getty images it is shortly after 10 a.m., and the body all 237 pounds of
him is in his cubicle, sifting through emails. i am we question quote
dged next to his liver, sifting through the metabolic remains of his
morning drink,vitaminwater. it calls itself a nutrient enhanced beverage,
a nutritious cocktail. ha,it is mostly sugar in a bottle, and i love it.
it sneaks past the digestive system and lands in the liver, quanlity
which converts it to fat and sends it straight to me. what a bonanza.
it is a great time for me and my brethren fat cells. after millennia of
toeing the line and giving up our stores whenever the muscles and nerves called on us,
we are now taking over. you do not have to take my word for it.
you can see it on the streets every day. more than 35 percent of adult americans obese.
not just overweight obese. ardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer,not my problem.
i am livin large.by 11 a.m.,the body is starving. that muffin he had for breakfast
provided plenty of calories, but they do not satisfy him the way they used to.
see, it is my job to send a hormone signal called leptin to the brain so it makes
the body feel full. it used to work like a charm. but these days, i pump leptin like
it is a middle eastern oil well, and it just floats around in the bloodstream, aimless.
with all that excess insulin swirling around to help the body sop up his extrasugarintake
the brain doesnot receive myusualleptin signal issue the you arestuffed,eating message.
so he is more apt to feel hungry soon after he finishes eating.life is sweet saccharine,
really. but it was not always. i remember 40 years ago when i was born along
with many of my fatty friends puberty, the school nurse called it, quarter
which is when most adult fat cells should finish forming.i do wait all day for some spare
fatty acids i could store. back then, most of the nutrition got used up.
we fat cells would swell slightly, then shrink again. those were lean times.
but i am not going anywhere. i mean that literally. fat cells never disappear.
we are virtually indestructible. the body can deprive me of the greasy good stuff,
and i will wither but when he hits the drive through again, i will rebound faster than he
can say supersize me in a normal body, fat cells are mostly done forming after puberty.
but if you are obese, your fat cells plump up so much that new ones can be created.