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Show X i 4 ' ' I FITNESS TIPS s FITNESS TIPS By Dr. Dale Nelson A number of studies have shown runners and active people to have favorable cholesterol levels. Even the distance that people run is found to be related to the amount of "good" cholesterol compared to total cholesterol. The part of these studies that seems to get little attention at-tention is the fact that runners also tend to be lean. Now the point is that there is a great deal of evidence from many different studies that groups of lean people tend to have more favorable cholesterol levels - regardless regar-dless of why they are lean-than lean-than people who are overweight. over-weight. This doesn't necessarily mean that the running did not make a favorable contribution. con-tribution. There is no way to parcel out all the contributing con-tributing factors. Leanness could be more important than we think. Hyperplastic Obesity Recent experiments of hyperplastic obesity (overweight related to an excessive number of fat cells) and hypertrophic obesity (overweight related to a normal number of fat cells in the body can increase in-crease at any age. It was formerly thought to occur early in life. Even though the size of fat cells can be reduced through diet and exercise, recent studies show that the number cannot be diminished. Once you've acquired a fat cell, you're stuck with it for life, and the more fat cells you have, the harder it is to lose weight and keep it off. , In one study comparing hyperplastic subjects (number of fat cells) and hypertrophic subjects (size of cells on a strenuous exercise program, it ' was found that, when allowed to j eat as they pleased, the hyperplastic subjects lost no body fat, while the hyper- trophic group did lose fat. So what, you say! Well, it is obvious that the size and number of fat cells is significant. The most important point here also seems obvious. Don't let yourself get fat in the first place. Nevertheless, don't give up. You can and should get lean, because it is obvious ob-vious that the lean people are going to inherit the I earth. (It might help if you l are meek, too.) x More on Fat (Thermogenisis) It was formerly thought that thermogenisis, the tran- sformation of excess f calories into heat energy rather than storing excess energy as fat, occurred only in animals. We now know that it occurs in humans and i may explain why some I people are able to eat all they want and not get fat, t whereas other people get fat with relatively little food intake. This phenomenon is believed to take place in adipose tissue called brown fat. Brown fat makes up only J' about 1 percent of body mass in humans, but when it gets revved-up it can produce an j amount of heat equal to what the rest of the body can ; produce. We know that there is diet- induced thermogenisis as f well , as thermogenisis produced from cold adap- ' f tation, and now it appears I" that some humans function better than others when it I comes to either storing or burning excess calories. But don't let this discourage you if you are I one that seems to have a I brown fat problem. Lifestyle Life-style changes can still be made to work, and who knows, maybe you will produce more brown fat. |