Your body fat can work against you!

The more fat we accumulate the less we feel full, and the more food we take in.

The American high carbohydrate diet has caused an epidemic of obesity which has killed the natural checks and balances our body must control fat production.  People who have accumulated excessive fat cannot lose it because they have.  broken the system that controls weight gain.

My patients ask why they can’t lose fat when they change their diet, and begin to exercise, and limit calories.  They get to a point where conventional methods for weight loss no longer work, and it becomes more impossible to lose fat. Until this year I did not have an answer for them, however recently the Endocrine Society unlocked the answer!

Your body fat secretes hormones that are created to manage how much weight you lose, and how fast you can achieve ideal weight.  When we are young and healthy, our metabolic feedback system works properly to limit the food we eat at one time, hunger and the feeling of satiety. This system can be broken by a lifestyle of sedentary living, excessive eating at each meal and high carb diet. When this occurs, it is nearly impossible for a person to lose body fat without medication.

***In case you wondered, the ideal body fat % for women are less than 26%, and men is less than or equal to 19%.

Through the years the food Pyramid and the New Food Plate advise Americans to primarily eat breads, cereals, and other carbohydrates.  These recommendations are the reason we have become a nation of obesity. The FDA advises us to eat foods that are not healthy for us (mostly carbs, grains and sugars) wile food portions have expanded to justify bloated prices more hunger, and lack of satiety. By following this advice we have broken our God-given protective metabolic systems designed to keep us at a healthy weight.  As we gain fat, our bodies become more off balance until we are left without a negative feedback system that tells us to stop eating. Our feedback system which was meant to manage hunger between our body fat and brain is broken by gaining too much fat.  Obesity causes insensitivity to the natural brake that was meant to make us feel full and stop eating.  The more fat we accumulate the less we feel full, and the more food we take in.

As humans accumulate fat, the growth of fat cells continue unchecked because fat tissue can no longer turn off its own hunger hormones. Unlike other hormonal systems and our healthy fat-to-brain cells regulated by the pituitary gland, fat growth continues unchecked, once a significant amount of fat is gained, it perpetuates the growth-cycle of fat.

In the 70s, when I was in medical school I was taught that body fat was inert and simply stored excess calories. Over the past 50 years, research has revealed surprising facts about fat. Fat tissue releases hormones such as leptin, adiponectin, and resistin that regulate energy balance and metabolism. Fat also secretes inflammatory chemicals like cytokines and complement factors, which can either combat viruses and bacteria or cause inflammation, autoimmune diseases and or a shorter lifespan. Additionally, fat secretes substances that increase blood pressure by increasing the hormone angiotensin.

The following lists the hormones that are produced by fat tissue in a normal person, without dysregulation by a high carb diet.

Hormones and Cytokines Released by Adipose Tissue: 

• Leptin: increases with volume of body fat, and when balanced it turns off appetite, energy expenditure, and assists in insulin sensitivity.  If it is low, it is makes it difficult to lose weight because there is no feeling of satiety.  When it is high and a person is obese the obesity is resistant to Leptin, even if it is a normal level an obese person doesn’t feel full and doesn’t stop eating.  There are some people who genetically never feel full so their Leptin never works or is always low.
• Adiponectin: Increases insulin sensitivity, reduces inflammation, and improves glucose homeostasis. In obese people adiponectin is low and insulin resistance is elevated, and so is inflammation.
• Resistin: Increases insulin resistance, and increases accumulation of body fat, and type 2 Diabetes.
• Cytokines: Including TNF-alpha, which can affect insulin receptor signaling and contribute to insulin resistance, and causes chronic inflammation.
• Estogens: E1, E2 are secreted by body fat
• Angiotensin:  increases blood pressure.

The most effective way to avoid obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, inflammation that ages us, and autoimmune diseases is to never to gain weight in the first place!  However, that is obviously not a possible solution for those of you who are already obese.  In response to this growing epidemic, the medical profession has embraced the two new medications that effectively treat obesity. This drug should be lifechanging for obese Americans, however there is one problem, cost! Lack of insurance coverage, and ridiculous pricing by the pharmaceutical companies is preventing the average person from receiving preventive treatment to help avoid the diseases that occur due to obesity.  These drugs are even more costly when you realize the system of Leptin and Adiponectin balance is broken forever, obese people must take this medication forever until another treatment is discovered.

My personal lifetime battle to stay lean and healthy has been addressed by these new medications, Ozempic (for diabetics), Wegovy (for weight loss), Mounjaro (for diabetics) and Zepbound (for weight loss). For the first time in my life, I no longer feel hungry all the time, and when I am finished eating, I am not looking for dessert!  These medications counteract decades of eating too many carbohydrates in my diet, even though I ate much less than most people. My patients feel the same way as I do when they are on one of these medications…their lives are no longer controlled by their hunger!

The American diet, sedentary jobs, and reliance on driving instead of walking have led to 50% obesity, causing yearly increases in fat gain. We finally have an answer to our obesity problem with medication, and without these medications the process of losing weight is frustrating and ineffective for most people. The weight loss problem is not that simple, however, because the majority of Americans cannot afford the drugs that “turn off” growth of body fat, hunger and “food noise”.

Treating obesity is absolutely necessary to avoid heart disease, diabetes, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, inability to walk and care for oneself.  Now we have the answer.