Fat body

“ Taken in moderation they are easily digested, but if taken in excess they become a burden to the system. About 7 or 8 per cent of the weight of a normal body is fat, and this fat is formed chiefly from the fatty foods taken into the system, supplemented by the sugar and starch.
When the body becomes very fat, it is a disease, called obesity. Fat people are never healthy. The fat usurps the place that should be occupied by normal tissues and organs. It crowds the heart and the lungs, and even replaces the muscle cells in the heart. ”

“ It is necessary to distinguish carefully the size of the body which arises from cellular fat, from that which is the consequence of the proper development and nutrition of the organs. 3d. Oftentimes the causes which evidently weaken the powers of life, produce a considerable quantity of fat; such as inactivity, rest, great and long continued hemorrhage, convalescence from certain acute diseases, in which the powers still languish, though fat abounds. 4th. A fatty state of the muscles is a state of evident weakness in them. ”

“ The Fat, Overweight Individual
¶ Soft flesh thickly padded over a small-boned body distinguishes the pure Alimentive type. In men of this type the largest part of the body is around the girth; in women it is around the hips. These always indicate a large nutritive system in good working order. Fat is only surplus tissue—the amount manufactured by the assimilative system over and above the needs of the body. ”

“ After the first half or so of life has passed away, instead of periodical sickness, the unemployed material may be relegated in the form of fat to be stored on the external surface of the body, or be packed among the internal organs, and thus he or she may become corpulent and heavy, if a facility for converting appropriate material into fat is consistent with the constitution of the individual; for some constitutions appear to be without the power of storing fat, however rich the diet or inactive their habits may be. ”

“ This fact is taken advantage of in treatment for reducing flesh; where one lays on flesh it is evident that more food has been taken than was required for metabolism so that the surplus has been stored in the form of fat. The only way to reduce the weight is to compel the body to burn up that stored fat. ”

“ Thin persons need more food in proportion to their weights than fat ones. In order to lose weight, the body must be driven to consume its own fat.
To take care of the internal work of the body, breathing, heart-beating, digestion, involuntary pull of the muscles, and for the multiplied activities of the cells, each hour during the twenty-four we must have a certain number of calories as our basal requirement. ”

“ Weight for weight, fat furnishes twice as much heat as the carbohydrates, and in bulk the difference is even more striking; for example (about) two tablespoonfuls of sugar are required to produce 100 calories, whereas one scant tablespoonful of olive oil will produce a like number of heat units. As a source of supply for reserve energy in the body, fat is most valuable. This reserve fuel is stored in the form of adipose tissues underlying the skin and surrounding the vital organs, lending contour to the form and protecting the organs from jars and shocks. ”

“ Dietetic Treatment is most important. It constitutes the only rational method of ridding the body of its surplus fat. To do this it is necessary to regulate the diet both as to quantity and type. Fat-forming foods are those which the body utilizes most easily for the production and storage of fat. Any food, no matter whether it is fat-forming or [Pg 447] not, if taken greatly in excess of the needs of the body, will be stored as adipose tissue. ”

“ Exercise in the open air favors the excretion of waste matters which otherwise would be deposited in the cellular tissues. The fatty degeneration so much admired in infancy, aids in the production of emaciation and consumption at adult age.
A fat person, at whatever period of life, has not a sound tissue in his body; not only is the entire muscular system degenerated with the fatty particles, [54] 149 but the vital organs—heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, liver, etc.—are likewise mottled throughout, like rust spots in a steel watch-spring, liable to fail at any moment. ”

“ But in my opinion the true explanation is to be found in the fact that variations in the amount of fat in the body are normally far more extensive in women than in men; at puberty, during pregnancy, and during lactation, extensive though gradually effected changes in the amount of adipose tissue in various parts of the body occur, so that experience has rendered the organism ready to adapt itself to the further changes that take place at the climacteric—above all, the heart has become competent to meet very various demands upon its powers. ”

“ The abdomen attains a vast size, and impedes walking; so that a person labouring under obesity carries the head erect, and the body thrown back, as in the case of a pregnant woman, in order to preserve the necessary equilibrium and not fall forward. The intestinal mass, with its surrounding fat, being connected with the kidneys, by its weight gives rise to a dragging sensation, and causes pain on walking. It also pushes up the diaphragm, compresses the lungs and the heart, and becomes one of the causes of the sense of oppression complained of by fat people. ”

“ Thus it is seen that when the intake is constantly greater than the energy expenditure there must necessarily be some way in which the body can store up the surplus fuel, and so long as the digestion remains good and the amount of exercise limited there is no reason why there should not be a constant and steady accumulation of surplus fat which inevitably terminates in obesity. ”

“ Many authors, both ancient and modern, and many physicians also, recommend, in order to reduce obesity, that the patient should eat a less amount by weight than the body loses. By such means a wasting of all the organs of the body would be simultaneously effected; not only fat, but muscle, nerve, tissue, blood—all must suffer. ”

“ In accordance with the opinions of able physiologists, fat ought to constitute one-twentieth of the entire weight of the body in man (in the female about one-third more than in the male) . It consists of a multitude of minute cells, frequently forming large masses held together by a very delicate membrane, the areolar tissue, which serves as a reservoir, and prevents the fat (which is fluid during life) from floating. ”

“ Fatty Metamorphosis, Fatty Degeneration, and Fatty Infiltration.
The fat which is present within the body under physiological conditions owes its origin primarily to the food taken. A diet which is abundantly fatty furnishes a direct source for much of the fat which appears accumulated in the various organs and tissues. ”

“ Fats and oils are but little changed during digestion. The fat is divided into little globules by the action of the pancreatic juice and other digestive elements, and is absorbed by the system. Fat forms the chief material in adipose tissue, a fatty layer lying beneath the skin, which keeps the warmth in the body, and is re-absorbed into the blood, keeping up heat and activity, and preserving other tissues during abstinence from food. ”

“ The fats eaten are not stored in the body directly, but the body constructs its fats from those eaten, and from other substances in food,—according to some authorities from the carbohydrates and proteids, and according to others from proteids alone.
Fats are stored away as fat, furnish heat, and are used for energy; at least, it is probable that at times they are put to the latter use. The fats laid by in the body for future use last in cases of starvation quite a long time, depending, of course, upon the amount. At such times a fat animal will live longer than a lean one. ”

“ When people are more than 10 per cent. over weight they are in the danger zone, and with 20 per cent. above the normal, decrease must come or the condition becomes inveterate. It is between these two points and not when they are forty or fifty pounds over weight that they need the advice of a physician and the careful institution of regular life to prevent further fat accumulation. After the body has carried thirty or forty pounds over weight for some time, it has acquired the habit of accumulating fat, rather than using it, and this, once acquired, is hard to break. ”

“ In some cases there is a disposition of too much fatty matter in the system; and many people suppose that fatness is a sign of healthfulness, which is false. No one needs any more fat on his body than is essential to form cushions for his tendons and muscles; if too much, there is a depletion of strength. ”

“ Those who believe as I do, that an excessive development of fat may induce and sustain a generally diseased condition of body, will readily admit that the diminution of excessive obesity is the only rational means of cure in such a case. ”

“ It strengthens the eyesight and increases the energy of the body, improves its power of digestion and heightens its glow and complexion. Fat is deranged by such acts as, an abuse of astringent, bitter, cold, parchifying or Vistambhi (indigestible food which remains stuffed in the stomach) substances, a voluntary repression of the natural urging for evacutions of the body, by excessive sexual indulgence, and fatiguing physical exercise, or by the draining action of any particular disease. ”

“ Broth contains gluten and albumen, both of which are changed in the body into flesh. Not only the animal part of our body, but chiefly the active, working part of it requires nutriment that can be transformed partly into fat. Breath and perspiration, so unavoidable in labor, are supported by means of fat in our body. This explains why fat people perspire more than others; why fat people get out of breath sooner than lean persons; why the other sex, who are more apt to become fat than men, perspire more ”

“ According to various investigators, the fat which causes the turbidity of the blood plasma at the height of absorption will, as a rule, disappear after a few hours, part of it being burned as fuel, producing energy for the internal and external work of the body, and at least a part of the fats eaten being rebuilt into body fat. ”

“ Inasmuch as an excess of food and drink make an excess of fat, it follows that the reduction in the amount of food will stop that fat-forming and give the body a chance to burn up the excess fat already formed. ”

“ The chief function of fatty food is to repair and renew the fatty tissues, to yield energy and to maintain the body heat. The presence of fat in food promotes the flow of the pancreatic juice and bile, which help in the assimilation of other foods and assist the excretory functions of the intestine. ”

“ Moreover, it is lined throughout with a base work of fat, which gives extra support and security to the muscles, and, wherever in the body protection from the results of pressure is needed, we find that this fat is deposited in actual cushions, as under the heels, under the balls of the toes, on the hips, etc. ”

“ So the actual bulk and weight of blood scarcely ever varies in the same person, although it may be quite different in different individuals. For the average man it may be set down at from one-fourteenth to one-twelfth of the body weight—that is, between 103⁄4 and 121⁄2 lbs. Women and fat men have proportionately less.
The remainder of the body-weight is made up of the heavy liver, the light lungs, the heart, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, intestines, brain, nerves, skin, hair, nails. ”

“ The order of increase might be different in people who fatten while afoot.
Facts of this nature suggest that the putting on of fat must be due to very generalized conditions, and be less under the control of local causes than is the nutrition of muscles, for, while it is true that in wasting from nerve-lesions the muscular and fatty tissues alike lessen, it is possible to cause by exercise rapid increase in the bulk of muscle in a limb or a part of a limb, but not in any way to cause direct and limited local increment of fat. ”

“ The loss of fat which is not due to change of diet or to exercise, especially its rapid or steady loss, nearly always goes along with conditions which impoverish the blood, and, on the other hand, the gain of fat up to a certain point seems to go hand in hand with a rise in all other essentials of health, and notably with an improvement in the color and amount of the red corpuscles. ”

“ Adiposity or obesity occurs when we have an excessive amount of fat stored in the normal connective-tissue areas of adipose tissue. It may be caused by various conditions, e.g. over nutrition with lack of muscular energy, beer-drinking, castration, lactation, disturbed metabolism, some forms of insanity, and may follow on some fevers. ”

“ Independently of its importance as a non-conducting substance in impeding the too rapid escape of animal heat, fat may also be regarded as a store of material to compensate for waste of tissue, under sickness, or other circumstances, entailing temporary abstinence from food. But when fat accumulates to the extent of interfering with important functions, and becomes a load and a drag, impeding the respiratory movements, making exercise painful, and dulling the sensibilities, it is then not only a source of great discomfort, but the precursor of positive disease. ”

“ There is no struggle in this case between the several food constituents, and therefore no one of them suffers. In harmony also with daily experience the physician, in cases of weakness of the stomach, totally excludes fatty food and recommends meat of a fat-free kind; for example, game, etc. In pathological cases, however, where an excessive activity of the gastric glands is manifested, fatty food, or fat as emulsion, is prescribed. And here medicine has empirically brought to its aid the restraining action of fat, which we have so strikingly seen in our experiments. ”