Hello Dear One!

Have you ever heard of such a thing??

Well, brown fat (brown adipose tissue or BAT) not only exists – but it also DOES something different than the white fat that we’re way more familiar with.

The easy to remember the distinction = white fat makes us FAT and brown fat makes us WARM.

White fat is made up of large fat droplets. which takes up a good amount of space.  White fat stores energy, and offers insulation for our body – especially around the organs.

Now brown fat not only takes up less space than it’s counterpart, but it’s main function is to generate heat vs store energy.

Brown fat contains an uncoupling protein (UCP=1) that releases energy from mitochondria as heat vs ATP (the energy that makes our body GO).

Now where HAS this brown fat been all your life?!?

It’s actually mostly located at the base of your neck and tops of your shoulders closer towards the spine.

AND the truth is you were born with it – which is why babies and young children can happily be wearing less even when it’s chilly out for the older folks (as it does diminish with age).

Now all people have some sort of, “constitutive”, brown fat, but there’s also another form that’s, “recruitable”.

The, “recruitable”, business (found in muscles and white fat throughout the body) can change to brown fat under the right circumstances.

What are those circumstances?

Glad you asked.

HOW TO ACTIVATE BROWN FAT (to burn white fat!):

– COLD will do the trick, especially cold showers (or showers that end with cold water directed at the base of your neck/shoulders), ice baths, being outside in colder weather, plus simply lowering the temperature in your home.

– EXERCISE has been found to stimulate a protein called Irisin that is associated with brown fat.  Less Irisin was found in sedentary people, and more in those that exercise, especially those that perform HIIT (high intensity interval training).

– OVEREATING can also trigger the response of brown fat stimulation and heat generation (thermogenesis).  As unbelievable as this sounds it’s the body’s way to deal with an excess of calories and keep itself within a more comfortable and familiar margin.

When we WAY overeat the body can only do so much with the extra calories.

Sure it can store some as fat, but when we far exceed what we’re physically able to handle – the body gets rid of the surplus calories by INEFFICIENTLY turning them into heat.

So as shoddy a process this is that doesn’t use the fuel we’re consuming best, it ALSO let’s us know that when we WAY overeat from time to time – the body both does NOT and CAN NOT store all those calories as fat and some are sacrificed as heat in the process.

So the delicious and slightly regrettably sized meal from that holiday or celebration might actually have less of an impact than you anticipated.

This also speaks to the carb feasts (that we use for hormonal recalibration) in Fat Burning Mastery that can seem indulgent, large and worrisome – which actually can pack less of a punch than expected!

How exciting!

If that peaks your interest doubly please learn more about Fat Burning and the Fat Burning Mastery program that uses your biology to your advantage – while enabling you to have your cake and eat it too.

Or about coaching or training programs that can also involve guidance from a distance.

 

To getting you clearer on how the body works, and how to make it work for you.

xox, M