Fasting against adipose tissue

Intro

In the fasting-intro we claimed that fasting is a good way to lose weight, and fulfill all those new-years resolutions. But apart from that January-spur of energy, why should we care, and invest that time and energy?

The dangers of weight

Once upon a time, before humans found the fast-food and frozen aisle hunting grounds, it was typically preferred to eat as much food as possible [Owen 1979]. Better than to leave it for the wolves. The inter-species contracts of ~ 30.000 BC between humans and canines were still in the making after all [Skoglund 2015, Lahtinen 2021]. Thankfully, evolution gave us an insatiable will (hunger) and means (fatty cells, adipose tissue) to carry that excess energy with us. Most animals still follow this fashion.

But as humanity discovered intelligence, little helpers like documentation and other nifty tools, the hunt and gathering of food became less and less an issue of the day [Hallo 1971, Comedian70 2023]. Other needs took a step forward on the stage of our emotional life. At least so we thought, for we were all of us deceived.

While we dreamed we could leave the hardships of the daily grind for food behind, evolution is slow; really slow. And while food can now be found at every corner in any remotely developed village, town or city, our brains still crave the fats and sugars and proteins in all their varieties and colors.

What happens when we have as much food available as we desire and retain a motivation to consume as much of it as possible, from a time where our distant kins were lucky to find berries that weren’t poisonous? We gain weight. To be exact, our adipose tissue grows in ways that would make any prehistoric homini blush with envy. The obesity that follows is as dependable as a caffeinated rooster with a Swiss watch. Obesity doesn’t need to be an issue, but adipose tissue has some detrimental effects on the body.

Impact forces

Although we tend to move less, we haven’t yet fully succumbed to the wall-e-esque lifestyle.
_{Speak for yourself. *sips drink*}

And movement means bumps and jumps, cracks and bruises, and falls and cries. The more we weight, the higher are the impact-forces that riddle our muscles, bones and joints in any of those instances.
^{Mass times acceleration my ass!}

While we are young, we laugh about them with a lightness that puts Helium to shame. But at some point the repair-people in our bodies will throw down their wrenches and stop working with curses and aches. Then, the micro-scale injuries we sustain with every bounce, jump and even step, start to run haywire. The more we weight, the more severe the effects. The pains that shoot through our backs, muscles and bones can even start as early as childhood [Paulis 2014].

But adipose tissue does more than just increase the forces our body has to stand against.

Diseases

Studies have shown that the cells in adipose tissue release proteins that can cause trifles such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer.

Fasting to the rescue

Here fasting offers to step in, like a hero at dawn; ready to face the demons of obesity.

Reduced nutritional intake

The obvious way fasting deals with that extra around the hips is that when we fast, we simply tend to eat less [Wan 2010]. The reason might be, that we are, deep in the back of our minds, guests at Pavlov’s breakfast, lunch and dinner. Meaning, there is a lot of conditioning at play when it comes to food [Stevenson 2023]:

• We are used to eat specific tastes.
• We are used to eat at specific times.
• We are used to eat specific amounts.

Fasting turns the metabolic switch

Also, once the carbohydrates in the blood (glucose) and the liver (glycogen) are used up, we turn to the next best thing like a disgruntled kid that finds out that all the cookies are gone and now has to eat them apples: fat.

And then, less obviously, fasting has a another effect up its sleeve.

Increased physical activity

It increases physical activity [Goodrick 1983]. Yes, the opposite any right minded person, including this article’s author, would have guessed indeed seems to be the case. Instead of slumping away, fasting codents hit the treadmill a substantially higher amount than their food-lavising cousins.

Outro

In short, fasting is a wunderwaffe against that little “something around the hip”, when used responsibly. Taking a step back from that sweet cake and waiting a little, taking a walk or bike-ride might be all that is necessary to start.

Sources

Key	Citation
Comedian70 2023	Comedian70. 2023. https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/comments/18xf1ji/the_farthest_oldest_galaxy_known_to_mankind/kg5tpv3/
Goodrick 1983	Goodrick, C. L., Ingram, D. K., Reynolds, M. A., Freeman, J. R., & Cider, N. L. (1983). Differential effects of intermittent feeding and voluntary exercise on body weight and lifespan in adult rats. Journal of gerontology, 38(1), 36-45.
Lahtinen 2021	Lahtinen, M., Clinnick, D., Mannermaa, K., Salonen, J. S., & Viranta, S. (2021). Excess protein enabled dog domestication during severe Ice Age winters. Scientific reports, 11(1), 7.
Owen 1979	Owen, O. E., Reichard, G. A., Patel, M. S., & Boden, G. (1979). Energy metabolism in feasting and fasting. Hormones and Energy Metabolism, 169-188.
Paulis 2014	Paulis, W. D., Silva, S., Koes, B. W., & van Middelkoop, M. (2014). Overweight and obesity are associated with musculoskeletal complaints as early as childhood: a systematic review. Obesity Reviews, 15(1), 52-67.
Skoglund 2015	Skoglund, P., Ersmark, E., Palkopoulou, E., & Dalén, L. (2015). Ancient wolf genome reveals an early divergence of domestic dog ancestors and admixture into high-latitude breeds. Current Biology, 25(11), 1515-1519.
Stevenson 2023	Stevenson, R. J. (2023). The psychological basis of hunger and its dysfunctions. Nutrition Reviews, nuad092.
Wan 2010	Wan, R., Ahmet, I., Brown, M., Cheng, A., Kamimura, N., Talan, M., & Mattson, M. P. (2010). Cardioprotective effect of intermittent fasting is associated with an elevation of adiponectin levels in rats. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 21(5), 413–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2009.01.020