I know the subject is on mind health, but a discussion on mind health would be woefully inadequate if I were to leave out the effect that fat has on brain health.
Fat Researchers state two main purposes for body fat: 1. Fat stores excess calories in a safe way so we can mobilize the fat stores when we are hungry. 2. Fat releases hormones that control metabolism. There are four different types of body fat identified by Research Scientists thus far: White Fat, Subcutaneous Fat, Visceral Fat, and Brown Fat. Each of the four body fats has a uniquely different function in the overall health of the body human. Since we are talking about the mind we shall focus only on body fats as they relate to a healthy brain.
White Fat: The job of white fat is to store energy and produce hormones that are then secreted into the bloodstream. There isn’t any such thing as ridding the body of white fat. You can reduce the size of the white fat cells, but they are not going to go away - just get smaller. Small white fat cells produce a helpful hormone called adiponectin which makes the liver and muscles sensitive to the hormone insulin, making us less susceptible to diabetes and heart disease. Large white fat cells slow down or may even shut down the production of adiponectin, setting one up for disease, according to Susan Fried, PhD, director of the Boston Obesity and
Subcutaneous Fat is the fat found directly under the skin. It is the fat that’s measured using skin-fold calipers to estimate your total body fat. Depending on the distribution it could be either good fat or bad fat.
Visceral Fat is the fat that wraps around the inner organs and spells trouble for your health. Rachel Whitmer, PhD, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in
Brown Fat is the body’s great insulator. Brown fat keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Lean people tend to have more brown fat than over-fat people. Aaron Cypess, MD, PhD, an instructor of medicine at
A healthy mind must start with a healthy brain if we are to retrain it for appetite control. Next Post begins the “retraining” process. Get ready to relearn everything you ever knew about eating.