WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES WEIGHT LOSS SO DIFFICULT? PART II

Today we will look at the cell’s problem, why we can’t burn fat, and why we remain as sugar burners. It’s all about the hormonal receptors on the cells and their ability to connect with the hormones like thyroid, leptin, ghrelin and insulin. Thyroid has a lot to do with your cell’s ability to use fat for energy. Leptin controls your appetite and, indirectly, your body’s ability to burn fat; ghrelin (your hunger hormone) stimulates your appetite, increases food intake and promotes fat storage; and insulin, when it is high, tells your body to store fat.

There are others hormones that contribute as well, but let’s focus on these main hormones. Hormones have to attach to their own receptors in order to be effective. If the receptors are blunted, there is no connection, and therefore no communication to the cell to tell it what to do. Inflammation is the major reason for blunted receptors. Toxicity is also a problem.

Inflammation causes a lot of things – cancer, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and the list goes on and on. If you have inflammation at the cell membrane level, the cell receptors on the cells for those hormones are blunted and unable to do their job. So, for instance, if insulin can’t connect to its receptor to shuttle sugar into the cell for energy, glucose is going to build up in the bloodstream. When this happens, we get fat storage.

Another problem is leptin. It shuts off hunger when it binds to its receptor. You feel satisfied, and leptin kicks in your body’s ability to burn fat, while shutting down your hunger and the desire for food. It kicks in metabolism, too. But when inflammation blunts the leptin receptor, your cells can’t process the information about hormone leptin, and fat burning stops.

You can no longer burn fat for energy, and your body must go to sugar burning for fuel – either from food, which drives cravings, or from muscle that it converts to sugar. When this happens, you can’t control your hunger. So, we need to get the cell to communicate with these hormones again. In order to do that, we have to reduce inflammation. 

When this occurs, the message can now get to the cell, and you can become an efficient fat burner again and burn fat when you’re not eating. When your body wants to efficiently obtain energy, it can then utilize your fat supply, and it won’t touch your muscle. You end up with consistent energy throughout the day, resulting in less fatigue and a decrease in brain fog goes down, with the reduction in inflammation being the key. That’s why weight loss has more to do with hormones and body chemistry than the calories you put into your body.

Now, we said that you need to burn fat. Your hormone receptors actually ride on a type of lipid or fat raft. The two fats that are most responsible for this hormone receptor working are – ready for it – cholesterol and saturated fat!

They are the very fats that people who struggle to lose weight need. The issue is that you need to be able to break these fats down and utilize them in order to make the receptor to the hormones healthy. Our bodies need these fats.

We aren’t talking about any saturated fat, but rather healthy, grass-fed beef fat and butter (like Kerry Gold), and centrifuged or extra virgin coconut oil. We need good, healthy fats to help these hormone receptors become efficient fat burners. It’s a hormone problem, folks, and it’s at the cell level.  Once again, it’s not about calories – it’s body chemistry.

The issue for people who are struggling more to lose weight than others, who’ve been on numerous low-calorie diets, and who’ve gained and lost numerous times, is to reduce inflammation.

The obvious next question would be, then how did inflammation get there in the first place, and how do I get rid of it? We will answer those questions next week.