Fat: Its role in inflammation

“What is your body fat percentage?”

If you or your healthcare provider did not ask this question, you are missing a vital marker of future health. Good or bad.

I am sorry if this sounds like scare mongering. By the end, I hope to convince you it is not.

Your ideal body fat for men should be under twenty, women below twenty-five.

Excess fat in the body is pro-inflammatory. Think of it like a slowly burning candle that will one day burn your house down.

Excess fat slows down the normal cycle of death of cells. Each cycle in your body has a life cycle. Eventually, the cell dies, and a new cell replaces it.

Excess fat inhibits this process.

The result is a lowering of immunity, susceptibility to infection and disease and worse.

Excess fat inhibits the production of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that helps your body convert sugar in the blood into energy or stored fat.

It might sound like a wonderful thing to happen, but it is not. The excess remains in the blood as blood sugar slowly rusting your body one cell at a time.

For the longest time, excess body fat came to be associated with appearance. If you commented, it was body shaming.

But you would not accuse me of body shaming, if I commented on your body temperature being 105° F.

Prolonged high temperature would be a cause of concern for your health. Excess body fat acts in the same way.

So what can you do?

Start with the acceptance that excess body fat is pro-inflammatory.

Work to reduce it slowly. The one thing you have going for you, is that excess fat takes a very long time to harm you.

If anyone promises a magic cure in a few weeks, they are preying on you. If anyone promises a magic formula, they are preying on you.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain