OBESITY IS A VIRTUE

When you think of all the madness that is around us these days it is a miracle that we as a species have made it this far along the evolutionary rung! This is a sheer testament to the often flawed but resilient minds and bodies that we have been gifted. Even our superhuman ability to put on weight with just the faintest whiff of lemon meringue pie is a result of thousands of years of deliberate design. “What?” “Really?” “My weight gain serves a key biological purpose?” “Is that purpose to torture me into discovering new foods like kale?” Because in that case kale won, not us! Just saying. Ok, let me explain.

The human body is a machine built for survival, simple as that. Almost all of our biological responses to stimuli have developed over time to help keep us alive in what have historically been very harsh climates. Sadly, the modern day obesity epidemic is a result of these ancient external pressures. To understand why, we need to go back 200 000 years to the plains of the Savannah.

Our earliest ancestors were hunter-gatherers that had to learn to live in an unforgiving environment. Their next meal was never guaranteed and so their bodies had to take full advantage of every calorie they consumed so they could survive the inevitable lull that would follow. Our bodies quickly adapted to these constant states of feast and famine by developing a neat trick.

Our bodies learned very early on to metabolise the foods that are essential to the development and functioning of our cells extremely efficiently. We survived primarily on protein and fats with carbs serving as a rare but welcome treat because of their energy dense properties. The scarcity of carbohydrates in nature meant that our senses developed a particular affinity for the taste of sugars which served as motivation to walk that little bit further in pursuit of these jet-like fuels and the accompanying dopamine hit.

You see once consumed, carbs are broken down into glucose and then transported in our blood to our muscles and organs by a hormone called insulin. However, our muscles and organs only require a certain amount of nutrients at a time. So it only makes sense that the leftover calories would be expelled from our bodies right? Well, this is where the wizardry comes in.

Think of insulin as a double sided key that primarily goes around unlocking our cells allowing glucose to enter to fuel our organs. Once those cells have been nourished and the glycogen stores have been filled up, insulin then does something strange. It takes the excess glucose in our blood system and, with the other side of this master key, unlocks our fat cells where the leftover glucose is converted into fat and stored for future use. Unfortunately, this is a one-way pathway which means fat cannot be re-synthesized back into glucose.

Now if you were a hunter-gatherer living hand to mouth this is excellent news because it means your body is storing as much of the food that it can from your last meal until you can find the next one. However, for the modern man, this spells trouble! The question is, if that fat isn’t being broken back down into glucose, how do we get it out? Are we doomed to carrying it around with us for the rest of our lives like a shrine to our weakest moments?

The answer, thankfully, is no! Let me explain.

Fat has its own metabolic pathway separate to carbs and protein, which is spearheaded my molecules known as ketones. Fat is broken down into these water soluble ketone bodies where it is then transported around the body to the desired cells and organs for energy. But wouldn’t it be great if we could just burn our stored fats as our primary source of fuel instead of carbs? Especially considering most of us, god forbid, are not likely to face famine anytime soon. Well the good news is yes we can!

Remember those ketone bodies we mentioned earlier? Well they become our best friend when we are trying to burn fat and inevitably lose weight. When we reduce our glucose intake to near zero, the body is forced to start burning fat for fuel instead. However, glucose is a stubborn child that does not go quietly into the night. So much so that merely reducing our carbohydrate intake to about 5–10% of our nutrient intake is not enough to begin burning fat. This is because the body will begin to break down our muscle proteins, which are a hugely taxing source of energy. The body then converts this protein into glucose to fuel the remaining organs before opening up the fat stores as a last resort.

But alas there is a threshold. In order to enter a state of nutritional ketosis, in which your body is burning fat as the primary source of fuel, we need to be consuming about 75% of our daily nutrient intake as healthy fats with protein making up about 20% and carbs making up only 5%. The great news is most of the flavour in our food comes from fat which means ketogenic meals are delicious and satiating too. This means you never have to starve yourself or deal with cravings and energy crashes as a result of constant flux in blood-glucose levels. Frankly any diet that permits such physiological responses is plainly unsustainable.

So the next time you jump on the scale and it is less flattering than usual, just take a second to think of the great evolutionary processes that allowed for your self-loathing in that moment. ‘Every cloud…’ as they say. ;-)

Written by Kuda Ngulube

SOURCE MATERIAL:

Textbooks:

Allen, L. and Prentice, A. (2005) Encyclopaedia of Human Nutrition. Netherlands. Elsevier.

Guyton, A. and Hall, J. (2015) Textbook of Medical Physiology. London. WB Saunders.

Kang, J. (2013) Nutrition and Metabolism in Sports, Exercise and Health. London. Routledge.

Novels:

Berg, E. (2010) The 7 Principles of Fat Burning: Get Healthy, Lose Weight and Keep It Off. Illinois. KB Publishing.

Berry, K. (2019) Lies My Doctor Told Me: Medical Myths That Can Harm Your Health. Nevada. Victory Belt Publishing.

Ferriss, T. (2011) The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman. New York. Penguin Random House.

Fung, J. (2016) The Obesity Code: The Bestselling Guide to Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss. Melbourne. Scribe Publications.

Goldacre, B. and Farley, R. (2010) Bad Science. London. Fourth Estate.

Greene, R. (2018) The Laws of Human Nature. London. Profile Books.

Harari, Y. (2011) Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. New York. Penguin Random House.

Noakes, T. (2017) Lore of Nutrition: Challenging Conventional Dietary Beliefs. Cape Town. Penguin Random House.

Pollan, M. (2007) The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. London. Penguin Publishing Group.

Taubes, G. (2016) The Case Against Sugar. California. Portobello Books.

Volek, J. and Phinney, S. (2011) The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. Connecticut. Beyond Obesity LLC.

Wilson, J. and Lowery, R. (2017) The Ketogenic Bible: The Authoritative Guide to Ketosis. New York. Simon & Schuster.

Courses:

Nowicki, S. (2004) The Great Courses — Biology: The Science of Life. Duke University.

Shaw Academy (2018) — Sports & Nutrition Certification Course