Oestrogen Vs Fat Cells Essay

Here’s a brief explanation: As soon as your fat cells detect a slightly lower oe- strogen level, they come to your aid to produce oestrogen for you. (Fat cells pro- ducing oestrogen? This may surprise you, but it’s one of their highly evolved func- tions.) They know that eventually your ovaries will stop producing oestrogen, so they start preparing to take over the ovaries’ job. They increase their size, number and ability to store fat. Interestingly enough, the fat cells in your waist grow the largest because they are better equipped to produce oestrogen than the fat cells in your buttocks, hips or thighs. The larger and more active your abdominal fat cells become, the more oestrogen will be produced, and the more benefits you will
Diets don’t work for most women regardless of age, but for menopausal women diets have close to a 100 per cent failure rate. Even on an 800-calorie-a-day diet, your fat cells will refuse to shrink and will fight back by growing even larger. Fat cells have an important mis- sion – to manufacture oestrogen and balance your body during the transition – and they will do everything possible to make sure that they don’t let you down.
If fat cells are invaluable for helping to ease the transition, then why are women reporting more menopausal discomfort, hot flushes and forgetfulness than ever before? The headlines have informed us that obesity is on the rise and that women weigh more than ever, so what’s going on? Are fat cells sleeping on the job? Have they lost their ability to produce oestrogen?
Our fat cells are not responsible; we are. We are preventing them from doing their job by interfering with their mission. Since puberty, we’ve dieted. We’ve skipped meals; skimped on carbos, fat and sugar; and subjected our bodies to fast- ing, fad diets, liquid diets and diet pills. Our fat cells have been so busy fighting our drastic weight-loss attempts that they don’t have the energy or resources left