole story.

So..... whats untold???

The untold truth is that what we are eating not reaching our cells. our cells are not able to take it. The mitochondria is not able to use the body glucose and hence the cell is still starving and sending signals to your brain to consume more food. so we go on consuming more and more food and the food gets stored as fat but still we are energy-less. Hypothyroid may also be the reason so that also needs to be investigated.

The consequences

For how long will the body tolerate this? When the cells don't get enough energy, they will starve to death, and the organs will become weaker. So on one hand our body is accumulating fat but at the other end our body is getting weaker. After some time the liver starts malfunctioning and as a result of this, the excess food doesn't gets removed from the blood stream and the different indicators start giving higher reading on different parameters. If the Glucose is not removed properly from the blood stream... we get higher blood glucose reading... leading to diabetes. If the fatty acid doesn't gets removed properly, it leads to higher cholesterol reading, leading to heart disease... and so on. These higher levels on a regular basis may result in malfunctioning of other organs........So friends..... When you observe excess fat in your body, do ask your GP for proper guidance.