The Fat Burning Furnace Within

Our bodies require energy. They burn fat. There is a fat burning furnace within each of us. Our food is broken down from fat into complex sugars and then down to simple sugars which the body burns at the cell level. If the body has more fat than is needed the body stores the fat and we put on weight. If this is allowed to continue we become obese. If the body has less fat than is needed it takes fat from its stores within the body and we lose weight. The obvious trick is to maintain a balance between what we take in and what we need to burn to run the body.

The Main Control Center
The main control center for our fat burning furnace is our liver. If the liver is functioning correctly then it is able to deal with the imbalances that may exist between what we eat and the energy we expend. However another function of the liver is to rid the body of impurities the body does not need. For instance we rely on the liver to break down alcohol and to remove what is not required from the body. Our modern lifestyle places demands on our livers that we often do not fully appreciate. Our personal fat burning furnace is not functioning at its optimal level.

Non Fat Burning Foods
Unfortunately we have come to rely on foods prepared for us by the major food companies. But nearly all of these foods are not fat burning foods. To prolong shelf life the food companies add preservatives. To get us to buy their products they add flavor enhancers and food colorings. What we have forgotten is that all these preservatives and flavour enhancers are not food but chemicals which the liver is called upon to rid from the body. Salt and sugar are added in quantities not normally found in natural food. A liver that is spending most of the time ridding the body of these impurities greatly affects its ability to maintain a desired balance of body fat. The liver simply stores the fat while it deals with the issues of these other impurities. The end result we are facing a modern epidemic of obesity. The modern diet has directly affected the fat burning furnace that resides in all of us.

Our Need for Energy
Every cell in our body needs energy to function therefore every cell in our body is dependent on the liver to supply that energy as required. The cells that burn the most energy are our muscles. This is why exercise is a very important factor in controlling our levels of body fat. Athletes in training will eat enormous quantities of food simply because they are placing enormous demands on their bodies in the form of exercise. They become a real fat burning furnace. They have to eat these quantities to supply the energy they need.

It is only logical that any attempt to lower the level of fat stored in our bodies is going to involve some form of fat burning exercise. Running or swimming for long periods have been the popular view for those who really want to burn fat. Others have taken a more moderate view suggesting that 30 to 40 minutes of brisk walking is all that is need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with either of these two views. Every person has to find what is right for them.

Fat Burning Exercise
A view that is slowly growing by professionals is that when we engage in long periods of training either running, swimming or at the gym, while the body burns fat there is also a counter response within the body. This response is an attempt to store fat against the next episode of these long periods of training. This response can be counterproductive as we seek to seek to burn fat. Our bodies are complex machines. We are fully aware that these few paragraphs are a simplification of how our bodies work. However there is now a view developing that our fat burning furnace is better served by short periods of high resistance training. Short periods of 15 to 20 minutes of a full body work out which takes each muscle group up to the point of maximum exertion followed by a rest period of two or three days actually burns more fat than the daily routines of much longer periods. These exercise sessions actually raise our Resting Metabolic Rate for some 70 hours during which we burn more fat.

We are sure this kind of debate will be discussed in many gyms and weight loss centers around the world. However many have found the high resistance training very effective in burning fat and losing weight.

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