Disease
Obesity and Metabolic Obesity
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Obesity and Metabolic Obesity
Body fat matches dietary fat.
What Causes Fat Gain?
Excess body fat is not an ever-growing energy storage, but is actually the body’s means of protecting itself from the toxic onslaught of an unhealthy diet. The body’s ability to deposit fat and toxins in body fat stores spares the brain, heart, blood vessels, and other body organs from dietary toxins and the buildup of fatty plaques.
An extremely important and extremely overlooked fact is that the fat we store matches the fat we eat. Body fat matches dietary fat. When we eat dairy, we store milk fat; when we eat beef, we store beef fat; when we eat chicken, we store chicken fat; and so on. When we eat animal fat, we store animal fat. The body does not make any significant amount of fat out of carbohydrate, and all fat in excess of our needs is more likely to be stored as body fat than metabolized for energy (Fernández-Quintela, et al).
Metabolic Obesity: Worse than Obese
Those individuals who are not predisposed to store fat – who seem to be able to eat anything without gaining any weight – are not as “lucky” as they might think. Obesity is not the only consequence of eating unhealthfully; in fact, the ability to store fat (and dietary toxins, such as heavy metals and pesticides) in body fat stores is protective against other more debilitating diseases, such as neurological disorders. Although some people have more genetic predisposition to disease than others, there is no such thing as “getting away” with eating unhealthfully. Individuals who eat unhealthfully but do not store body fat should perhaps be more concerned about their health because they are vulnerable to the full effects of their unhealthful, or even toxic, diet. Although they may not be immediately apparent, the effects of our diet will manifest over time, both in ourselves and in our children.
Animal Fats and Dietary Toxins
As explained in Dietary Fat, fat from animal sources in particular promotes body fat gain, resists body fat loss, and increases insulin “resistance” (Fernández-Quintela et al). In addition, dietary toxins are also stored in fat, including pesticides and heavy metals. The most significant source of pesticide and heavy metal exposure is animal-based foods because, as just stated, dietary toxins are stored in fat, and when we consume animal fat, we also consume the toxins stored therein. Just another great reason to eliminate meat and animal products from the diet, and to turn to a diet of whole plant foods.
RESEARCH
Fernández-Quintela A, et al. The Role of Dietary Fat in Adipose Tissue Metabolism. Public Health Nutrition, 10[10A], 1126-1131, Oct. 2007.
McCarty MF. Vegan Proteins May Reduce Risk of Cancer, Obesity, and Cardiovascular Disease by Promoting Increased Glucagon Activity. Medical Hypotheses, 53(6): 459-485, Dec. 1999.
McDougall J. Plant Foods Have a Complete Amino Acid Composition. Circulation, 105(25), e197, June 2002.
McMacken M, et al. A Plant-Based Diet for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes. Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, 24(5), 342-354, May 2017.
McCarty MF. GCN2 and FGF21 Are Likely Mediators of the Protection from Cancer, Autoimmunity, Obesity, and Diabetes Afforded by Vegan Diets. Medical Hypotheses, 83(3): 365-371, Sep. 2014.