Did you know that body fat is actually considered to be an organ? Indeed a vital organ, to be exact, just like the liver, kidney, skin, or even the heart! Complete with blood vessels, nerves, and of course, fat cells, body fat is a vital organ that secretes proteins, substances and hormones that effect the bodies metabolism, energy balance and fat storage. The function of body fat organs vary according to where they are located in the body. Lower body fat organs are female fat body organs. Upper body fat organs exist in both men and women. Each body fat organ has special functions, which means they all absorb and release specific fatty acids, as well as, respond to and secrete specific hormones according to where in the body they are located.
For instance, the body fat organ on women's hips and thighs respond to female hormones in natural preparation for pregnancy. The secretion of the female hormone, progesterone, increases by a factor of one thousand directly after ovulation during menstruation. It is no illusion that women are gaining small amounts of weight besides being bloated at that time! Their body is preparing for pregnancy. And the developing fat organ in the hips and thighs will grow much more if and when they actually do become pregnant. Considerable calories must be stored to provide sustenance for a newborn.
Because of this process, women on average gain about 30 to 40 pounds during pregnancy. Often, if there is no weight maintenance diet program, exercise, or if the mother chooses not to breast feed and doesn't diet, the gained weight will still be there six months after delivery. This is why the number one cause accounting for female obesity is weight gain after pregnancy.
Sadly, lower body fat is toughest to lose through diet. So much so, that many women have literally starved themselves and even lost too much weight in the face or upper body to look healthy. Therefore it is important to be aware of your ideal weight and shape if you have more lower body fat than upper. The truth is, there is nothing wrong with the lower body of fat, it's just that society has branded it bad over the past four decades. Prior to four decades ago, women with lower body fat were considered desirable and were in demand. It has been observed that society needs more tolerance in this area.
The fat organ around the intestines in the middle of the body also has special qualities, responding to specific hormones and releasing specific substances into the bloodstream. Both men and women can gain abdominal fat. This fat organ responds to dieting more easily. Since its easier to lose weight here, it is often the first to go when people with both upper and lower body fat are dieting.
While there are women who accumulate both upper and lower body fat, some women tend to have only upper body fat and never accumulate much lower body fat. These women tend to have a higher measure of male hormone levels. The women with only upper fat are three times more likely to suffer breast cancer, and nine times more likely to become diabetic.
Abdominal fat is essentially storing a little fat for dealing with short starvation periods. Since this has directly to do with nourishment, and humans are more susceptible to infection when malnourished, it stands to reason that abdominal fat secretes substances that fight and protect against infections. This fat also responds to stress. With too much, a stress hormone produced by the adrenal gland is overproduced, and the abdominal fat gland will increase in the middle of the body. This is associated with a disease called Cushing's syndrome.
In conclusion, it's important to realize that these body fat organs, like vital organs, have special functions responding to and secreting specific substances and hormones in various parts of the body. This vital organ, the fat organ, is primarily involved with sustenance and nourishment providing for periods of starvation. And, in terms of nourishment, vital fat organs have a lot to do with transmitting to the brain what state of nourishment the body is in. So, it becomes very important to keep these fat organs as optimally nourished as possible. Unchecked, too much of any stimulus will cause a fat organ to increase in growth, and do just what it's named to do. Store body fat! It should also be noted that fat organs become storage places for random toxins in order to keep them as far away from the internal organs as possible. It is therefore highly recommended that a diet of optimal nutrition be adhered to as much as possible. With so many varied responses and secretions from the various fat cells involved, it makes great sense to nourish the body by feeding each and every cell properly. Consequently a diet program following the principle of cellular nutrition is ideal. It will provide the proper nourishment for all fat cells involved. Even further, it will provide the nourishment needed to satisfy hunger and not transmit a starvation mode signal to the brain, and it will help regulate calorie intake so as to help prevent the unwarranted storage of fat!
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