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Killer fat

by Judd Jones/Special to The Press
| August 9, 2014 9:00 PM

Every week, I try to find interesting and informative health and fitness topics to educate and motivate my readers.

So this week, let's get a little creepy... What if body fat was smart and it was trying to kill you? That would make for an interesting read, don't you think?

Before we get too deep into killer body fat, we need to understand a few key issues about the fat we eat and its nutritional value. Not all fats are bad for you, and let's be clear; dietary fat is a nutrient that helps your body absorb essential vitamins, supports your cell function and is key in keeping your immune system working.

It is also important to know that healthy sources of both saturated and unsaturated fat can be found in olive oil, coconut oil and some nut oils.

The other factor, which gets lost pretty quickly in our fast-food world, is to keep all sources of fat to less than 30 percent of your daily calories. When it comes to saturated fats, make sure you keep those to less than 10 percent of your total daily caloric intake.

That brings us to the next question: Since fat is clearly an essential nutrient, what happens when we go nonfat to reduce our body fat?

Many people, even those who are overweight, can experience health problems if they do not get enough fat in their diets. Symptoms can include a lack of energy, hormone imbalance, joint pain and a low HDL count.

We all know humans have adapted to be very good at storing fat in our bodies. The reason for this is sugar. Our bodies must keep blood glucose levels at a set threshold or the sugar becomes toxic and starts damaging our cells.

As we have evolved in a somewhat feast-or-famine life-cycle, our bodies have learned to store the excess sugar for later use in the form of fat.

Now that we have a basic idea we can't survive without fat, why do researchers think body fat is smart and trying to kill us?

What we know for sure is that excess body fat creates many heath problems. People with high body fat tend toward diabetes and heart problems, and being heavy puts more strain on your joints, tendons and ligaments. High body fat has also been linked to colon and liver cancers. As humans, our excellent ability to store fat comes at a cost.

In the last 20 years, medical research has learned much about fat and its effect on our bodies. Recent studies have shown fat to have a powerful effect on all our body systems, primarily through the imbalances it creates with hormone behavior and secretion. Fat becomes an active organ tied to our body's overall systems and is very smart and effective at integrating throughout our internal organs.

It is important to know that we have two types of fat in our body. The first type is subcutaneous fat, which is the fat that keeps most of us from having great abs. Subcutaneous fat is the layer of fat just under our skin and is important because it produces a hormone which helps with our metabolism.

The other fat is called visceral fat, which is a deep fat that is that smart killer I referenced earlier. Visceral fat infiltrates our vital organs, and creates nasty cell-signaling proteins that cause chronic inflammation, tumor growth and cancer, to name a few of its more ominous impacts on our health.

Both subcutaneous and visceral fat displace muscle. Fat makes its way into muscle fibers and impedes muscle performance. As you lose muscle due to sedentary behavior, you are allowing fat to take control and fat will dig in at the cellular level, changing how your body burns sugar and leading to insulin resistance.

Lack of exercise, poor nutrition and poor health habits all tend toward obesity and killer fat in the body. Your body is very well equipped to keep fat in check, starting with nutrition. Eat whole fresh foods, reduce your sugar intake and don't overeat.

The other very important aspect to controlling your body is with muscle mass. Lean muscle changes how your body handles fat. Muscle loves to eat fat and push it out of your body. Muscle and fat do not share well; it is a constant fight in your body for dominance. Fat binds itself in muscle tissue and muscles use fat to fuel performance. The best outcome is a balance of a lean, toned body with an appropriate amount of body fat. This will happen naturally in the body with good nutrition and a very active and fit lifestyle.

Getting to the correct blend of lean muscle and healthy body fat will take dedication, consistency and drive. There will be many reasons people feel they can't get there. And believe it or not, that fat in your body is so smart it is telling your body to rest, eat more, changing your mood and pulling back from healthy activity that puts it in danger of being used as fuel.

As more research is done, the more incredibly scary fat's behavior is unveiled in our bodies. Affecting us mentally, digestively and hormonally once we are out of balance with body fat, it takes over almost all aspects of our body systems.

Fight back, take a stand, build muscle, be active, walk, run, bike, swim, take charge and get your body - and in some cases, your life - back from killer fat.

Judd Jones is a director for the Hagadone Corporation.