Have you ever wonder despite of countless fat free food and weight loss programs, why so many people are still getting fat?
Everyday we are bombarded with slimming products and programs to lose weight. Do you know that our body actually knows how to lose fat?
Body natural fat burning mechanism
As we eat, our body converts carbohydrate into glucose that travels into our blood stream. Glucose is the primary food for our cells. Whether it is muscle cells, heart cells or brain cells, they need glucose for energy to function properly.
As glucose travels in the bloodstream after a meal, the pancreas produces insulin, which is the gatekeeper of all the cells. Insulin attaches to the cells and opens the door of the cells to allow glucose to enter. But, if we eat more than we need, the excess glucose is stored in the fat cells. When the glucose in the blood is sufficiently reduced, insulin leaves the cell and closes the door to glucose.
When the body needs energy and there is insufficient glucose in the blood to provide the energy, the fat cells release free fatty acids into the bloodstream for the other cells to take up and convert into energy.
This process is called fat burning. Therefore, the body naturally stores fat when there is too much glucose and burns fat when there is not enough glucose.
In problem is most of us do not eat a proper balance diet and live a sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, we don’t benefit from this natural fat control mechanism. As a result, we suffer by storing too much fat and not readily burning them away.
What do you eat for breakfast?
Let’s look at a typical breakfast, which is normally high in sugar and processed food. The sugar is converted into glucose very quickly and rushes into the bloodstream. The pancreas senses the sudden surge in blood glucose respond by rapidly pumping out insulin. Therefore, insulin level spike correspond to glucose level.
Insulin does its job and the working cells are properly fed and excess are stored in the fat cells. This process happens very quickly once the insulin arrives and blood glucose level drop as rapidly as it rises.
However, it takes a longer time for insulin to leave the body. So, even though the blood glucose level has come down, the insulin level remains high. This is a problem because as long as the insulin is present in the blood, the free fatty acids in the fat cells cannot be released
The hungry cells cannot be fed as there is not enough glucose in the blood nor can the free fatty acids be released from the fat cells. This creates hunger and cravings. So, we eat again and the glucose spike back up triggering more insulin to be released to open the doors to the cells and store fat.
This cycle happens through lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and so on. Our body is literally bathed in insulin all day long and much of the night. After some time, insulin takes its toll and our body age faster and develop Type 2 diabetes.
So, this is how the body builds fat over time. In the next post, I will discuss how to stop this phenomenon from happening and let the body does its natural job of burning fat.
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