5. Why Exercise Burns Fat
Glucose is the prime fuel for our brain, and it demands that it has preference over all glucose reserves, no matter how much is available. When we are sedentary and well-fed, there is plenty of glucose so the brain lets other organ use it as well. When we exercise, however, our brain starts to horde that fuel for itself. Our body reacts by releasing an alternate fuel for the muscles: free fatty acids.
The muscles then react by turning down their glucose-transporters to help save the glucose for the brain and to better utilize the fat.
Insulin, on the other hand, works by turning up the glucose-transporters found in your cells, so it is actively antagonized by excess free fatty acids! When you are starving or exercising, insulin is naturally low, so it won’t fight the free fatty acids.
After we have eaten, however, insulin is released in larger amounts to help control the elevated blood sugar from the meal.
If that meal was a high-fat meal, then the blood also becomes loaded with free fatty acids, which work against the insulin causing the pancreas to release even more insulin to achieve the proper effect.
It’s interesting that excess sugar creates essentially the same problem, and that it is not the blood glucose itself which appears to be the direct problem. Rather, the problem with excess sugar is that it too will cause the blood to be loaded with fatty acids, which over time can contribute to insulin resistance.
While sugar may not be the direct agent in the formation of insulin resistance, it should be noted that control of blood glucose is the direct victim once insulin resistance sets in.
Comments are closed.