There are fats you want to avoid eating… Like brain-draining trans fats. Then there are good fats that improve your health… Like avocado oil. The same goes for the fats on your body.
White adipose tissue (WAT) is the unhealthy kind. Your body stores it when you eat more calories than you burn. Too much can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions.1 But there’s another type of fat you want to gain more of. (Yes, you read that right.)
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) or brown fat. You’re born with a good amount of it. It keeps you warm as an infant.2 But you lose BAT as you age. This helpful fat is stored in smaller droplets than WAT… So it doesn’t have the same bulky appearance. In fact, it deposits in the areas of your body that don’t tend to look fat… Like your neck and shoulders.3
Here’s the best part… It helps you burn excess fat to produce heat. Adults who have more of this fat tend to be leaner. But what if you’re starting with a good amount of WAT around your hips and midsection?
Health Watch readers may recall a study in which the WAT on mice was converted to brown fat… All the researchers did was add fruit to the mice’s diet. The result? These mice saw 40% less weight gain from their diet.
Now new research out of the University of Texas reveals humans can convert their white fat to brown fat as well.4 When you “switch on” your BAT, it can boost your metabolic rate and lower blood sugar levels.5
But how can you flip that switch?
Researchers found prolonged adrenaline-releasing stress does the trick.6 But there are easier—and more tolerable—ways to do this…
Muscle contractions release irisin into your bloodstream. It’s a hormone that gives WAT characteristics of brown fat. About one hour of bike riding can triple your irisin production.7 But routines that get more of your muscle groups contracting may boost your irisin levels even more. Bodyweight exercises—like pushups and squats—are good examples.
Exposing yourself to cool temperatures can also increase your brown fat activity. One way to take advantage of this is to set the thermostat to 66° F while you sleep. In one study, people who did this experienced a 30-40% increase in BAT activity.8
One of the easiest ways to help convert your WAT is to get more resveratrol. This antioxidant inhibits white fat from forming. It may also help turn the white fat you have into brown fat.9
You can get about 1.25 mg from a cup of raw red grapes.10 Other fruits with high resveratrol content are organic blueberries and raspberries. You can also enjoy a glass of wine with dinner to help ramp up your weight loss.
In Good Health,
Angela Salerno
Publisher, INH Health Watch
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References:
1http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2013/03/26/brown-fat-white-fat-good-fat-bad-fat/
2https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/321319
3Idem
4http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150804142732.htm
5Idem
6Idem
7http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/february2014/02242014shivering.htm
8http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2014/06/18/db14-0513.abstract
9http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Obesity/52438
10https://www.yahoo.com/health/how-to-turn-bad-body-fat-into-good-fat-125942558943.html