A house cannot stand if its very foundation is weak. You may conduct several repairs on it, but all your efforts may go in vain. And sadly, our bodies also follow the same principle. We may be trying hard to shed a few kilos or to sculpt in the way we like, but we may not realize that our efforts may be countered by our body itself.
Researchers at the University of Illinois have found out that the bodies of obese people oppose the weight loss efforts when these individuals cut down on their food intake radically. In this context, researchers have suggested that these individuals need to slow down while working harder to outfox their brain chemistry.
They have opposed the idea of shooting off a diet plan with fast or with some sort of cleansing mechanism. According to them, such procedures can trigger certain changes in the immune system which can resist the body's weight loss.
In their study, the researchers tried to draw a comparison between the results of a short term fast on mice, divided into two groups. One group was made to feed on a low fat (10 percent fat) diet while the other was offered diets with high fat contents (60 percent fat). These mice became obese.
These mice were then made to go on a fast for 24 hours. During this period, it was observed that the thinner mice which were on a low fat diet had lost 18 percent of their body weight while the obese ones could only lose 5 percent.
According to Gregory G. Freund, a professor in the U of I College of Medicine and a member of U of I's Division of Nutritional Sciences, "Our data show that fasting induces an anti-inflammatory effect on a lean animal's neuroimmune system, and that effect is inhibited by a high-fat diet. Some of the brain-based chemical changes that occur in a lean animal simply don't occur in an obese animal."
The researcher explained that this breakdown results because the obese creatures oppose the downregulation of genes that are responsible for stimulating the interleukin-1 (IL-1) system and the anti-inflammatory cytokines related to it.
Freund also tried to observe the behavior of the obese mice in the areas of locomotion and the ability to learn and remember. He also tried to look for the symptoms of depression and anxiety in those mice. He came to conclude that these mice did not show enough movements and did not burrow like the normal, healthy mice.
The findings led him to suggest that starting off a weight loss diet with fast or a near-fast may induce changes in the brain chemistry and may affect mood and motivation, which in turn may stand in the way of all weight loss efforts.
It's true and a natural part of human psychology. Will you like to start off any project with a depressed frame of mind? Can this depression allow you to stick to your goals?
