If the brain recognizes that we are not active and is storing tons of excess fat, why won’t it start to expel it if it’s causing health issues? I feel like the brain should understand that humans shouldn’t be 600 lbs and it should realize that it doesn’t need to store all of that potential energy
In: Biology
>I feel like the brain should understand that humans shouldn’t be 600 lbs
This is the divide between the “smart” side of our brain, and the “animal” side of it, the part that runs our bodily functions and base instincts. And the thing about that animal part of us is that it’s been programmed *really* hard by the process of evolution to do the things that keep us alive in the short term; it’s not about long-term decisions.
Obesity in humans (for the most part) is a really recent issue. For most of the hundreds of thousands of years that “humans” have existed in one form or another, starvation was a constant worry for the entire population, and so the processes that our body follows to take extra food energy and store it as fat are there to ensure our survival between times of plenty and times of famine. Those processes don’t go away because we can rationally think “I don’t need more food right now.” They’re hardwired into the fabric of our being, and the thinking side of us can’t affect that any more than thinking “I don’t want to pee” will stop us from having to pee.
People who can get to 600 lbs generally have other problems besides just their body storing fat – often glandular issues or mental disorders that affect the way that they eat and store fat. But we can’t actively think our way out of storing fat any more than we can think our way out of getting hungry or needing to sleep – they’re programmed functions of our bodies.
I wanna guess the answer to this would be if you looked at Neanderthal times; during the seasons food could be scarce so we evolved to store the fat in case we needed it later ?
Our brains don’t really understand that though. We’re still stuck in caveman mode, when storing extra fat was crucial to survival, and pretty much no one could die of morbid obesity, because finding excess food was rare. The problem is that from an evolutionary standpoint, it’s been only VERY recently that obesity has become a greater problem than starvation for many humans, so evolution hasn’t really been able to adjust yet, and won’t likely be able to do so for many years.
You can’t poop out fat that has been transformed from excess sugars in your blood. Feces is what could not pass through the lining of your digestive tract. Your body converts the excess sugars into fat for storage to be used at a later time when blood sugars are low. Low blood sugar is indicated by decreased insulin hormone levels. When insulin levels are low the pancreas releases glucagon which triggers the body to use its stored fat for energy. Both fat and sugars are complex hydrocarbons and will break down to form H20 and CO2, they can only leave the body as water or be exhaled as CO2 and H2O vapor not feces.
Latest Answers