[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

We have all had or seen a steak with a fair amount of fat. And butter and cheese made from milk are rich sources of fat, yet, the cows and sheep eat grass, so where does all of the fat come from?

And more to the point, what does this tell us about our own bodily fat production and its relation to what we are told to eat? Could it be that the cerials in the breakfast dish are a greater source of fat than the milk in which it is placed?

Food for thought?[]

"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[ukmicky]

They dont just eat grass.They are also given feed and most probably steroids

[neilep]

FAT is a natural and vital part of the body anyway...whether you eat some or not, your body needs it and produces it naturally !...you could use the same rationale for why does the body produce sinewy tissue and muscle if , say, you were a vegetarian.....it's the excess fat that we have to worry about when we add to our own natural amounts !!..just like I have tonight by eating a lovely pizza , garlic bread and potato wedges !!...hmmmmm...!!!..I'm gonna go and raid the fridge...I love cold pizza...yum !!

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[NewBill]

Having lost 15% of mine last year discounting the muscle building I have taken more of an interest in fat.  We are fueled by hydrocarbons.  Hydrocarbons are assembled by living things from simpler compounds, hydrocarbons themselves and more complex compounds (like protein).  Fat is our way of storing surplus fairly dense  relatively easily retrieved hydocarbon fuel.

The trouble is that I can't retrieve and burn it unless I burn more energy than I consume.  More than that I need a certain amount of physical musculature to increase my ability to consume energy rather than lay in an exhausted low energy state.

That breakfast cereal probably does contain more fat than you imagine but it also contains lots of sugars and carbohydrates which you can easily consume for your immediate needs leaving your precious store of fat untouched.

What I did:
I have been bicycle commuting for over a year.  I gravitated to foods that made me feel better during my commute.  I only weigh myself once a month and there have been months when no loss showed.  I do better in the cold wet months than in the hot months.  Weight loss was secondary to physical well being at the outset.  Drop in day to day stress was the addictive surprise benefit.

[ukmicky]

The best way to get rid of your body fat is to convert it into muscle.
which is whats probably happening when you ride your bike

[anthony]

Fat, carbohydrates, protein and alcohol are all good sources of energy for our bodies, they are broken down by the metabolism and their energy used to build fat for the long term storage of energy. Our metabolism isn't very different from that of a cow in the core respects of breaking down energy sources or making fats for storage. A cow's diet is obviously carbohydrate rich but poor in most other things, you'd probably find a cow required less and/or different vitamins than humans. A passable definition for a vitamin being a molecule we cannot make in sufficient quantity in our bodies thus require in our diet.

[chris]

That's quite right.

Our metabolism is wired up in such a way that everything gets broken into chunks containing 2 carbon atoms (called Acetyl CoA) which may then be used to make other, larger molecules like fats. This is achieved by adding many of these 2 carbon chunks together to make long fatty acid chains 16 carbon atoms long (this is palmitic acid, the commonest form of animal fat).

So a glucose molecule, containing 6 carbon atoms, is absorbed from the can of coke you just drank, taken to the liver and broken into 2 carbon chunks which are then reassembled into a fatty chain. These are then assembled into groups of three linked to a glycerol molecule (glycerine) to make tri-glycerides. These are the blobs of fat that you see swimming around your greasy burger when you cook it.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Cool, thanks for the insight people, fantastic job, now I understand how fats are formed, all I have to fathom out is how to disassemble them in the body and reassemble them as grass in the colon and become a millionaire in the process.

So as I see it, the culprit is the sugar contained in the grass and the seeds, which as you guys pointed out is, converted by the body into fat. Which seems logical to me, having seen drunken rats trying to escape Jack Russell terriers as they stagger from under a silage sheet after becoming intoxicated by the alcohol produced from fermenting grass, indicating a high level of sugars present in grass. Sounds a bit like most Saturday nights in Torquay.

So the object of a good weight-loss diet is generally to reduce food with high sugars. Which I must admit sounds very much like the Aitkin’s diet. One interesting point from this thread, is that if the body stores excess sugars as fat, then the lean meat consumed in the Aitkin’s diet has to be devoid of excess sugars, “he says tucking into a dime bar”.


"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[NewBill]

"So the object of a good weight-loss diet is generally to reduce food with high sugars. Which I must admit sounds very much like the Aitkin’s diet. One interesting point from this thread, is that if the body stores excess sugars as fat, then the lean meat consumed in the Aitkin’s diet has to be devoid of excess sugars, “he says tucking into a dime bar”."

No I don't think this is entirely a valid conclusion.

Reducing sugars and carbohydrates is effective at leveling insulin production, a good thing in an aging body for sure.  And reducing calories from sugars and carbohydrates is a good dietary strategy from the point of calorie reduction and from the point of the feeling of being hungry all the time since they (surgars and carbohydrates) are consumed so fast.  Fat is produced from all food sources.

But Atkins emphasizes high protein and as a consequence, high animal fat in the foods recommended.  IMO This is dangerous diet for an aging body.  I have read that an Atkins diet does no so much produce thin people as it does produce smaller fat people.  I'm 55, male and still 10% overweight by the 'most conservative measure'.  I need to reduce cholesterol intake which essentially in my western diet means I need to reduce meat.  I find modest carbohydrates in the beginning of the day when I am breaking fast if you will, is a good thing and helps me burn stored fat in my morning commute.  Modest protein midday seems to also be appropriate (vegetable protein as well as dairy).  My end of the day diet does not seem to have changed much from the traditional other than keeping my meats down to modest quantities 2 - 4 oz  with an emphasis on white meat.)  This has produced a sizable weight loss (15 %)  and a modest reduction in bad cholesterol.  Headed the right way IMO.  My bicycle commute accounts for about 45 minutes each way 5 days a week.  I have never felt that I was dieting ... just paying more attention is all.  If I was within a 40 minute walk I would walk.  If I could make a gym part of my social life I would do that.

[Razor]

I dont get it, i eat almost twice as much as my friends (in terms of fat) yet im still a skinny little s@*te, what's up with that?

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http://www.compfused.com/directlink/132

[finchbeak]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew K Fletcher

Cool, thanks for the insight people, fantastic job, now I understand how fats are formed, all I have to fathom out is how to disassemble them in the body and reassemble them as grass in the colon and become a millionaire in the process.

Here's how to convert fat into grasses:  exhale.
The plants will take care of the rest.  (The utter beauty of photosynthesis - plants building themselves out of thin air - will always take my breath away.)
Good luck becoming a millionaire with this one.

[ukmicky]

originally posted by razor
I don’t get it, i eat almost twice as much as my friends (in terms of fat) yet I’m still a skinny little s@*te, what's up with that?

Eating more food didn’t work for me either; it just made me sweat more while I was sleeping.
For people with metabolisms like you and me the only way to put weight on is to do exercise.
Do 100 press-ups & sit-ups a day, and when that gets easy increase the amount
It doesn’t take long before you will notice a difference, in two and a half years I’ve put on three stone just by doing the above.