Apple Cider Vinegar for Health and Beauty: Recipes for Weight Loss, Clear Skin, Superior Health, and Much More—the Natural Way (2015)

What Does Fat Do For Our Bodies?

Sometimes in order to give the right answer, we first have to ask the question in the right way. To properly answer the above question, we have to answer two questions:

1. What purpose does storing fat in our bodies have?

2. What external and internal factors affect the usage of fat?

The most critical reason for our bodies to store fat is to provide us with a storehouse of fuel. This portable resource is there to see us through periods where food is scarce or temporarily unavailable. Our bodies have evolved and adapted over thousands of years to survive harsh winters and long migratory treks as hunter gatherers. They have also needed to provide us with energy on demand to hunt when we haven’t had a meal for a period. Life was pretty rough and brutal back then so our internal organs needed “shock absorbers” to allow our vital organs to survive heavy impacts from falls and blows from our prey. We thus have deep body fat around our livers, lungs, heart, and other organs.

In modern society food is readily available all year round, however our bodies are still driven by our biological imperatives. Funny how our resolve to stick to our diets and eating plans crumbles close to Christmas. The decrease in daylight as winter approaches is a trigger for our bodies to store more fat, to insulate us, and see us through the lean winter months. However, our bodies are amazing biological machines that make our modern lifestyle possible. When we eat, our bodies burn the carbohydrates for instant energy and the protein is also used as a fuel source, but it is our stored fat that that gets us through the long haul of work and exercise.

There are various internal and external factors that affect the way our bodies store and utilize fat. We also need to differentiate between the different types of ingested fats, such as saturated and unsaturated fats and what they do to and for our bodies. These categories of fats are broken down further into many sub-groups, mono-saturated and poly-unsaturated fats are some examples of these.

The major factor in where our bodies store fat is gender. Males tend to start storing fat on their tummies and then spread it evenly over the buttocks, legs, chest, arms, and back. Females tend to store fat mostly on their buttocks, hips, and chest, and then evenly over the rest of their bodies. This difference is again thanks to evolution and Mother Nature!

The interaction of the fats and the other food we ingest with our bodies is greatly affected by the health of our bodies. And in turn, the health of our bodies is greatly affected by the foods we ingest and in what quantities and ratios we ingest them. This is because of the many different types of fat in the food we eat and the fact that these different types of fat react differently with our bodies. If your digestive system is not healthy it can compromise its ability to digest and extract sufficient amounts of the nutrients we need. It is this relationship between food and health that apple cider vinegar interacts with and aids.

During the digestive process, most of the fats we eat are absorbed by our bodies and then recombined and used in the various chemical reactions taking place in our bodies. Certain fats are involved in the reaction of enzymes in the body, some aid the activity of hormones, some vitamins such as A, D, E, and K require the presence of fat in order to be absorbed. Fats also play a role in the health of our nervous system. When combined with the mineral phosphorus, they produce lecithin. Lecithin is required for the production of neurotransmitter chemicals and these chemicals help the brain regulate appetite, mood, and cognitive functions. Some of the fats the body requires cannot be reconstituted, such as Omega-3 and Omega-6. Omega-3 and Omega-6 are fatty acids that work in opposition to one another, so getting the correct ratio in your diet is essential. Omega-6 aids the active responses of the body, raises blood pressure, and aids clotting and cell regeneration. Omega-3 does the opposite and aids the “calming responses.” These fatty acids can be found in various foods such as fish, green leafy vegetables, wheat germ, and olive oil to name a few.

Generally speaking, it’s the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fats that we have to watch in our diets to maintain long-term health. Unsaturated fats are beneficial to our health, while too much saturated fats are detrimental. While both occur in a variety of foods, studies show that they do not occur in equal quantities. Unfortunately, saturated fats are far more prevalent in our normal diets than unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are found in processed foods and animal products such as dairy products, meats, pastries, and chips. Unsaturated fats are found in foods such as nuts, olives, and avocados. The chemical structure of saturated fats is saturated with hydrogen atoms and contains no double bonds between carbon atoms; they are generally not liquid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats have double bonds in their chemical structure, have less hydrogen atoms, and they are generally liquid at room temperature.

So, as you can see, the right amount of the right kind of fats is vital in order to keep our body functioning at its best. There are many ways in which apple cider vinegar helps us to make the best use of the fats we consume in order to improve health and promote weight loss, but more about this later. Let’s take a look at the ways that fat works in the body—for better or for worse.