FATS AS A FORM OF WEIGHT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Good day great steemians, i want to take us through an interesting area of our life, it’s no other area than our weight management through the use of fats. Sounds interesting right? Ok, stay with me. Often times we notice people are always battling with their weights. It has made a lot of people develop low self-esteem due to the fact that they are too slim or too fat. The latter has always however, been a major concern for men and women. It is the dream of many to eat and never get fat (increase in bodily stature), that sounds too good and interesting. But, you notice that it is very difficult to come by. At the end of this piece, I hope some steemians can happily eat, eat and eat lots of fats, without worrying of getting fat (someone is wondering how). Also, for some of us who even after eating everything edible and eatable wouldn’t still get fat, that can be frustrating and disheartening too. You just have to maybe stop eating and watch if you could get fat (hahaha, I was just kidding). I hope you can find some tips helpful for you also. Let’s go.
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WHAT IS WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
Weight management is a way to track your weight over time and set ideal body weights exclusively in line with an individual goals and desire. Weight management does not an include abrupt diets that promote quick, temporary weight loss. It focuses on the long-term results that are achieved through slow weight loss, followed by retention of an ideal body weight. Let’s move to the next one.
WHAT ARE FATS
Fats are a class of food component that are biochemically regarded as LIPIDS. Fats are however seen virtually in every part of our body. Some of us have heard about adipose tissues, the fats we consume get stored in the body in an area known as adipose tissue, this tissue help store fats and is generally known to be unlimited in the sense that it stores lots of fats and gets expanded as we consume more fats. This is however an interesting mechanism by which we get fat, I will talk about it more below. Some fats can include our meats, oils, vegetables etc.
HOW DO WE GAIN WEIGHT AND BECOME FAT
This is a biochemical process. However, for some of us that are not medical or health science students, I will try as much as possible to simplify it and bring it home. Usually, when we eat food either carbohydrate, protein or fat, our body preferentially uses carbohydrate in its simplest form (glucose). This glucose is what keeps you going, it is what your brain uses in thinking, your muscles in walking, your blood cells and almost every dynamic and passive part of your body. Carbohydrates like I pointed are broken down into simple sugars (glucose) in the intestines. The sugar is then absorbed into the blood, raising the blood glucose levels. This increases the production of the hormone insulin, our fat storing hormone. Insulin is produced in the pancreas. In large amounts, it prevents fat burning and stores surplus nutrients in fat cells (adipose tissue). After some time (a few hours or less) this may result in a perceived shortage of nutrients in the blood, creating feelings of hunger and cravings for something sweet. Usually at that point people eat again. This starts the process again: we start eating and eating, our adipose tissue and other fat stores keeps expanding and expanding and we keep getting bigger and bigger. The side effect of our body using glucose is that it prevents our body from using the fats and proteins we consume. This makes our fat pile up and increases our body structure. Hence, we become fat. Also, excess of carbohydrates are converted to fats, so you see that fats relatively becomes excess in your system. But then, there is a way out.
HOW WE CAN MANAGE OUR WEIGHT THROUGH FATS
That’s the main gist. I can sum up the process with just one word ---Keto-adaption. Keto-adaption refers to the process where cells transit from relying on glucose to relying on fat for fuel. During this time, the cells shift from burning glucose to burning free fatty acids in the blood. This process is facilitated by fasting/starvation and ketogenic diet(fat) diet. Fasting is usually seen after hours of a good meal(2-4 hours). It is however, not really same with fasting in some religions. In this one, our blood glucose becomes depleted due to its use by several body organs. The body now adapts to its second fuel for sustenance. This results in several enzymes being activated and breaks fats in (adipose tissue). This fats are converted into what the body can readily use (ketone bodies) for energy. They are acetoacetate, hydroxybutyrate and acetone(ketone bodies). Note, that these fats were accumulated in the body before which made thye body big. So since they are now broken down, the body fats gradually become lesser and we gradually begin to loose weight. But on a long run, starving or not eating which is a form of fasting could be annoying and painful. Hence, a more better way of weight management through fats (KETOGENIC DIETS). Ketogenic diets are diets with a very low-carbohydrate, high fat and adequate protein which turns the body into a fat-burning machine. The “keto” in a ketogenic diet comes from the fact that it makes the body produce small fuel molecules called “ketones” which I earlier discussed. On a ketogenic diet, your entire body switches its fuel supply to run almost entirely on fat. Insulin levels become very low, and fat burning increases dramatically. It becomes easy to access your fat stores to burn them off. This usually leads to fat loss, especially around the areas where fat accumulated, and intermittently results in weight loss (management).
FOODS RICH IN FATS (KETOGENIC DIETS)
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Eggs and diary products
Nuts and seeds
Green vegetables
Some non green vegetables
Oils
Meat
This is a tool that has proven effective in weight management. Individuals who tend to manage their weight should constantly adopt this process and also avoid the regular consumption of the following food which can prevent your body from burning fats
NON KETOGENIC DIETS INCLUDE (TRY TO AVOID FOR WEIGHT MANAGEMENT)
Bread
Pasta
Sugar
Milk
Corn
Beans
Rice
I hope this helps someone out there to effectively manage his or her weight. Exercise can also be helpful so your body can continue burning fat. Don’t feel bad over your weight; just take necessary steps to manage them. See you next time great steemians.