Fat! What You Really Need To Know

Nonfiction Project: “Fat!”

Virtually everyone has some. Many have more than they want. Some have way more than they want. What? Fat! Despite enticing claims for pop diets and “magic” pills, it appears to be an immutable fact of life that if you take in more energy from food than you use, the excess is converted to fat.

It really is genetic! In a feast or famine existence, when a feast occurred, some of our primitive ancestors were able to eat everything they could hold, use what food energy was necessary, and store any excess food energy as fat, which they used to survive the next famine. They were constantly on the move, looking for the next feast, and therefore, were rarely fat. Those that survived passed their genes on to us, which allow us to readily process excess food energy into fat and to “protect” the fat when food is restricted (e.g., when dieting) at the expense of lean tissue and muscle.

Unfortunately, in 21st century America, the feasts come often and famines are rare. For example, an “average” adult male needs about 2500 calories to maintain normal functions of his body without any net weight gain or loss. Let us assume that he has eaten his allotted calories and decides to have a snack, a McDonalds hamburger, medium fries, and a medium Coke. That’s about 943 calories over and above his daily needs, so the excess energy will be stored as fat, about a quarter of a pound of fat. He would have to run for about 2 hours (12 minute miles) to work off that excess energy.

Today, the feasts often consist of large portions of high calorie foods, rich in fats and carbohydrates. For most modern Americans, exercise consists of walking to and from their car, around their home and workspace, with occasional trips to the grocery store or shopping mall. For most, vigorous exercise is something that they think about rather than actively engage in.

My 60,000-word book, “Fat!” will provide up-to-date information about what fat is, where it comes from, where it is located, why we have it, and what it does. “Fat!” will discuss how and why our bodies “protect” fat stores and why this makes dieting so difficult. “Fat!” will describe how excess energy is converted to fat (adipose tissue), how it interacts with other tissues, and how we can determine just how fat we are. “Fat!” will discuss how neuronal signals, hormones, and other powerful chemical messengers affect adipose tissue and how adipose tissue affect the rest of the body, including the brain and nervous system and help control our appetite.

I have taught human physiology to more than 2000 students with widely varying backgrounds and psychopharmacology to approximately 300 students. I have professional papers in more than 25 different refereed scientific journals and articles in popular magazines and trade journals dealing with a variety of topics. I have published eight books for audiences ranging from professionals in the stock market to high school students who read at a fourth grade reading level.